Klein, Gideon: Sonate / Landschaft

The extraordinarily gifted composer and pianist Gideon Klein (1919–1945) was murdered in the Fürstengrube concentration camp at the age of 25. One of the undeniable highlights of his small compositional legacy is his Sonata for Piano. Its three movements were written in reverse order in the Terezín concentration camp in 1943; only a three-measure draft of the intended fourth movement has survived. This first Urtext edition of the piano sonata has been expanded to include the previously unpublished short melodrama “Landscape” (entitled “Topol” / “Poplar” in existing literature) in which the pianist can also take over the recitation part if required. In July 1939, shortly after Klein completed his studies at the conservatory, he composed this setting of the same-named poem by Vilém Závada (1905–1982) in the style of free atonality.