Orff-Schulwerk Vol. 3 Piano Music

Orff-Schulwerk Volume 1: Piano Music combines the musical styles of both Carl Orff and his wife Gertrud Orff. It is also the world premiere recording of Carl Orff's Bordunuebungen (drone exercises), representing an approach to piano playing based purely on improvisation. Orff's Bordunuebungen was developed for work with the advanced pupils at the Gunther-Schule. 

 "Growing out of improvisation, these pieces always lead back to improvisation," writes Orff in his Dokumentation, "finding out, invention and discovery were what mattered. The players should grow ears on their fingers." Gunild Keetman captures these lessons in her Erinnerungen (Memories) as follows: "When Orff sat down at the piano and began to play - I don't recall what he played, but rather how: that is to say with four or more hands - he magically created new sounds...Or he improvised new and surprising material and could hardly stop playing..."

The choice of works on this recording give at least a hint of the stylistic variety which short piano pieces can exhibit. Gertrud Orff's Kleine Klavierstücke of 1954 are also succinct condensed versions of material and expression, yet they are of a completely different nature than Carl Orff's works. Gertrud's twenty-four miniatures are more refined and discordant than the Klavieruebungen, composed by her husband, Carl Orff.  

Her sensitive works are often reminiscent of Japanese watercolor paintings; they were deftly developed on the spur of the moment. They "came to be and took form as finished structures," as Gertrud Orff herself writes. They were invented at the keyboard as felt forms, as works created from the hand, for the hand. Some of these pieces seem, in their clearness, like the beginning of a story to be told. They are like an opening such as, "Once upon a time..." but a true ending is often lacking. Several pieces end without harmonic resolution.

Track List:

1. Klavier-Übung (Carl Orff, 1934): Teil I, Nr. 1, 2, 5, 3, 4, 6, 7
2. Klavier-Übung (Carl Orff, 1934): Teil I, Nr. 8, 9, 14, 11, 15, 16, 13, 10, 12 
3. Klavier-Übung (Carl Orff, 1934): Teil I, Nr. 17 - 21 
4. Klavier-Übung (Carl Orff, 1934): Teil II, Nr. 22 - 29
5. Klavier-Übung (Carl Orff, 1934): Teil II, Nr. 30 - 40
6. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft I, Nr. 1
7. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft I, Nr. 2 
8. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft I, Nr. 3
9. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft I, Nr. 4 
10. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft I, Nr. 5
11. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft I, Nr. 6
12. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft II, Nr. 1
13. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft II, Nr. 2
14. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft II, Nr. 3
15. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft II, Nr. 4
16. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft II, Nr. 5
17. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft II, Nr. 6
18. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft III, Nr. 1
19. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft III, Nr. 2
20. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft III, Nr. 3
21. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft III, Nr. 4
22. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft III, Nr. 5
23. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft III, Nr. 6
24. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft IV, Nr. 1
25. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft IV, Nr. 2
26. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft IV, Nr. 3
27. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft IV, Nr. 4
28. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft IV, Nr. 5
29. Kleine Klavierstücke (Gertrud Orff, 1954): Heft IV, Nr. 6
30. Bordunübungen (Carl Orff): Nr. 1, vierhändig: Nr. 1, vierhändig
31. Bordunübungen (Carl Orff): Nr. 4, vierhändig: Nr. 4, vierhändig 
32. Bordunübungen (Carl Orff): Nr. 5: Nr. 5
33. Bordunübungen (Carl Orff): Nr. 6: Nr. 6
34. Bordunübungen (Carl Orff): Nr. 7, vierhändig: Nr. 7, vierhändig
35. Bordunübungen (Carl Orff): Nr. 9-8-9, vierhändig: Nr. 9-8-9, vierhändig
36. Bordunübungen (Carl Orff): Nr. 11, vierhändig: Nr. 11, vierhändig  
37. Bordunübungen (Carl Orff): Nr. 13: Nr. 13
38. Bordunübungen (Carl Orff): Nr. 14: Nr. 14