Artur Schnabel (1882-1951)
Quintette pour piano et quatuor à cordes
Pièces pour piano, op. 15
Sonate pour piano
Trois fantaisies pour piano, violon et alto -Recueil de 10 Lieder, op. 11
Recueil de 7 Lieder, op. 14

Irmela Roelcke, piano
Sibylle Kamphues, alto
Quatuor Pellegrini

On two new CDs we are presenting more chamber music, piano pieces, and songs by Artur Schnabel, who is a legend as a pianist but whose achievements as a composer have only recently been recognized. He always followed the developments in new music with interest and was familiar with Schönberg’s œuvre long before it gained renown. This is reflected in his own music, which always belonged to the avant-garde of its time of composition. His Piano Quintet of 1915-16, which first resurfaced in 2001 as an autographic score (in an ordinary parcel mailed from the United States without an indication of the sender) was initially assigned no independent value. The listening experience now made possible for us on this recording by Irmela Roelcke and the Pellegrini Quartet teaches us better. The quintet not only had the function of enabling the composer to form a transition between composing for piano but also for writing for instrumental ensembles, especially for the string quartet, which would play a significant role in his later works. It is a captivating and remarkably independent work in which Schnabel is able with amazing precision to realize compositionally just what he wants musically. He was also attracted to the song genre during his early years; after all, he also quickly gained renown as a song accompanist for artists such as his wife, the alto Therese Behr.