Johann Ludwig Trepulka

Piano Pieces op. 2

The Viennese composer Johann Ludwig Trepulka, born in 1903, was a pupil and friend of Josef Matthias Hauer, who held the young man in very high esteem. The Piano pieces titled after words by Nicolaus Lenau published in 1924 are Trepulka's only printed works. He was conscripted to the German armed forces in 1944 and was reported missing near Danzig in 1945. We have to thank the pianist Herbert Henck (first recording of the pieces at Radio Bremen, new recording for ECM) for the fact that we can re-discover this wonderful music, which is atonal and twelve-tone, but in no way dissonant. The tender and atmospheric music is magical and unfathomable. This reprint of the work, which has been out of print for many years, makes the music available once again to all enthusiasts.