Józef Koffler (1896 – 1944?)
Stringtrio op.10 (1929)
Die Liebe – Cantata op.14 (1931)

Konstanty Regamey (1907-1982)
Quintet for clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello and piano (1942 – 1944) (live recording)

 The Ebony Band was founded in 1990 by Werner Herbers. Its core is made up of musicians from the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The ensemble specializes in modern, adventurous music primarily from the first half of the 20th century. Special attention is focused on the (frequently unjustly) forgotten music of lesser known composers, deemed to be worthy of revival. The Ebony Band devoted many programs to German and Czech music at the time of the Weimar Republic, which the nazis called ‘degenerated music’. Other programs focused on composers involved in the Spanish Civil War, Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas and unknown Russians from the Twenties. Several concerts have been given in collaboration with actors, dancers and writers, or with the addition of slide or film projection. The Ebony Band has also performed operas (Wolpe, Gronostay, Grosz) and radioplays (Seiber, Gronostay, Kahn, Goehr). Many of the ensembles recordings have been awarded prizes: Edisons, Gramophone’s Editors Choice, Diapason d’Or.

The extended Ebony Big Band played and recorded jazz influenced music by cool-jazz composers (Carisi, Russo, Russell) and repertoire of the legendary Innovations Orchestra of Stan Kenton (Graettinger, Rugolo, Marks). After 17 years of performing in Europe (Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Warsaw, Prague and all over the Netherlands) and North America (New York, Toronto), the group stopped regular concert giving. The goal of the group now is the registration of detailed information about the music of the interbellum on record and the internet.
www.ebonyband.nl

Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Toronto where she studied with Mary Morrison. Further studies took place at the Banff Centre for the Arts and at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in Holland with Meinard Kraak.
Barbara Hannigan is a frequent guest of the Berlin Philharmonic, and has also performed with the Bayerischen Rundfunk Orkest, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, l’Orchestre National de France, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, Paris Opera, Netherlands Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, and the AskoSchoenberg Ensemble, among others. Recent and upcoming engagements include a European tour of Boulez' Pli selon pli with Ensemble Intercontemporain under the composer's baton, Stravinksy's Rossignol with the Berlin Philharmonic, Pascal Dusapin's opera Passion at the Theatre du Champs Elysees, directed by Sasha Waltz, and Mozart's Requiem with the Orquestra Nacional de Madrid. She has worked with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Pierre Boulez, Reinbert de Leeuw, Esa Pekka Salonen, Kurt Masur, Jukka Pekka Saraste, John Storgards, and Oliver Knussen, and has had the privilege of working with composers including György Ligeti, Louis Andriessen, Gerald Barry, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pascal Dusapin, Oliver Knussen and Henri Dutilleux.
Her operatic roles include Gepopo and Venus in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, Lucia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Lei in Dusapin's Passion, Saskia in Andriessen's Writing to Vermeer, Anne Truelove in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, the title role in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Belinda in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and Armida in Händel’s Rinaldo. She will sing the world premieres of the new operas by Toshio Hosokawa (directed by Sasha Waltz) at La Monnaie and George Benjamin (directed by Luc Bondy) at the Festival of Aix en Provence, with upcoming operatic engagements at La Scala Milan, Barcelona's Teatro Liceu, and Covent Garden in London.

Werner Herbers heeft een reputatie te verliezen wanneer het gaat om het ontdekken van vergeten twintigste eeuwse muziek, vooral die uit het interbellum. Ontdekken is één ding, tot klinken brengen vereist weer heel andere eigenschappen: lef, doorzettingsvermogen en charisma. Herbers had dat in overvloed, en stichtte de Ebony Band, een topensemble waarmee geweldige concerten en prachtige cd-producties tot stand kwamen. Totdat de raad voor cultuur in haar oneindige wijsheid besliste dat de Ebony Band niets toevoegde aan het Nederlandse muzikale landschap en adviseerde de subsidie in te trekken. Aldus geschiedde en Herbers ging ondergronds en de virtuele Ebony Band was geboren. Ze wordt hier gepresenteerd op een cd die trots de titel ‘Poolse Meesterwerken’ voert, en daarmee is niets teveel gezegd. De instrumentalisten op deze schijf verdienen de hoogste lof. Extra lof komt toe aan pianist Gerard Bouwhuis voor een bijdrage die dicht in de buurt van een pianoconcert komt. De spelers in het Strijktrio van Koffler klinken alsof ze het werk al jaren op hun repertoire hebben. Barbara Hannigan heeft haar sporen ruimschoots verdiend in de meest moeilijke en veeleisende eigentijdse partituren. Deze cd is die een grote lacune vult in de catalogus, de Ebony Band waardig, virtueel of niet.
www.Opus Klassiek

