WOLFGANG JACOBI (1894-1972): Passacaglia and Fugue, Op. 9, Suite im alten Stil, Op. 10, Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3, Sonatine, Chorale Prelude on “Durch Adams Fall” for 2 pianos, 13 Miniatures for Piano Four Hands.

Description: A half-Jew who survived the war in Berlin by keeping his head down, Jacobi was known before that for his advocacy of the saxophone (a “degenerate” instrument) and after the war as a teacher, administrator and composer of works for the accordion. Nothing here is German in the sense of dense or heavy; the two earliest works here are from 1922, an ice-blue Passacaglia and Fugue and a neo-baroque suite with some echoes of Grieg;’s Holberg Suite. The concise three-movement sonats of 1936 and 1939 still tend to the neo-baroque, a slower than usual Siciliano in No. 3 particularly pleasant, while the Miniatures are at times reminiscent of Ravel and the late (1968) Sonatine suggests the pre-war Paris of Poulenc and Martinu. 2 CDs for the price of 1. Tatjana Blome (piano), Holger Groschopp (second piano, four hands).