These early works reveal an exceptional melodic gift and outstanding compositional technique. The String quartet was highly praised by Joseph Joachim, the great violinist and friend of Brahms. As a student of Friedrich Gernsheim, his Sonata won the Mendelssohn Prize at the Berlin Academy of Art. Waghalter’s lyrical imagination was to be subsequently expressed in his operas, performed to acclaim at the Deutsches Opernhaus in Berlin-Charlottenburg, where he was principal conductor from 1913 to 1923.

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Naxos has released its recording of Ignatz Waghalter’s Violin Concerto, Rhapsodie for Violin, Sonata for Violin and Piano and two short pieces for violin.

From the Naxos announcement:

Born only two years earlier than Webern and successful as a conductor in Berlin, Ignatz Waghalter built on the tradition of Schumann and Brahms rather than seeking revolutionary innovation. The inspiring melodic and rhythmic invention of his 1911 Violin Concerto led a contemporary reviewer to recommend that ‘violinists should take it up without hesitation!’, while the earlier Violin Sonata won the coveted Mendelssohn Prize in 1902. A milestone in violinist Irmina Trynkos’ ‘Waghalter Project’ (www.waghalterproject.com), this release brings to light one of the most unjustly forgotten musicians of interwar Europe.

More information can be found at the Naxos website.

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Naxos has released its second recording of orchestral music by Ignatz Waghalter including:

• New World Suite
• Mandragola: Overture and Intermezzo
• Masaryk’s Peace March

From the Naxos announcement:

Ignatz Waghalter rose from an impoverished childhood in Poland to become conductor at the newly founded Deutsches Opernhaus in Berlin in 1912. Here, the first performance of his youthful comic opera Mandragola, attended by luminaries such as Richard Strauss, Busoni, and Humperdinck, won him huge acclaim: the Overture and Intermezzo reveal his orchestral mastery. With the rise of Nazism Waghalter left Europe for America where he strongly identified with the Afro-American cause, and began work on the New World Suite, ten short movements of rich melodic imagination that illustrate his constant desire to write approachable and lively music. Volume 1 in this series [8.572809] was an ICMA (International Classical Music Awards) nominee.

More information can be found at the Naxos website.

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