Piano music of Salamon Jadassohn (1831-1902)

Piano music of Salomon Jadassohn (1831-1902)
John Kersey, piano
RDR CD42

Audio sample:  Andantino grazioso, op 31 no 1

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Total time: 68 mins 1 sec

Vier Phantasiestücke, op 31
1. Andantino grazioso (1’48”) 2. Quasi Allegretto (3’09”) 3. Mouvement de Valse très-animé (2’29”) 4. Marcato e vigoroso, non troppo Allegro (3’44”)

5. Mazurka brillante, op 19 (3’00”)

Improvisationen, op 48
6. Andante, non troppo lento (2’28”) 7. Lento (3’35”) 8. Non troppo agitato (2’07”) 9. Allegro vigoroso (3’50”)

Sechs Klavierstücke, op 49
10. Lento (2’16”) 11. Allegretto scherzando (2’08”) 12. Allegretto (4’30”) 13. In tempo moderato (3’04”) 14. Lento espressivo (2’43”) 15. Allegretto, non troppo vivo (4’30”)

16. Valse, op 132 no 3 (2’31”)

Suite, op 124
17. Einleitung – Mesto e patetico (5’02”) 18. Scherzo – Allegretto vivo (2’09”) 19. Andante tranquillo (4’03”) 20. Menuett – Andantino, un poco lento (2’15”) 21. Finale – Allegro di marcia (5’11”)

According to Jadassohn scholar Klaus-Peter Koch, there are two major reasons why the music of Salomon Jadassohn is not better known today. One is that, as a Jew, he was a victim of the anti-Semitism of Wilhelmine Germany, in which critics labelled his music as academic and dry, and the other is that he was overshadowed by his colleague at the Leipzig Conservatoire, Carl Reinecke.

As this recording – only the second ever to be devoted to Jadassohn, and the first to include any of his piano music – hopefully shows, Jadassohn was far from dry, instead being a composer of melodic felicity and great harmonic imagination, with his unexpected use of chords at times drawing parallels with Alkan and Jadassohn’s own pupil Busoni. There are around 140 works in total, written for every medium from symphonic works to lieder and characteristic pieces for the piano.

Jadassohn studied with Moritz Hauptmann and Moscheles at the Leipzig Conservatoire and also for three years (1849-51) with Liszt in Weimar. He admired the music of Liszt and Wagner greatly. In 1893 he was awarded a professorship at the Leipzig Conservatoire, a post which he held until his death. His pupils included Grieg (some of whose Lyric Pieces were surely influenced by the Jadassohn works on this disc), Busoni, Delius and Karg-Elert. He was considered a master of counterpoint.

Jadassohn’s music is not merely well-crafted, it is highly original. Whether in the grand conception of the Suite, op 124, or the sets of piano pieces, there is a subtlety and depth of feeling that mark these works out as worthy of greater attention. This is music that rarely behaves as one might expect.

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