Album
Miroslav Beinhauer
Hába: The Complete Piano Works
Catalogue Number: SU 4357-2
Published: 11th April 2025
Genre: Chamber Music
Format: 2 CD
Alois Hába (1893–1973) – the complete piano works: Sonata in E flat minor (1914), Three Fugues (1918), Variations on a Canon of Robert Schumann, Op. 1b (1918), Two Pieces, Op. 2 (1918), Sonata, Op. 3 (1919), Six Pieces, Op. 6 (1920), Two Grotesques (1920/1921), Romance, Waltz (1921), Four Modern Dances, Op. 39 (1926), Shimmy – Fox (1926), Toccata quasi una fantasia, Op. 38 (1931), Six Moods, Op. 102 (1971)
Miroslav Beinhauer piano
Hába has gone down in the history of 20th-century music as an experimenter. He studied in Vienna and Berlin under Franz Schreker, studied the tonal principles of non-European music, and developed his own theory of micro-intervallic music. However, his enthusiasm for microtonal music narrowed the perception of his creative legacy solely to its experimental component, although more than half of his works are compositions in the usual system of semitones. As he himself said, he was trying “to find the path from non-traditional training to artistically independent creative work with strongly altered harmony and melody in order to arrive at a personal means of expression following the line leading from Bach to Schumann and on to Reger.” He achieved this goal in the Sonata, Op. 3, for which he received much praise from Schreker, while Vítězslav Novák “with condescending humour called it a ‘sonata for three hands’”. Erwin Schulhoff premiered the Two Grotesque Pieces in 1922 in Berlin alongside compositions by Satie, Casella, and Stravinsky, and according to a critic, “Hába’s compositions made a far more authentic impression than much that surrounded them.” After the Toccata quasi una fantasia (1931), Hába returned to writing piano music one last time 40 years later at the end of his life with his Six Moods. As a student in Vienna and Ghent, the pianist Miroslav Beinhauer focused on music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He was introduced to Hába through his compositions for sixth-tone harmonium (Beinhauer is the only player of this instrument, created by Hába), and he went on to study Hába’s complete works for “ordinary” piano as well. These works are little known and worthy of attention.
The first complete recording of Hába’s works for “ordinary” piano. Hába surprisingly without micro-intervals.
Miroslav Beinhauer piano
Hába has gone down in the history of 20th-century music as an experimenter. He studied in Vienna and Berlin under Franz Schreker, studied the tonal principles of non-European music, and developed his own theory of micro-intervallic music. However, his enthusiasm for microtonal music narrowed the perception of his creative legacy solely to its experimental component, although more than half of his works are compositions in the usual system of semitones. As he himself said, he was trying “to find the path from non-traditional training to artistically independent creative work with strongly altered harmony and melody in order to arrive at a personal means of expression following the line leading from Bach to Schumann and on to Reger.” He achieved this goal in the Sonata, Op. 3, for which he received much praise from Schreker, while Vítězslav Novák “with condescending humour called it a ‘sonata for three hands’”. Erwin Schulhoff premiered the Two Grotesque Pieces in 1922 in Berlin alongside compositions by Satie, Casella, and Stravinsky, and according to a critic, “Hába’s compositions made a far more authentic impression than much that surrounded them.” After the Toccata quasi una fantasia (1931), Hába returned to writing piano music one last time 40 years later at the end of his life with his Six Moods. As a student in Vienna and Ghent, the pianist Miroslav Beinhauer focused on music of the 20th and 21st centuries. He was introduced to Hába through his compositions for sixth-tone harmonium (Beinhauer is the only player of this instrument, created by Hába), and he went on to study Hába’s complete works for “ordinary” piano as well. These works are little known and worthy of attention.
The first complete recording of Hába’s works for “ordinary” piano. Hába surprisingly without micro-intervals.
Reviews
“The Toccata quasi una fantasia, op.38, of 1931 is more substantial, a ten-minute single-movement piece in nine sections and an overarching sonata form of considerable difficulty which owes much in its overall design to Liszt. Though hardly widely-known, it is (according to Vlasta Reitterová’s informative booklet notes) Hába’s most frequently played piano work, and Beinhauer’s performance – as with all those on this absorbing album – should win it and its composer many new admirers. It has certainly whetted our appetite for more from this unjustly neglected composer.”
Europadisc, May 2025
“This first-ever complete edition of Hába’s music for ‘normal’ solo piano considerably benefits from pianist Miroslav Beinhauer’s total commitment and advocacy. His brilliant and flexible technique, his abilities as a colourist and his genuine idiomatic connection to the works’ myriad genres make the best possible case for this repertoire. What is more, the original Czech Radio production from which these recordings stem provided Beinhauer with fabulous sound and what appears to be a superbly regulated concert grand.”
Gramophone, June 2025
“Après avoir enregistré les pages pour harmonium en sixième de tons sur un instrument spécialement construit pour Haba, Miroslav Beinhauer offre un panorama davantage complet de l'ceuvre pour piano que Tomas Visek, qui s'en tenait à un floriiège (1997, Supraphon). Le nouveau venu l’empore aussi par un jeuplus souple, tant dans le postromantisme de jeunesse, que dans le trait géométrique que cherchent les pièces des années 1920 (Quatre danses modernes op. 39 pleines de chic). L’interprète sait partager sa passion pour le compositeur, pour mieux nous conduire ensuite vers les partitions destinées au piano accordé en quarts de ton ?”
Diapason, July 2025
“Beinhauer joue l’ensemble dans une atmosphère claire, soulignant de façon naturelle les moments énigmatiques, rythmés ou lyriques, qui rendent justice à un compositeur polyvalent qui, comme le souligne Guy Erismann dans La musique dans les pays tchèques (Fayard, 2001), fut apprécié comme un découvreur et un défricheur. C’est peu dire, pourtant, que le véritable héritage réside en réalité dans le culte de l’émotion poétique et non dans l’inédit ou l’inouï.”
Crescendo, July 2025