Pianophilia

Felix DREYSCHOCK (1860-1906, nephew of the better known Alexander, of whom Heinrich Heine wrote: "He does not play like Dreyschock, but like drey Schock of him!" "Schock" being an old measurement of quantity, meaning the number of sixty.)
Badinage Morceau de genre op. 27

Second-hand copies of Grünfeld scores have become considerably rare, so I post this alternative scan, although from a browned and taped copy.

Alfred GRÜNFELD
Humoreske No. 2 op. 35 für Pianoforte

alfor wrote:Felix DREYSCHOCK (1860-1906, nephew of the better known Alexander, of whom Heinrich Heine wrote: "He does not play like Dreyschock, but like drey Schock of him!" "Schock" being an old measurement of quantity, meaning the number of sixty.)
Badinage Morceau de genre op. 27

Dreyschock, F. Badinage op.27.pdf

Cute, but he clearly did not take lessons from his Uncle.

No octaves for a start.

Thal

Alfor, we now have two sets of variations by Herr Scholtz and they are quite different in their invention. I would say the the op.31 is much more sophisticated than his op.27. and I agree this set is indeed technically more difficult that the Beethoven variations due to the devices employed, which goes to show how piano technique progressed from the time of Beethoven (not to the mention the pianos)..The 10ths are always somewhat difficult for me since I must break them, but Scholtz makes good use of their occasional occurrences.

Dear Frank, my right hand wasn't up to playing La Campanella after that Op.40 workout, but I did try it!

Hans HUBER
Acht Klavierstücke op. 85If you are able to accept that H. was a conservative composer deeply rooted in the
esthetics of the 19th century, you will be able to enjoy these masterly written pieces.

Alfor, the Huber pieces are yet another great find. It's hard to say which I like more. Very well written as you say, and seems rather in the vein Schumann, the novelette, for instance.

I was shocked to see a one bar time signature change from 2/4 to 1/4 and back to 2/4 in the Humoresque and for years have been trying to discover when composers realized they could do these kind of time signature changes.

The opening Traumerei was a great entry into the collection and finally got my mind to the idea that there is ANOTHER traumerei besides Schumann's and one where Horowitz's performance isn't engraved into my brain.

These pieces provided me with a great deal of enjoyment today. I'll bet Frank will love these pieces, too.

Dear Alfred,

Once again I am in your debt for introducing us all to another great, forgotten genius. The Huber pieces are just magnicent...incredibly rich in tone, and a joy to play. Dear fleubis, I second all of your comments, and most especially note the similarity to Schumann (the first Novelette came to my mind too when playing these!) I can be very happy in a world filled with "Schumann-esque" composers!! This is not to say that Huber doesn't have an original voice (these pieces clearly show he's a superb melodist), just noting that the Schumann influence is quite undeniable. On first read I didn't notice the quick change in time signature in the Humoresque...Kudos to Huber for realizing that you can pick up an extra measure if you need to!

This wonderful flow of Romantic Piano literature has me very excited, and is yet another reason that your postings are the highlight of my day. I'm just now looking at the stack of these superb Alfor scans on my piano and can't help feeling like a child in a candy shop trying to decide which piece to try next. One wonders how many recording projects could emanate from this rich library. If only we could start a second Romantic revival like back in the 60s and 70s...I could envision an entire series of "Lost Treasures of Romantic Piano Literature" recordings!

As always,

Frank

If it's Schumannesque piano music you want Frank, why not
check out the new Borodin file in the transcriptions thread
- specially selected by me for this very reason.

Dear Tim,

Thanks for the lead on this; I had no idea that Felix Blumenfeld made 2H transcriptions from Borodin's "Prince Igor." It's beautiful, ravishingly so! I've only played Blumenfeld's arrangement of the Glazunow Concert Waltz in the past, so this is completely new to me (and I love Blumenfeld's music).

All Best,

Frank

This extremely rare 1888 edition of the whole opera naturally includes the Overture and
the Polovtsian Dances. Those two pieces are very common indeed, yet the rest of the work
is completely neglected. This is, of course, because Belaieff then chose to publish them
separately, so all the other numbers in the original complete edition were forgotten.

The notion of 'rarities' on Pianophilia is generally meant to imply music by rarely
heard/played composers. My notion of 'rarities' is totally different - it's the piano
rarities of the famous composers, which turn me on. Of neccessity, that has to mean
only one thing, rarely heard/played piano transcriptions of other forms of their musical
output. This is not to be confused with specially written fantasies on operatic themes
of the Thalberg type, which are okay, but are not the real deal as far as I'm concerned.

Please note that the entire work will appear shortly somewhere in cyberspace.