Music of Stefan Wolpe, Volume 4

Music of Stefan Wolpe

*first recordings

BRIDGE 9215

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Born in Berlin, Stefan Wolpe imbibed the utopian modernism of the Bauhaus and the musical principles of the Second Viennese School. In 1933, Wolpe fled Berlin and the next year arrived in Palestine. The music of the Middle East, which Wolpe referred to as 'Oriental folklore' had “an enormous appeal, “ but when he came to write concert music he did not incorporate folklore as such. He said that he wrote that music of a sort “that the dialectic of its influence shocks, arouses, and teaches people to think.” Most of the works on this CD come out of Wolpe's Palestinian period, and reflect his close musical relationship and friendship with the oboist Josef Marx. The performances on this disc feature leading Wolpe performers including the oboist Heinz Holliger, the flautist Robert Aitken, and the pianist James Avery, along with his superb SurPlus Ensemble.

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