WV

In the 1920s and 1930s, there was a multi-faceted musical scene in culturally flourishing Czechoslovakia. When we take a look at the works by e.g. Pavel Haas, Gideon Klein, Hans Krása, Viktor Ullmann or Erwin Schulhoff, we can perceive a stylistically very similar course, conceivable against the given background as a ‘Prague School’ (as a counter-movement to the ‘Viennese School’). In Schulhoff’s early works, the features are a late Romantic approach influenced by Reger that later developed with an emphasis on rhythm in the direction of Expressionism and Neo-Classicism, also including jazz elements. The starting point is the ‘Don Juan’ story, but the underlying idea in Beneš’ and Schulhoff’s work is not to present the colourful seducer, but the fate of a man driven by his desires and needs who cannot even remotely find happiness and peace in constancy. In his opera, Schulhoff brilliantly manages to find a different dramaturgical approach, on the one hand, and at the same time to pay a kind of alienated homage to Mozart’s work, on the other.

In the 1920s and 1930s, there was a multi-faceted musical scene in culturally flourishing Czechoslovakia.

This penultimate collection in Steven Devine's critically-acclaimed survey of the complete harpsichord works of Bach's favourite student, Johann Ludwig Krebs, features five of the six 'Galanterie-Suiten' [Galant Suites]. These works, although set in the classic framework of the Baroque Suite, actually feature the most up-to-date stylist features including, dramatic unison writing, charming "cantabile" melodies and a wide range of stylish dance forms.

This penultimate collection in Steven Devine's critically-acclaimed survey of the complete harpsichord works of Bach's favourite student, Johann Ludwig Krebs, features five of the six 'Galanterie-Suiten' [Galant Suites].