Reading the memoirs of Ernst Krenek while listening to a new boxed set of his five symphonies—recorded over the past two decades by the North German Radio Philharmonic Hanover and released in May by CPO—helps rekindle the Austrian-born American immigrant’s world of strength and beauty, revealing the tumultuous life and searing music of an unjustly overlooked composer.

As we approach the Pierrot Lunaire centennial, its instrumentation, once reflective of Viennese weltschmerz, has been internationalized, turned timeless, and endured both modernism and postmodernism. Briefly tracing its legacy reveals a story of artists grappling with tradition as well as practical realities.