Egon Wellesz: Chamber Music

In its mix of tonality, Expressionism and Schoenbergian serialism, the late chamber music of Egon Wellesz (1885–1974) – born in Vienna but an Oxford don for almost four decades – marries the mid-century radicalism of his native city with the lyricism of his adoptive homeland. In the first part of his career Wellesz was best known as a composer of operas, and these chamber works were audibly written by someone with a keen sense of drama: in their primal passion, flawless pacing, arching melodic lines and occasional bursts of humour, one can almost imagine them on stage.

Veles Ensemble
Hartmut Richter, violin
Ralitsa Naydenova, viola
Evva Mizerska, cello
Gabriela Opacka-Boccadoro, violin (Tracks 9-15)
Peter Cigleris, clarinet (Tracks 13-15)