Ciaconna dei tempo di guerra

Brahms clearly helped revitalize such forms for generations of later composers. Chaconnes have been written over the last 100 years by figures from Gustav Holst to David Diamond, as different as Béla Bartók and Philip Glass. One of the most unique examples was created by German composer Erich Itor Kahn (1905-56), titled Ciaconna dei tempi di guerra. The Ciaconna is an intense and demanding work for solo piano lasting approximately 15 minutes. Kahn wrote this “Chaconne in Times of War” in 1943 while living in the United States. With their Jewish heritage, both Kahn and his wife had been forced out of Germany in 1933, stopping first in Paris and eventually settling in New York. He continued to perform and teach piano, and he made numerous recordings as founding member of the Albeneri Trio. (In a curious demonstration of the triumph of art over hate, Kahn even recorded piano versions of music by overt anti-Semite Richard Wagner.)

(c) Jason Stell