Witty gritty music from Prague

Although Werner Herber's Ebony Band has stopped giving concerts and tours, this enterprising ensemble fortunately still champions the - mostly forgotten - music composed between the world wars. Its latest quest has resulted in a CD with remarkable music by Miroslav Ponc, Hanns Aldo Schimmerling, Emil Frántisek[#spelling? zie hieronder] Burian, Alois Hába and Viktor Ullman. Connoisseurs may be vaguely familar with the latter two, but the others are genuine discoveries. All composers recorded here were active in the sparkling, liberal Prague of the years 1922-1937 - in other words until just before it all went wrong. Ponc's The Wedding Party on the Eiffel Tower is a theme of the whole recording, with its five short movements placed as interludes between the other works. These little pieces were apparently already in the ensemble's archive, since the recording was made in 2000. It is witty, gritty music. The other compositions were recorded last year in Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. A special treat is Schimmerling's Sechs Miniaturen für Kammerorchester, wonderfully played in perfect tranquillity. A real discovery is Ullmann's Sechs Lieder, brilliantly and highly idiomatically sung by the mezzo-soprano Barbara Kozelj. A great acquisition for the concert hall.

Peter van der Lint