Pianon Concerto op.4

Maria Herz, born in 1878 in Cologne. In the 1920s she was recognized as a dynamic element of the contemporary music scene. The "most important theoretician" of New Music, Theodor W. Adorno, was interested in her work and her style, which was rooted in late romanticism and directed towards modernism via expressionism, New Objectivity and neobaroque, while she retained her playful charm. She stood close to a true Who's Who of contemporary musicians, including the Budapest String Quartet, Gregor Piatigorsky, Emanuel Feuermann, Hermann Abendroth, Otto Klemperer and Hans Rosbaud. Only five songs (1910) and a transcription of Bach's Chaconne for string quartet (1927) were published during her lifetime, but all her 30 orchestral works, solo concertos, chamber music pieces and art songs have been preserved in manuscript.