Search - Erwin Schulhoff, Erwin (Ervin) Schulhoff, Kathryn Stott :: Schulhoff: Hot Music

The Best Composer Who Nobody Has Heard Of

C. Hall | St. Petersburg, FL | 11/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have always been a fan of ragtime and ragtime-inspired music and happen to have discovered Schulhoff not too long ago. Schulhoff was a virtuoso pianist and everything he writes is evident of this. I believe that composers who cannot play the piano well are basically incapable of writing quality piano music. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff.....they were all first-rate keyboardists and their music proves this. The only reason Schulhoff has faded into obscurity is because he died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. I am sure that had he not died this way and had lived on to a ripe old age (he was born in 1894), he would have become as well-known as Bartok or Stravinsky. In fact, he was a better pianist than either Bartok or Stravinsky and I believe his piano music is better as well. Kathryn Stott does a wonderful job playing this difficult but exciting music! Schulhoff is now my favorite composer nobody has heard of. I highly recommend this CD and Schulhoff's music in general (he also has chamber music, symphonies, and an opera) to pianists willing to venture out and expose themselves to some unduly neglected literature."