Erwin Schulhoff

Ironien gathers piano music for two and four hands by Erwin Schulhoff, one of the most stylistically multilingual composers of the early twentieth century, who saw no contradiction between Dada and dodecaphony. Five works written between 1919 and 1927 show how far his range extended in less than a decade, from the shadow of Schoenberg to the cabaret spirit of the 1920s.

Schulhoff was born in Prague in 1894, the son of German-Jewish parents, and became a committed Communist. Arrested in 1941 after applying for Soviet citizenship, he died in August 1942 in the Wülzburg internment camp in Bavaria, and his music fell into obscurity for decades. The pianist here is Monica Gutman, who plays the solo works and is joined by Erika Le Roux for the four-hand Ironien. The programme runs for 70'46".

The 10 Klavierstücke op. 30 of 1919 reflect the influence of Schoenberg and the Second Viennese School: short pieces with markings such as Mit Brutalität and Ruhig verklärt. The Ironien op. 34 for piano four-hands (1920) carry the Dadaist, anti-establishment spirit of the European cities of those years, in six movements that include an Alla marcia militaristica and a closing Tempo di Fox. The Musik für Klavier op. 35, also from 1920, is written in free atonality yet has many traits of a Baroque suite, framed by a Vorspiel and a Nachspiel around a long theme with variations. The eleven miniature Inventionen op. 36 of 1921 explore a wide spectrum of sound colours and end on a Moderato brutalemente.

The Third Piano Sonata of 1927 closes the circle: here Schulhoff takes up classical form and tradition, in five movements that include a Marcia funebre and a Finale retrospettivo. Heard together, the works trace a composer moving through expressionism, Dada, neo-Baroque writing and jazz-tinged rhythm without settling in any one camp. That variety is the point of the selection, and it makes the disc a useful document of the music written between the two world wars by a figure whose career was cut short.

CD, Wergo WER 7385 2, released in 2019.