Robert Fürstenthal's story is an extraordinary one, a kind of "fairy-tale" of the twentieth century. Born in 1920, when Germany invaded, Fürstenthal took the path...

Robert Fürstenthal's story is an extraordinary one, a kind of "fairy-tale" of the twentieth century. Born in 1920, when Germany invaded, Fürstenthal took the path of many Viennese Jews and fled to the United States where he made his living as an accountant. The fact that he had written a few songs in his youth was forgotten but after 35 years, he rediscovered the woman who had been his first love, it rekindled both the flame of love as well as the urge to compose. Hundreds of songs - achingly lovely songs, laden with an autumnal sense of loss - flowed from Fürstenthal's pen from that moment on, preserving the spirit of fin-de-siecle Vienna under the Californian sun. Just before Fürstenthal died in November, 2016, at the age of 96, he had the satisfaction of hearing his songs in these wonderful performances - a last-minute vindication by two young musicians carrying his music into the future.