Known mostly during his lifetime as a leading conductor, and in particular for his interpretations of Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler, Paul Kletzki (1900-1973) was also a composer of note with his works including 3 symphonies, 4 string quartets, a piano concerto, a violin concerto and various other chamber and orchestral works. All his works were composed prior to the end of WWII and Kletzki didn't compose anything after the war saying that Nazism had destroyed his spirit. (German publishers by law had to destroy any material of Jewish origin.) Instead he concentrated on his conducting career, and his compositions were thought to be lost. However he had hidden a chest of his scores in the basement of a hotel in Milan, and this was later found in the hotel's ruins. He didn't open the chest thinking the scores would be unusable, but his wife opened it after his death and found them in good condition, and many of those works have now been performed or recorded.
The first string quartet dating from 1923 seems late romantic in style, while subsequent quartets are in a more obviously 20th century idiom. There's a definite feeling that the power of those later quartets might be fueled by his experiences of antisemitism and the war years. The 4th String Quartet was found as a separate manuscript and required some reconstruction. This recording of the Kletzki String Quartets is the World Premier release of the complete set, brilliantly played by the all-women Bacewicz String Quartet, and here they play as a single instrument veering between the intense and the profound. The recording itself is absolutely transparent capturing the performances in all their complexity. The double album is due to be released on 27th February 2026 on the Poland based "Prelude Classics" label, and you can preview the music and will be able to pre-order the release (called "Hidden Voices") here: Prelude Classics store.
Disc 1
Bacewicz String Quartet - Kletzki: String Quartet No.1 in A minor, Op.1
Bacewicz String Quartet - Kletzki: String Quartet No.2 in C minor, Op.13
Bacewicz String Quartet - Kletzki: String Quartet No.3 in D minor, Op.23
Bacewicz String Quartet - Kletzki: String Quartet No.4 (unpublished)
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