Continuity in Change
Jewish Composers in Berlin from 1930
Duo ID
Detlef Bensmann, Saxophone / Itay Dvori, Piano
In Berlin in the 1920s and 30s, the saxophone was considered the instrument of the modern age. It stood for the new attitude to life as well as for social progress. Of the composers active in Berlin during that period, it was mainly Jewish composers who incorporated saxophones into their work. The radical social, political, cultural as well as personal changes continued, and are still ongoing today. This has led, in recent years, to a resurgence in the role of the saxophone in Berlin. Jewish composers who came back from exile or sent their work to Berlin played a significant role in this very welcome development, as did those from subsequent generations who discovered Berlin as a new centre of cutting-edge cultural modernity and left their own mark on it.
In their programme, the saxophonist Detlef Bensmann and the pianist Itay Dvori present a selection of representative pieces by e.g. Erwin Schulhoff, Paul Dessau, Ursula Mamlok and Darius Milhaud, as well as their own compositions and improvisations.