Eisler: Choral works (Chandos)

There are lines in Hanns Eisler's Four Pieces for mixed chorus Op 13 which could stand as a motto for the composer's work: "Today we'll be singing a completely different song . . . Wake up, damned of this earth! Wake up!" These texts are the composer's own, but they mirror the sentiments of the texts by Brecht with which Eisler is so closely associated. The major work here, showing the powerfully theatrical stride of Eisler's political music, is the 1932 cantata, Die Mutter, in the version for speakers, soloists, chorus and two pianos, adapted by Brecht from Gorky's novel. A selection from the Woodburry Songbook, traditional rhymes set for the choir of a New Jersey schoolteacher, reveals a largely unexpected softer side.

Michael Dervan