Zemlinsky: Piano Music (2005)

It seems it is hard to discuss the music of Alexander Zemlinsky without reference to his much more famous, and notorious, brother-in-law Arnold Schoenberg, arguably the "scariest name in classical music." With Zemlinsky: Piano Music, Naxos provides the first recorded survey of Zemlinsky's output for piano, none of it written after 1901 and not in the least "scary." Zemlinsky reserved his compositional activity for piano to the first three decades of his life; afterwards came operas, symphonies, chamber music, and songs, but ... Read More

It seems it is hard to discuss the music of Alexander Zemlinsky without reference to his much more famous, and notorious, brother-in-law Arnold Schoenberg, arguably the "scariest name in classical music." With Zemlinsky: Piano Music, Naxos provides the first recorded survey of Zemlinsky's output for piano, none of it written after 1901 and not in the least "scary." Zemlinsky reserved his compositional activity for piano to the first three decades of his life; afterwards came operas, symphonies, chamber music, and songs, but no piano music. Much of it is similar to Brahms' late solo piano music, and as that was still "new music" in the 1890s (and Brahms was still writing it), Zemlinsky's piano pieces would hardly have been viewed as a throwback to anything when they were new. Listeners coming to these works seeking foreshadowing of expressionist trends would be altogether looking in the wrong place. On the other hand, Zemlinsky seems to be more comfortable and accomplished working in the shadow of... Read Less