The disaster of the extinction of culture and civil society by the Nazi regime, intensified by his own dismay and enforced exile, constitutes the basis of Walter Arlen’s compositional oeuvre. This downfall is symbolized by Die letzte Blaue, the name of the last night-time tram of Vienna Transport, identifiable by its blue light, and a homage to an unforgettable hit of the time.

Apart from works like this one for piano solo (Monotypes, Mementos), this double CD by the Polish-Canadian pianist Daniel Wnukowski also contains works for piano and violin (Daniel Hope) and songs for soprano (Rebecca Nelsen) and baritone (Christian Immler).

A unique feature is the three-part work Arbeit Macht Frei for piano and metronome, which was written in 1995 after a visit to the former extermination camp of Auschwitz.

Walten Arlen is one of the last living composers of the generation the Nazis sought to extinguish. After his flight from Vienna in 1939, he made a significant contribution to the cultural transfer of Austrian musical tradition, not only as the music critic of the Los Angeles Times, but also as the founder of the Music Department of Loyala Marymount University. Arlen, who was born in 1920, has always been a composer of the small form and has written tonal music. This double CD offers a broad cross-section of his important song oeuvre.