Hugo Kauder - Chamber Music, Vol. 1 (Karen Bentley Pollick; Daniel Glover)

Information

Composer: Hugo Kauder

• Violin Sonata in A Minor
• Violin Sonata in G Major
• Viola Sonata in F Major

Karen Bentley Pollick, violin & viola

Daniel Glover, piano

Date: 2026

Label: Toccata Classics

_____________________

Hugo Kauder (1888–1972) was a Moravian-born composer who fled Vienna in 1938 as a result of Nazi persecution of Jewish musicians, eventually settling in the United States. His music is strongly rooted in the Viennese classical tradition, particularly the expressive and structural ideals associated with Johannes Brahms. Kauder’s extensive output, especially his chamber music, is noted for its contrapuntal clarity, emotional depth, and dignified restraint. The four sonatas referenced here exemplify his early stylistic balance between youthful intensity and mature compositional control, reflecting both personal voice and continuity with 19th-century Viennese musical traditions.

Karen Bentley Pollick is an American performer known for her wide-ranging work as a violinist, violist, pianist, and Hardanger fiddle player, with a repertoire spanning Baroque music, contemporary composition, and improvisation. Born in Palo Alto, California, she studied piano and violin with several prominent teachers, including Camilla Wicks and Josef Gingold, and earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University. Pollick has built an extensive international recording career, releasing works across numerous labels and championing contemporary composers through solo, chamber, and concerto projects. Her acclaimed recordings include collaborations with composers such as Ivan Sokolov and performances with orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. She is also active in film music and cross-genre performance, contributing to soundtracks such as The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Daniel Glover is an American concert pianist with an extensive international performance career spanning the United States and more than two dozen countries across Europe, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean. A graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied on scholarship, he trained with distinguished pianists including Jerome Lowenthal and Abbey Simon. Glover has performed in major concert halls worldwide and maintains a repertoire of approximately eighty concertos, reflecting both standard and lesser-known works. He has appeared with numerous orchestras internationally and is noted for championing neglected composers through premiere performances and recordings. In addition to his performing career, he has released multiple solo and orchestral recordings and has held teaching positions at several universities in the United States.