Description
Alfred Kastner Premiere Etude de Concert, op. 17
With Alfred Kastner survives a particular style of “turn of the century” Viennese nostalgia. A student of Zamara and close friend of the violinist Fritz Kreisler, he traveled from one orchestral post to the next. After playing in Dresden, Varsaw, Budapest, Zurich, Philadelphia, London, and New York, he settled in Los Angeles. In the “schleppend” style of Mahler, the Etude de Concert uses undulating arpeggios to create powerful surges of sentiment that end in sublimation. Renowned jazz harpist Stella Castellucci, who was Kastner’s last pupil in Los Angeles, played this piece in her youth under the composer’s tutelage.