 (…) Herbers energetic search for unjustly neglected or forgotten composers and their work has been a feature of the music scene for many years now, bringing obscure but valuable pieces to vibrant life through the excellent Ebony Band. This disc is of chamber music, so Herbers is absent as conductor, but his foreword to the CD outlines his decision to perform these pieces and describes how Koffler and Regamey has been received by the players: “never have I seen my musicians react so enthusiastically and emotionally to music I have placed before them.” He also asks why these pieces are so rarely heard – are they too technically demanding, too subtle for our time?

Both of these composers are Polish. Koffler is noted as being the first and for a long time the only Polish composer to embrace Schoenbergian 12-note serialism, like Berg, integrating it into neo-classical and expressionist styles. Koffler was recognised in his own time, publishing articles and holding respectable posts, promoting contemporary Polish music and being involved in the ISCM – his work mostly being performed locally in his adopted home town of Lvov. Little is known about the fate of him and his family, and the question mark against his final year speaks untold volumes. They are thought to have been killed by the Nazis in 1944 while attempting to find somewhere to hide beyond Lvov. (…)

As with many ‘Ebony Band’ recordings, there is a live feel to the performances even where the recordings have been done without an audience. The Quintet was recorded in Amsterdam’s remarkable Felix Meritis concert hall, the location which served as the main venue before the Concertgebouw was built and a location dripping fwith a palpable sense of history. There are one or two very slight extraneous noises in this live recording, but nothing which takes away from a superlative performance. The Koffler pieces ooze quality at every level, easily filling the spacious acoustic of the Bachzaal. This entire programme is like a gem found amongst the burnt ravages of war and occupation, in Konstanty Regamy’s case standing as an inspirational landmark of creativity in times of extreme adversity, all done with no sense of nationalist fervour or jingoism. It is a tragedy that so few of Jósef Koffler’s works survive, but both of the pieces here are more than just a fine memorial. Are these works to demanding, too subtle? They demand attention certainly, and are a veritable kaleidoscope of subtle invention, soundly refuting any preconceived ideas of dodecaphonic unattractiveness.

(…) Laurels to all concerned here for providing us with fabulous new discoveries way outside the normal repertoire.
Music Web

Werner Herbers introduceert twee Poolse componisten van wie in het Westen niemand ooit zal hebben gehoord, maar die prachtige stukken hebben geschreven.Het Strijkkwartet op. 10 en Die Liebe-Cantata op.14 van Jozef Koffler , die (vermoedelijk) in 1944 ten offer viel aan de naziterreur in zijn woonplaats Lvov, werden nog niet eerder op plaat vastgelegd. En het zijn ontdekkingen van kwaliteit. Het strijkkwartet is een heel mooi en lyrisch twaalftoonswerk in een stijl die raakt aan de zachtere kanten van het werk van Alban Berg. In Die Liebe-Cantate , met een fraaie vocale bijdrage van sopraan Barbara Hannigan, verkent Koffler de tedere kanten van de twaalftoonstechniek. Maar het stuk waar de meeste aandacht naar uitgaat is het wonderbaarlijke driedelige Kwintet uit 1944 van Konstanty Regamey. Wat een inventiviteit, wat een kleuren, wat een zeggingskracht! Een meesterwerk dat nog slechts door weinigen is gehoord.
Parool

 (...) Herbers zet met zijn handjevol musici de verkenning van onbekend repertoire voort. (...) Geruggensteund door zacht pendelende noten zingt sopraan Barbara Hannigan de bijbelse teksten uit de cantate Die Liebe van Koffler met verstilde intensiteit.
NRC

 Koffler’s Cantate Die Liebe is spannend en vrij van techniek, als de sopraan Barbare Hannigan bijna instrumentaal invalt wordt het bijzonder mooi (…)
(…) Een vondst is dit programma zeker, de uitvoering mag er zijn.
Dagblad van het Noorden

 (…) buitengewoon urgente muziek die vooral de vraag oproept hoe het komt dat zulke werken zo lang onder het stof zijn blijven liggen. (…) Barbara Hannigan zorgt op deze cd met de cantate Die Liebe van Koffler voor het meesterwerk onder de meesterwerken.
Luister 10

(...) Again the performances seem dedicated and understanding. The intimate recorded sound is satisfying throughout.(...) Highly recommended!
Fanfare