Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Variations sur un thème de Paganini, op. 25, livre 2
Intermezzo en la bémol majeur, op. 76 n° 3

Thomas Blomenkamp (1955-)
Fragment "In Memory of Karlrobert Kreiten"

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Prélude en si bémol majeur, op. 28 n° 1
Prélude en si bémol mineur, op. 28 n° 16 (3 versions)
Nocturne en do dièse mineur, op. posth.
Prélude en si bémol majeur, op. 28 n° 21

Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957)
Toccata, op. 29 n° 2

Robert Forkardt (1896-1953)
Sonate pour piano en fa dièse mineur, op. 2
Paraphrase sur "Guter Mond, du gehst so stille"

Oskar Gottlieb Blarr (1934-)
Meine Stadt am Fluss

Theo Kreiten (1887-1960)
Sonatine en mi majeur

Philipp Lojak (1994-)
"Klang, Feuer, Asche", hommage à Karlrobert Kreiten

Johann Strauss (1825-1899)
An der schönen blauen Donau, op. 314 (arr. T. Kreiten)

Christian Banasik (1963-)
Begegnung 8, à la mémoire de Karlrobert Kreiten

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Toccata, extrait de "Le tombeau de Couperin", M 68

Karlrobert Kreiten, piano
Tobias Koch, piano
Udo Falkner, piano

Dans la nuit du 7 au 8 septembre 1943, 186 détenus furent pendus dans l’enceinte de la prison de Plötzensee alors que les bombes tombaient sur Belin. Entre eux un jeune homme de vingt-sept- ans, Karl Robert Kreiten, compositeur, pianiste parmi les plus brillants de sa génération, Claudio Arrau évoquait encore son souvenir avec des larmes dans les yeux au soir de sa vie. Il suffit d’entendre quelques pages du Deuxième cahier des "Variations Paganini" de Brahms pour comprendre immédiatement quel génie du piano était déjà celui que Claudio Arrau avait pris sous son aile au Conservatoire Stern. Les quelques gravures qu’il réalisa en 1934, alors qu’il n’avait que dix-huit ans, laissent sans voix que ce soit Brahms ou Chopin, mais Kreiten est passé à la postérité par un enregistrement fabuleux de son propre arrangement du "Beau Danube Bleu" de Johann Strauss, gravé en 1938. Toute une époque s’y résume, qui va bientôt sombrer, on pense à Stefan Zweig. L’éditeur a réuni tout le legs si parcellaire, si maigre, qu’aura laissé le jeune homme, essentiellement des 78 tours privés, y ajoutant quelques inédits où l’on devine le jeu du pianiste plutôt qu’on ne l’entend, comme cette Toccata du "Tombeau de Couperin", fantôme de sons derrière un mur de bruit. L’entreprise, de toute façon utile, aurait été exemplaire si ne venait la grever quelques pièces d’hommages composées aujourd’hui et dont les interférences nuisent. Le vrai tombeau de Karl Robert Kreiten est tout entier dans ses rares sillons. Allez, encore une fois son Beau Danube si bleu… (Discophilia - Artalinna.com). (Jean-Charles Hoffelé)

"Kreiten was born on 26 June 1916 in Bonn and grew u p in Düsseldorf, where he gave his first public per formance at the age of ten in the auditorium that has now become th e Tonhalle. In 1933 he became immediately known to a wider audience: as one of the youngest participants in th e Vienna International Piano Competition he was awa rded the Silver Badge of Honour; soon thereafter he won the Mendels sohn Prize in Berlin. After having studied in Colog ne and Vienna, Karlrobert was admitted to the class of Claudio Arr au in Berlin, where he studied from 1937 to 1940. S oon he was invited to perform in major concert venues: for instance, he a ppeared twice with the Berlin Philharmonic. Kreiten ’s repertoire extended from Classical and Romantic works to Proko fiev and Stravinsky; audiences and the press hailed him as a “piano phenomenon”. Claudio Arrau was deeply shaken by his death: more than four decades later, he still poin ted out his former pupil’s exceptional artistic rank. “Karlrobert Kreiten is one of the greatest piano ta lents I ever met. If the Nazi regime had not put him to death, he undoubtedly would have earned his rightful place among the great German pianists of his day. His belonged to the ‘lost generation’ of those who coul d have taken up the gauntlet of the likes of Kempff and Gieseking. Kreiten possessed an incredible ease; nothing was difficult for him. Moreover, his playing always revealed a p rofound musical intention. Kreiten was always an artist, never a me re ‘virtuoso’.” ...... “This CD release contains the complete preserved re cordings of Karlrobert Kreiten. This explains the f act that certain pieces are presented in two different versions, along with two further recordings whose quality might be deem ed unacceptable, yet which we have nevertheless included as a sort o f postscript at the end. Indeed, such poor recordin g quality emblematically reflects the problematic handling of Karlrobert Kreiten’s legacy. For many years, no do cument of Kreiten’s piano playing had ever surfaced. In 1983, however, Emmy Kreiten-Barido finally authorized the Thorofon firm to publish some of her late son’s private recordings as part o f a commemorative LP. The original phonograph recor ds used as a basis for that LP are apparently lost; thus, for the curr ent release, we have had to retrace the steps presu mably taken in the course of the 1983 mastering process in order to pr ocess the signal with the digital techniques now av ailable....” (Excerpts of liner notes from the booklet by Tobias Koch and Karsten Lehl).