• Home
  • Catalogue
  • Archive
  • About
  • The Pianist
  • Terms
  • Privacy

Romantic Discoveries Recordings

First recordings of nineteenth-century piano music

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Piano Sonatas of Eduard Franck (1817-93) vol. 3
The Circle of Brahms vol. 5 »

The Circle of Brahms vol. 4

July 18, 2011 by johnkersey

The Circle of Brahms, vol. 4
John Kersey, piano
RDR CD92

Audio sample: Reuss: Andante

Price: £18.99. Click the button below to purchase this CD securely online.

Total time: 70 minutes 35 seconds

Carl Georg Peter Grädener (1812-83): Piano Sonata in C minor, op. 28
1. Allegro molto e con brio (8’15”) 2. Grave assai lento (8’24”) 3. Scherzo finale molto vivace (7’21”)

Heinrich XXIV Prinz Reuss zu Köstritz (1855-1910)
4. Andante (5’01”)

Grädener: Fantastische Studien und Träumereien, op. 52, vol. 1
5. „Immer zu immer zu/Ohne Rast noch Ruh!” (3’52”) 6. Beschaulichkeit (2’58”) 7. Jüngling und Mädchen (3’35”) 8. Kampf, Entsagung, Kampf (4’06”) 9. Resignation (9’21”)

Gustav Nottebohm (1817-82): Six Romanesques, op. 2
10. Andantino (2’41”) 11. Allegro poco agitato (1’08”) 12. Andante cantabile (5’34”) 13. Allegro grazioso (2’00”) 14. Allegro (2’30”) 15. Allegro brioso (3’38”)

Our thanks to Dr Klaus Tischendorf and Peter Cook for supplying scores of these rare works.

Carl Grädener was born in Rostock and spent ten years as a cellist in Helsinki. He was then director of music at the Kiel Conservatoire for ten years, later teaching at the Vienna and Hamburg Conservatoires. His compositions include operas, symphonies and other large-scale works, as well as miniatures for piano and songs. His son Hermann also became a composer. His piano sonata op. 28 is a large-scale and ambitious work that has stylistic parallels with Brahms’ own early essays in the genre. Like Brahms, Grädener’s writing is tightly worked-out and highly pianistic, with a good deal of writing in double octaves and other virtuoso figurations. By contrast, the central slow movement is introverted and, while continuing the overall seriousness of the work, introduces a lyrical element that is otherwise absent. Grädener’s combination of scherzo and finale is an interesting innovation whose stormy character is fully in keeping with the Romanticism of his age without neglect of the essential backbone of Classical form.

Grädener’s first book of Fantastische Studien und Träumereien shows him to have been an effective scene-painter tending particularly towards the intense and dramatic, as in the first and fourth pieces. However, there is contrast here and the second piece, Beschaulichkeit (or Tranquillity) is full of bluff good humour of a slightly boisterous kind. The last of these studies, headed Resignation, is the most extended, with an agitated middle section leading to a long passage of repeated figuration for the left hand.

Martin Gustav Nottebohm is probably best known for his studies of Beethoven’s sketchbooks, but was also well regarded as a composer. After studies in Leipzig, where he met Mendelssohn and Schumann, he settled in Vienna in 1846. His first meeting with Brahms was in 1862 and the two men became close friends, with Brahms caring for Nottebohm in his last illness and making the arrangements for his funeral.

Nottebohm composed on a domestic scale, with most of his works for piano or chamber ensembles. His Variations on a Sarabande of J.S. Bach for piano duet was performed with Brahms as his duo partner. Brahms wrote in a letter to Heinrich von Herzogenberg (see earlier volumes of this series) that Nottebohm was among the modern practitioners of variation form.

Prince Heinrich XXIV Reuss zu Köstritz was born into the younger line of the Princely House of Reuss; his father was an amateur composer. He studied music at Dresden and then entered the Universities of Bonn and Leipzig where he studied with Wilhelm Rust. From 1881 he studied with Herzogenberg and through his good relations with Herzogenberg came to meet Brahms, who offered him some helpful advice on compositional matters.  As well as six symphonies, he wrote a quantity of chamber music, influenced in style by Herzogenberg and Mendelssohn. His works were admired by Reger and other contemporaries, but he fell from favour in the post-war years.

Advertisement

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Catalogue |

  • Samples

    Two hours of sample tracks are available here.
  • Contact

    registry@oxceluk.com

  • Recent releases

    • Romantic Discoveries Recordings now on YouTube
    • Recital at the Guild of Musicians and Singers, 17 May 2014
    • Franz von Holstein: Piano Sonata in C minor, op. 28
    • Piano Music of Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916), volume 2
    • Piano Music of Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916), volume 1
    • Piano Music of Sydney Smith (1839-89), volume 2
    • Piano Music of Herrmann Scholtz (1845-1918)
    • The Little Russians
    • Piano Music of Jakob Rosenhain Vol 2
    • Piano Music of Jakob Rosenhain Vol 1
    • The Circle of Brahms vol. 6
    • The Circle of Brahms vol. 5
    • The Circle of Brahms vol. 4
    • Piano Sonatas of Eduard Franck (1817-93) vol. 3
    • Piano music of Algernon Ashton (1859-1937)
  • Links

    • John Kersey
  • Categories

    • Announcements
    • Archive series
    • Catalogue
  • About our CDs

    All CD prices include worldwide shipping. Our CDs are made to order direct from the master files using premium CD-R stock. They are not commercially duplicated CDs. Each CD is supplied in a slimline jewel case with a printed label and insert containing full track details and timings.
  • Secure online purchasing

    We accept all major credit cards for online payment via our PayPal gateway. This makes purchasing simple and secure. To view the purchases in your cart, use the "View Cart" button at the top of this column.
  • PayPal logo

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Romantic Discoveries Recordings
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Romantic Discoveries Recordings
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.

    %d bloggers like this: