Liner Notes
Cat. No. NWCRL489
Release Date: 2010-07-01
Robert Black, piano; Bernède Quartet: Jean-Claude Bernède, violin; Marcel Charpentier, violin; Michel Laleouse, viola; Pierre Penassou, cello
Erich Itor Kahn (b. 1905, Rimbach, Germany; d. 1956, New York City) died in the middle of a career as composer and performer that commanded a devoted and intense following both in Europe and in his adopted country. Among the listening public Kahn was best known as a chamber ensemble pianist of power and sensitivity. Few who heard his performances with the Albeneri Trio, with violinist Samuel Dushkin, with mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel and many others, will forget him.
Kahn's childhood in the German town of Koenigstein was spent in an atmosphere of the arts, science and humanist politics; his father was a teacher and cantor and his mother a fne amateur singer. It was in his early teens that he discovered the music of Arnold Schoenberg, whose aesthetic was to play a major role in Kahn's subsequent work; in his sixteenth year, despite parental objection, he entered the Conservatory of Music at Frankfurt. Upon graduating from the Conservatory in 1928, he joined the staff of Radio Frankfurt, where he was engaged by Hans Rosbaud, the musical director and staff conductor, as assistant director and pianist. There he worked with such composers and guest artists as Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Webern, Bartók, Roussel, Schweitzer, Horowitz, and Morini.
With the coming of Nazism, Kahn and his pianist-wife, Frida, fed to Paris, there to begin a new life of constant playing and teaching. The Nazis invaded France only a few years later, and the Kahns underwent a harrowing series of internments in French refugee camps and desperate pleading with consular authorities. Finally, the couple made their way by boat to New York to begin again in a new land.
As composer, Kahn produced about forty works, extending over a period from 1930 to 1954 (the String Quartet, Op. 13). Though the serial concept was basic to Kahn's musical thinking, his application of the Schoenbergian principle was essentially free. During his years in France, he began working creatively with both French and Eastern European Jewish folk materials. Understandably, too, Kahn was deeply affected by the fate of his friends and humanity at large caught up in the world holocaust. Hence the titles of such works as the Ciaccona Dei Tempi Di Guerra recorded here.
This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.
Erich Itor Kahn (b. 1905, Rimbach, Germany; d. 1956, New York City) died in the middle of a career as composer and performer that commanded a devoted and intense following both in Europe and in his adopted country. Among the listening public Kahn was best known as a chamber ensemble pianist of power and sensitivity. Few who heard his performances with the Albeneri Trio, with violinist Samuel Dushkin, with mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel and many others, will forget him.
Kahn's childhood in the German town of Koenigstein was spent in an atmosphere of the arts, science and humanist politics; his father was a teacher and cantor and his mother a fne amateur singer. It was in his early teens that he discovered the music of Arnold Schoenberg, whose aesthetic was to play a major role in Kahn's subsequent work; in his sixteenth year, despite parental objection, he entered the Conservatory of Music at Frankfurt. Upon graduating from the Conservatory in 1928, he joined the staff of Radio Frankfurt, where he was engaged by Hans Rosbaud, the musical director and staff conductor, as assistant director and pianist. There he worked with such composers and guest artists as Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Webern, Bartók, Roussel, Schweitzer, Horowitz, and Morini.
With the coming of Nazism, Kahn and his pianist-wife, Frida, fed to Paris, there to begin a new life of constant playing and teaching. The Nazis invaded France only a few years later, and the Kahns underwent a harrowing series of internments in French refugee camps and desperate pleading with consular authorities. Finally, the couple made their way by boat to New York to begin again in a new land.
As composer, Kahn produced about forty works, extending over a period from 1930 to 1954 (the String Quartet, Op. 13). Though the serial concept was basic to Kahn's musical thinking, his application of the Schoenbergian principle was essentially free. During his years in France, he began working creatively with both French and Eastern European Jewish folk materials. Understandably, too, Kahn was deeply affected by the fate of his friends and humanity at large caught up in the world holocaust. Hence the titles of such works as the Ciaccona Dei Tempi Di Guerra recorded here.
This title, originally issued on the CRI label, is now available as a burn-on-demand CD (CD-R) or download in MP3/320, FLAC or WAV formats. CD-Rs come in a protective sleeve; no print booklet or jewel case included. Liner notes are accessible via the link above.
Music of Erich Itor Kahn
| MP3/320 | $7.99 | |
| FLAC | $7.99 | |
| WAV | $7.99 | |
| CD-R | $7.99 |
A *.pdf of the notes may be accessed here free of charge.
Track Listing
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Short Piano Piece (from Op.12)
Erich Itor Kahn
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Eight Inventions, Op.7: No. 1, in C
Erich Itor Kahn
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Eight Inventions, Op.7: No. 2, sur une bercelonette
Erich Itor Kahn
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Eight Inventions, Op.7: No. 3, on a theme of Brahms
Erich Itor Kahn
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Eight Inventions, Op.7: No. 5, Energico
Erich Itor Kahn
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Eight Inventions, Op.7: No. 6, Hommage à Ravel
Erich Itor Kahn
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Ciaccona dei tempi di guerra, Op. 10
Erich Itor Kahn
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String Quartet, Op. 13
Erich Itor Kahn
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