The title of this release by Halle-born, Leipzig-trained pianist Steffen Schleiermacher is more accurate than its subtitle, "New piano music from eastern Germany." In fact the works included date back as far as 1969, and only a few could be called new. The title Teachers, Friends, Colleagues is what it's all about; the composers on offer all fit into one of those categories vis-à-vis Schleiermacher, who introduces each one along with the story of how he got to know the composer. The explanations are important, for much of ...
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The title of this release by Halle-born, Leipzig-trained pianist Steffen Schleiermacher is more accurate than its subtitle, "New piano music from eastern Germany." In fact the works included date back as far as 1969, and only a few could be called new. The title Teachers, Friends, Colleagues is what it's all about; the composers on offer all fit into one of those categories vis-à-vis Schleiermacher, who introduces each one along with the story of how he got to know the composer. The explanations are important, for much of the music depends on systems and concepts developed by the individual composers and aimed at listeners familiar with those systems and concepts. Most of it, with the exception of Wolfgang Heisig's Klaviertöne (tracks 17-22), is atonal and was generally anathema to the authorities of the former East Germany, at least until about the late 1970s. That points to the strongest point of interest here: Schleiermacher notes that "all composers presented here collided with the authorities in...
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