KLEINaberKUNST invites you to (re-)discover the work of a major composer of Berlin cabarets, revues, and films during the Twenties: Mischa Spoliansky.

Spoliansky began his cabaret career just after the First World War, in Max Reinhardt's "Schall und Rauch" (Noise and Smoke), and shortly thereafter in Trude Hesterberg's "Wilde Bühne" (Wild Stage). Here he worked with Friedrich Hollaender and Werner Richard Heymann and became an acclaimed composer as well as a pianist and accompanist.

Spoliansky found his ideal lyricist in Marcellus Schiffer, whose verses reflected the "new objectivity" of the day, but also the decadence and neuroses hidden beneath the glittering surface of the "Golden Twenties". Recordings of hits from their revues, starring Blandine Ebinger, Margo Lion, Oscar Karlweis and Willy Prager, capture and preserve this brilliance.

One group of young men in particular caught Spoliansky's attention and learned the ropes in his hit revues Zwei Krawatten (Two Bow-Ties) and Wie werde ich reich und glücklich (How to Be Rich and Happy): the Comedian Harmonists, who would go on to give sensational concert programs that were the rage of Europe.

As a pianist and accompanist, Spoliansky represents the finest in the European musical tradition, while enriching that heritage with a virtuoso talent for improvisation and modern jazz rhythms. In this vein, the CD presents the first German recording of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" from 1927 with Spoliansky at the piano, joined by the Julian Fuhs Orchestra. His art song records with Richard Tauber further attest to Spoliansky's tremendous musical sensibility; the intimate accompaniment is always natural, never forced or ostentatious.

The one-act opera "Rufen Sie Herrn Plim!" (Call Mr. Plim), written for the Berlin Kabarett der Komiker (Comedians' Cabaret), was an artistic experiment which attracted great critical attention.  The excerpts offered in this collection, from a broadcast performance on April 14, 1932, are the only surviving live recordings of the cabaret during the Weimar Republic.  Spoliansky's success was short-lived, however, for the following March, he and his family barely managed to flee Germany to Austria and then to London.

In honor of his hundredth birthday, KLEINaberKUNST is proud to present this collection of historic recordings spanning from Spoliansky's first major success, the sultry dance tune "Morphium" of 1920, up to his work for anti-Nazi propaganda broadcasts in the German-language service of the BBC during the Second World War. Many rare recordings from Spoliansky's personal archives are included.