Clarinet Quintet / Piano Sonata / Piano Trio

Born in Austria and active in Vienna until 1938 when he emigrated to the USA before returning to Europe after the Second World War, Kurt Roger combined traditional, even archaic musical forms, with the adventurous harmonies of late Romanticism. His Clarinet Quintet, like that of Brahms, is a beautifully conceived late work, while the Variations on an Irish Air recalls his visit to Ireland in 1939. The Piano Trio displays Roger’s Classical Viennese roots and the Piano Sonata uses Baroque, Romantic and Modern elements in inventive combination.