HANS PFITZNER (1869-1949): Piano paraphrases from his operas - Der arme Heinrich (transcr. Hermann Büchel [d.1941]), Die Rose vom Liebesgarten (transcr. Wilhelm Lehnert and Rudolf Siegel [1878-1948]), Das Christ-Elflein (transcr. Otto Singer [1863-1931]), Palestrina (transcr. Singer) and Das Herz (transcr. Felix Wolfes [1892-1971]).

Description: These are not your average transcriptions: they are mostly through-composed "greatest hits of" the opera in question, the transcribers providing their own linking passages (Die Rose lasts 31 minutes but Heinrich only 13 and Daz Herz is only the prelude to the second act). Pfitzner approved all of them although he was jealous of Singer, who felt the need to make other adjustments along the way to improve the pieces as performance pieces. Ulrich Urban (piano).