Pianophilia

Why posting scores by unknown 19th century composers??

Imagine a world with only three authors: Goethe, Eichendorff and Thomas Mann (replace with comparable authors of your country). Each of these may be called a true master (or genius if you like), using a very special sophisticated language and creating a very special special atmosphere. But nevertheless these authors represent only a fraction of what was written in their times, of the topics used and atmospheres created.

Same holds true for Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin. Liszt, Brahms.
We also need Eduard Franck, Gernsheim, Brüll, Fuchs a.o. to get a fairly complete image of the 19th century.
Sometimes "bread & butter" writing, sometimes naive, sometimes even bordering the amateurish, each of these composers nevertheless was able to write fine music, which - and may be that is the most important point - is distinctly different from what we are accustomed to by narrowing our listening experiences to the first mentioned masters.

Franck weeks (no, not Cesar but Eduard and Richard)

Eduard FRANCK (1817-1893, for some years a private pupil of Mendelssohn - see Malcom's recent posting)
Seinem Sohne Richard
Sechs Sonaten op. 40
No. 1 Solid writing; not as Mendelssohnian as one might expect (mostly lacking the polished elegance of many of M.'s piano pieces; cf. truly Mendelssohnian pieces by Sterndale Bennett, Clara Schumann a.o.)
Noteworthy that occasional unusual dissonances really stick out in this style which in general is conservative (without being dull imho).
Also excellent for sight-reading

alfor wrote: Same holds true for Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin. Liszt, Brahms.
We also need Eduard Franck, Gernsheim, Brüll, Fuchs a.o. to get a fairly complete image of the 19th century.
Sometimes "bread & butter" writing, sometimes naive, sometimes even bordering the amateurish, each of these composers nevertheless was able to write fine music, which - and may be that is the most important point - is dictinctly different from what we are accustomed to by narrowing our listening experiences to the first mentioned masters.

Well said that man. I look forward to your 19th Century postings.

To me, investigating the lesser known composers is a labour of love that usually yields results if one sticks at it and is prepared to wade through some mediocrity to find the gems. Lesser known composers did write great music, but perhaps the percentage of great compared to ordinary is much less when compared to Chopin/Mendelssohn/Liszt etc...

One could argue that Chopin is 99% genius, Brahms 98% and Schumann 0%, but when we look at the unsungs, we simply have to search a little harder.

Luv

Thal

thalbergmad wrote:...To me, investigating the lesser known composers is a labour of love that usually yields results if one sticks at it and is prepared to wade through some mediocrity to find the gems. Lesser known composers did write great music, but perhaps the percentage of great compared to ordinary is much less when compared to Chopin/Mendelssohn/Liszt etc...

One could argue that Chopin is 99% genius, Brahms 98% and Schumann 0%, but when we look at the unsungs, we simply have to search a little harder.

I totally agree!
Two gems I discovered recently are the Piano Quartets op. 6 and op. 47 by Friedrich Gernsheim (I will post op. 47 in due course). While a lot of good music was definitely NOT composed for the concert hall these works would please even the most demanding audiences.
It is no vilification (?) to say, that the sonatas by Eduard Franck may be limited to "domestic purposes".

Schumann 0% genius?
To quote John McEnroe, "You cannot be serious!"
(Sorry chaps, but imho he was 100% a genius. Look
no further than at his 3 string quartets for the proof.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQ_Ja02gTY

alfor wrote: It is no vilification (?) to say, that the sonatas by Eduard Franck may be limited to "domestic purposes".

Perhaps that is true and Franck's star will wane reasonably rapidly the more we study and hear his music. The one "forgotten" composer who I think will stay with us and be remembered for a long time is Rufinatscha.

The romantics amongst us who have not yet sampled his delicious music, would be well advised to seek out the extant recordings and broadcasts.

Thal

Eduard FRANCK
Sonate op. 40 No. 2

Eduard FRANCK
Sonate op. 40 No. 3 We have 568 members now. So it is quite amazing that fleubis is the only one who prints and plays my scores! What do the other 567 members do and what for did they join this forum???

Well old chap, I will be printing out and playing these.

I would print out and play more if my talent allowed.

Luv

Thal

alfor wrote:
We have 568 members now. So it is quite amazing that fleubis is the only one who prints and plays my scores! What do the other 567 members do and what for did they join this forum???

Most of them remain silent. We periodically clear out members that either never revisit or fail to revisit over the previous few months. That's why our membership remains small, whereas our immediately previous incarnation had over 4,000 members. We wish more members were active and would encourage members to discuss repertoire even if they cannot scan new material. Still, compared to other similar forums on the internet we may be the most enlightening, interesting, informed and I hope amusing.