Burghardt - Intermezzo Op.30 nr.1 (1948).pdf
Burghardt - Impromptu Op.29 Nr.1(1934).pdf
It has been a long time since this thread was active but now I have a small offering and some good news.
You will find here the Intermezzo Op.30 No.1 by Hans-Georg Burghardt (1909-1993) and his Impromptu Op.29 No.1. Don't let the opus numbers deceive you he was always composing. Unfortunately for him and probably us all or at least all the unpublished works prior to the 2nd World war that he kept at home in Breslau were destroyed by allied bombing and so he re-used the opus numbers.
After the war when that part of Germany was annexed by the Communists he taught music and lived in Halle until his death in 1993. Friends of mine were regular visitors to his home and became very close friends with him and his wife, so much so that over time they had copies of most of his music that was in manuscript and copies of the published works. He had music published by Littmann, Litolff, Hofmeister, Peters, Merseburger and Barenreiter. After his death I came to know his music and played all of his piano music for his widow whenever she visited and have the stamp of approval from her and another old pianist who knew Burghardt well, she lived to be 99 and was a real character.
In his lifetime he had 2 piano sonatas published, the 1st in 1934 by Littmann and the 6th in 1938 also by Littmann, this Sonata was republished by Merseburger in 1981, all the others (2-5 and 7-12) remained in manuscript.
A year ago Laurentius Verlag published the Cello Sonata Op.53 which I had set in Finale and just a week or two ago they published the first volume of Sonatas for piano (1-6) the second part should follow shortly I hope, again I have been busy helping with the type-setting in Finale. The quality of the writing is technically very high and his style is very personal using a modal scale system of his own invention which he called the "sekundskalen" because the scale is built on the interval of the second but with a floating third and sixth of the scale, the leading note being always a whole tone step and never a semitone. The third loses thereby it's importance and so a chord without the third in it is quite permissible and even preferred. Personally my favourite Sonatas are 1-3 and 9-12, No.9 being a single movement Sonata lasting about 17 minutes and is my favourite of them all with No.12 coming close. You will have to wait a while before they become available but the wait will be worth it, however Vol.1 is now available with some very interesting and challenging pieces. If you are looking for a label to attach to the style then you have a tonal composer who seems to combine neo-classicism and neo-romanticism with a dash of Hollywood and the influence of Shostakovich.
I have attached the two files above as a taster for you, the Op.29 was only discovered by me a few years ago after it had thought to have been lost and I computerised it, the Op.30 is a facsimile of his handwriting which is exceedingly legible, Op.30 proved very popular with it's accessibility and with just enough virtuosity to satisfy anyone so do try it out and then demand that your local library buys a copy of the Sonatas immediately. Treat yourself too, why not!
