Milhaud and Stravinsky were not the only early 20th-century composers interested in the new jazz. In this program, the first in a series titled Twentieth Century Foxtrots, pianist Gottlieb Wallisch explores the dance pieces of various composers of the period, some better known than others. This first release covers Austrian and Czech composers. The Austrians are Ernst Krenek, Julius Bittner, Ralph Benatzky, Franz Mittler, Wilhelm Grosz, Leopold Kraus-Elia, Felix Petyrek, and Hanns Eisler.

Krenek, one of many artists who emigrated to the USA to avoid the Nazis, is known for works in an atonal style, though his earliest success was an opera with a jazz influence, Jonny spielt auf (1926). Three of the four selections here are transcriptions from that work (none of them a foxtrot), and I have to say they sound better in their orchestral garb. Benatzky worked primarily in Vienna (though he was Czech born). His international hit was an operetta, The White Horse Inn. Here we have three pieces from a ballet titled The Five Wishes (1928): a foxtrot, a Boston, and a tango. Eisler also emigrated, working in America and ending up in Paris. In both countries...