Product DescriptionThe composer Hanns Eisler's life was one long exile, set against the backdrop of the artistic, technical and political revolutions of the 20th century. His journey spanned 1920s Vienna and the Berlin of the Weimar Republic to emigration to the USA, then back to Vienna after the defeat of Nazism and ultimately spending his final years in East Berlin. Distance, irony, and melancholy are the aesthetic corollaries that characterize the lieder presented here by baritone Matthias Goerne, their atmosphere often evoking the despair of those dark times. Also included is Eisler's early Piano Sonata, played here by Thomas Larcher, a work which brought the young composer an admiration that has never dimmed since.