Ignaz Brüll (1846-1907)
Symphonie en mi mineur, op. 31
Sérénade en fa majeur n° 1, op. 29

Orchestre Symphonique d'état de Biélorussie
Marius Stravinski, direction

There were virtually no Jewish professional musicians or composers at the beginning of the 19th century. Richard Wagner accused the Jews of being a harmful and alien element in German culture. He argued that they had no connection with the spirit of the German people and that Jewish musicians were only capable of producing music that was shallow and artificial. The music of the Jewish composer Ignaz Brüll featured on this CD shows Wagner’s views to be completely unfounded. However, at the time, Wagner’s criticism fuelled the growing anti-Semitism in 19th century Austria and Germany, and Brüll’s considerable music output lay suppressed during his lifetime. With the rise of Nazi Germany in the 20th century, the music of Brüll was banned from being performed and his manuscripts were burnt. In 2007, for the centenary of Brüll’s death, Cameo Classics started to redress this neglect with a series of recordings.