Back Cover Image | Label: CMC Catalog: CMCCD12807 Format: CD Jasper Wood: Violin
David Riley: Piano
Oskar Morawetz was born on January 17, 1917 in Svetla nad Sazavou, a small town south of Prague in what would soon become Czechoslovakia. His father was a wealthy industrialist and a leading figure in the textile industry. With the advent of the Nazis, the Morawetz family, which was Jewish, was forced to flee Europe. Morawetzs parents received travel visas and arrived in Canada on the very day that the Second World War began. Morawetz had decided not to join them, as he was studying music in Paris at the time, but as the war progressed he soon changed his mind and with great effort eventually managed to join his parents in Toronto in June 1940.
Morawetz never sought popularity by cultivating an easy or accessible style. Rather, he was one of those rare composers who knew how to challenge and intrigue performers and audiences without alienating them. His music has been performed by over 150 orchestras and by many other musicians and music ensembles around the world. More information about Morawetz and his music is available on a documentary by Eitan Cornfield released in 2002 in the album Oskar Morawetz, which is part of the Canadian Composers Portraits series from Centrediscs (CMCCD 8702). In addition, Claudia Morawetz has created a detailed and informative web site, www.oskarmorawetz.com, with biographical information, notes on his compositions, pictures and documents from his entire life, and much more.
The five works on this recording were written over a period of 40 years and represent the complete output by Morawetz for violin and piano. Price: $25.98 |