WOOD & STEEL TRIO/SCHIEFEL,MICHAEL - Brecht/Eisler - Hollywood Songbook (Sealed) (CD)

The great German composer Hanns Eisler wrote a "Hollywooder Liederbuch" in California as a pastime after texts by Brecht, H?lderlin and others. After his return from the USA, the songs remained in the drawer for a long time. To this day, they are little known and rarely played. The classical pianist Eric Schneider brought her to an album with the singer Matthias Goerne in the aesthetics of the art song in 1998. Later Schneider and Michael Schiefel dealt with the pieces. After that Schiefel carried the repertoire around with him for a long time. "The challenge was that Eisler created the music as filigree and complex as a tightrope dance. You can't play around or experiment with it without damaging it," says Schiefel. The solution: Change the instrumentation instead of the notation. "I suggested the idea to the Wood & Steel Trio. They were thrilled to do the piano part." With double bass, the steel acoustic dobro guitar, a metallic sparkling vibraphone or a wooden, warm timed marimba, the band orchestrated the songs anew, but changed almost no note of the original. It is not known what kind of playing Eisler had in mind for his songbook. But the musicians do justice to its depth and complexity.