On the whole, Zygmunt Krauze's small but concentrated body of keyboard music is as interesting as many of his contemporaries' larger but less focused oeuvres, and decidedly more intelligible in construction, technique, and expression than the bulk of experimental piano works from the last half of the twentieth century. Krauze's ideas, moods, and methods suggest the strong influence of his eastern European predecessors, most notably Bartók in his percussive sharpness and fondness for using folk themes, but also Shostakovich ...
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On the whole, Zygmunt Krauze's small but concentrated body of keyboard music is as interesting as many of his contemporaries' larger but less focused oeuvres, and decidedly more intelligible in construction, technique, and expression than the bulk of experimental piano works from the last half of the twentieth century. Krauze's ideas, moods, and methods suggest the strong influence of his eastern European predecessors, most notably Bartók in his percussive sharpness and fondness for using folk themes, but also Shostakovich in his angular counterpoint and ironic tone. In the works dated 1958 and 1959, the style is unmistakably modernist and dryly intellectual in execution; these pieces -- mostly exercises in style and technique -- adequately represent Krauze's student period. But Triptych (1964) is a step away from early models, and in its density and tight chromatic weft reflect the composer's openness to complex sonorities and willingness to explore new currents of thought, though within certain...
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