Pianophilia

Dear Alfred,

I so appreciate your dedicating the Rudorff postings to me!! I had just finished composing a very long posting letter in return, and for some reason it was lost during the process of posting!! I have no idea why that happened, and it's virtually impossible to remember all the comments, but I'll try my best...

I love the Rudorff Impromptu! It starts out with a very capriccious style (full of many piano pranks!) and then works into a ravishingly beautiful middle section. Rudorff indicated "Allegretto Grazioso" for this section, but (imho) perhaps "Moderato con molto espressione" might be more fitting. My evil twin (Dr. H) quite agrees with this! Alas he's a far better piano player than I am, so I listen to his playing through all the Kaun, Gernsheim, Rudorff, Fuchs; (indeed all the composers you have introduced us to) all day and night long! What a sweet gem of piano music this is.

And the Rudorff Variations I find to be superbly crafted. Very imaginative, never losing the player's interest for a moment. The title is quite fitting to the nature of the Variations presented by this work. All in all, I find Rudorff (in-mh-opinion) to be another of the forgotten piano geniuses of the past.

I'd also like to express my gratitude for your postings of the wonderful Sonatas by Franck. And I applaud your intentions to focus a number of postings on the 19th century Romantic piano literature. But of course not to forget all the magnificent post-Romantic pieces (ca. to 1930), which seem to grow in numbers the further your research takes you!

Ausgezeichnet!! Vielen herzlichen Dank fur alles wunderbare Klaviermusik...das macht des Lebens sehr gesund und immernoch vielen spass!

Dein,

Frank (a.k.a. Dr. H. )

Dear Frank,

you are welcome! Your knowledgeable comments are always much appreciated!!

Best regards

alfor (a.k.a. Alfred)

Dear Alfor,

I certainly agree with Franks assessment of the Rudorff pieces, they are truly delightful and great fun to play.

So a few words about this particular Franck sonata which is one of his better ones. The Adagio contains some luscious piano writing while the last movement, Allergo Vivace, just takes off with the wind--what a joy and really sounds at the specified tempo. (This is the kind of piece that showcases one of my particular pianistic problems in that I end up playing the last pages considerably faster that the start but metronomes are so boring).

Draude FRANCK
Sonate op. 40 No. 5

...the missing two...

Heinrich Gottlieb NOREN
Drei Klavierstücke in mittlerer Schwierigkeit op. 20
Nr. 1 Allegretto grazioso
Nr. 2 Marsch

Dear piano teachers,

you have been searching for ages for a good and fairly easy introduction to the baroque Suite?

Here it is:

The baroque Suite in a nutshell (each a mere 6 pages):

Jacob Adolf HÄGG (Swedish composer; 1850-1928. I previously posted his Sonata)
Drei kleine Suiten im alten Style
I. F Moll

Jacob Adolf HÄGG
Drei kleine Suiten im alten Style
II. H Moll

Jacob Adolf HÄGG
Drei kleine Suiten im alten Style
III. Es Dur

Eduard FRANCK
Sonate op. 40 No. 6

alfor wrote:Jacob Adolf HÄGG
Drei kleine Suiten im alten Style
II. H Moll

Hägg Kleine Suite II.pdf

Alfor, I just love this little suite. That opening in French Overture style really sets the tone. Wish these suites had more movements, but what there is is very fine!