Jonathan Powell (piano), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Johannes Kalitzke
Hans Winterberg grew up in Prague where he was one of a whole cadre of composers in the new Czech musical tradition. He is one of the few Jewish composers who survived the terror of World War II. His tale of survival is complicated and involved him, as a Czech Jew, having to seek refuge in post-war Germany, whereas contemporaries and colleagues like Viktor Ullmann, Erwin Schulhoff and Hans Krása died in the concentration camps. He saw his music as ‘a bridge’ between the Slavic East and the West and admitted at one point that his musical starting point was Schoenberg. Audibly more present than Schoenberg, however, is a central European Impressionism, synthesised with complex rhythms.
Thanks to his penchant for writing short and succinct movements. Winterberg’s tough, gritty and uncompromising music never outstays its welcome. It certainly receives persuasive advocacy from Johannes Kalitzke and the Berlin Radio Symphony, and Jonathan Powell does a terrific job in projecting the piano concerto’s dynamic energy.
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