Search - Werner Herbers, Ebony Band - Amsterdam :: Erwin Schulhoff: Ensemble Works, Vol. 1 (Stage Music from "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" / Three Tangos / Concerto for String Quartet & Winds / Suite for Chamber Orchestra) - Ebony Band, Amsterdam

Wonderful Music From The 1920s By A Neglected Master

Nicholas Edwards | Belchertown, MA United States | 08/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Schulhoff (1894-1942) has been unjustly eclipsed by his contemporaries; this disc should give more than a good idea why his work is long overdue for re-appraisal. Forceful, puckish, jazz-inflected ephemeralia on the surface, a closer listen reveals amazing depth and contrast. The "Suite For Chamber Orchestra" is a particularly amazing piece which climaxes with as wickedly sensual a Tango as any written by Weill, Piazolla, Stravinsky, or any of the old Argentine masters. The Dutch group Ebony Band obviously know this music backward - they give rousing, sharply idiomatic performances. The recording itself is a fine, crisp, live performance from 1994 - the year of the Schulhoff centennial. This is a difficult disc to get hold of (I think it's out of print)but your efforts in seeking it out will be well repaid. Not to be missed!"