It is often forgotten that the Second Viennese School was, in fact, comprised of more than three people, and today's leaf is the creation of one of the most prominent members of the younger generation of Serialists. Paul Dessau (1894-1979) spent most of his career in exile from his German homeland, first in France and later in Hollywood, eventually emigrating to East Berlin in 1948. Many of his exile compositions were early Disney soundtracks and silent movie soundtracks, but he never totally ignored the war, as evidenced by one of his most effective piano compositions, Guernica (after the Picasso painting). I can't show that hear, as it's more than a leaf, but what I can show is the last piece he wrote before leaving Hollywood: B-A-C-H.
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The B-A-C-H motive (B-flat, A, C, B natural) is the most enduring musical cryptogram of all time, first coined by J. S. Bach as an inside joke and copied ever since. There have been dozens of modern works paying tribute to this motive, and Dessau's is one of the densest. Playing out across a mere 11 bars, the study is an assured intersection of serial rigor and expressionistic wroughtedness. High grace and savage punctuation meet each other, and if this piece is a musical farewell to Dessau's piano students, as its published preface informs me, it's a fine way to send yourself off. I've made my own recording that I think is a good reflection of how I want to hear the piece, although there is an arguable wiggle room available for those who disagree.
~PNK
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