Achtung, Aufnahme!!

Achtung, Aufnahme!! is the Ebony Band’s final album. Conductor and oboist Werner Herbers leaves behind a legacy of discovering, archiving, performing and recording works of ‘forgotten’ composers from the interbellum era. Herbers and the Ebony Band have given over 200 concerts around the world promoting the compositions of that time: often absurdist, jazz-influenced and dadaistic - styles and influences that the Nazis labelled as ‘perverse’. Just as they were gaining public popularity, many composers of that time were banned, had to flee or were killed in concentration camps. The archive of the Ebony Band’s information and discovered ensemble works of over 125 composers will be transferred to the Netherlands Music Institute in The Hague, where Herbers’ life’s work will remain accessible for generations to come.

All the pieces on this recording were written around 1930, have rarely been heard live and are world premiere recordings: Achtung, Aufnahme!! by Wilhelm Grosz, "Komödien aus Europa" by Walter Goehr, and "Die vertauschten Manuskripte" by Mátyás Seiber.