For the next instalment of Phoenix Edition’s Modern Times series, the piano works of Ernst Krenek are rediscovered. Piano works occupy an important position in Ernst Krenek’s compositional output. The pieces featured on this CD encompass several of Krenek’s creative periods as a composer. He was influenced by the late romantic styles of his teacher Franz Schreker and then strayed from this to embrace atonality, adopting a neo-classical style before using Schoenberg’s twelve tequnique but never drifting too far from tonality thus creating a very flexible, expressive and versatile musical language.

Russian born, Mikhail Korzhev is a talented musician. His great personal interest in the piano music of the 20th century took him to the “International Virginia Waring” competition that was dedicated to Ernst Krenek.