Credits:

RTE

Description:

A collection of violin works by Ewald Strasser, a forgotten composer who at the time was widely considered to be Brahms' successor Ewald Strasser was born in Blüscheid, near Cologne, Germany. Although now completely forgotten, his works were highly regarded at the time, with Furtwängler, Arbendroth, Mengelberg, Nikisch, and Pfitzner featuring his works, and pianist Elie Nye including his works in his concert programs. Although his works were widely acclaimed, he himself did not put any political agenda into them, but they gradually fell out of favor because of the suspicion of those around him and also because he was not a public figure. Strasser left more than 200 works, 13 of which are for violin and piano. Strasser was so highly regarded as a composer at the time that he was considered the successor to Brahms, and the Strasser Music Festival was held in Cologne in the fall of 1917. The Violin Sonata was performed at the opening concert.It is said that Strasser was even better than Brahms in terms of melodic ingenuity, and one can sense this in this violin sonata. The performances by Gutrun Hobold on violin and Eri Uchino on piano in this recording succeed in conveying the beauty of Strasser's music to the fullest. King International