Josef Paul Labor (29 June 1842 – 26 April 1924) was an Austrian pianist, organist, and composer of the late Romantic era. Labor was an influential music teacher. As a friend of some key figures in Vienna, his importance was enhanced. (en.wikipedia.org)
The blind composer Josef Labor was acquainted with many key figures of early 20th century Vienna, including pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost an arm in World War I. For him, Labor wrote the very first piano concerto for the left hand. Paul's brother, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, played the clarinet and may have given the first performances of the clarinet chamber works heard here. Ludwig claimed that Labor was one of the six greatest composers of all time, along with Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms. That was going a bit far, but from the evidence here, there is no question that Labor had studied Brahms well and produced startlingly effective facsimiles. Sample the finale of the Trio in G minor for clarinet, viola, and piano left hand; it could easily be taken for a forgotten Brahms work. Labor did not manage Brahms' exquisite combination of limpid tunes with dizzying structural complexity, but at times, he came very close. (James Manheim /TiVo; Qobuz)
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