Collecting Carl Czerny

[Jim Faston]

B&W version of Czerny's Nocturne Op647. Not at all pretty, but readable.

Czerny_Nocturne, Op647.pdf

[Paul]

Dear friends,

no idea regarding the "quiet thoughts", but two little scores (new to my collection) I found browsing the BNE collection.

Czerny op.401,4 Divertissement sur La Juive.pdf

Czerny op.352 Souvenir de Boieldieu.pdf

Best regards

Paul

[remy]

Thanks very much to Scriabinoff for the Op.368/8 Nocturne, to Jim for the Op.647 Nocturne, and to Paul for the Op.401/4 Divertissement and the Op.352 Souvenir. Czerny is always greatly appreciated.


jeremy

[Timtin]

Help! I'm wondering if a Czerny specialist here could point me in the direction
of his greatest and most memorable compositions, particularly those for piano.
Throughout life, I've been a Czerny skeptic, pretty much in the Schumann camp.

This was his view:-
"It would be difficult to find a failure of imagination greater than that of Czerny."

However, I'd happily change my view, should the evidence present itself. Thus far,
my few encounters with his music seem to have borne out Schumann's view, but
his vast output and numerous advocates must mean that I've been looking in the
wrong places for his greatest works. Thank you.

[Paul]

Dear Tim,

some years ago I came across a radio broadcast with a g-minor Symphony, two string quartets and the piano quartet op.148 recorded at the Czerny -Festival in Edmonton in 2002. Together with some of the 4H piano music recorded by Tal/Groethuysen and the piano sonatas opp.7 and 57 recorded by A. Kuerti this is what I would recommend to discover the composer Carl Czerny.
Btw, answering this question I just discovered that the Edmonton recordings have made their way on CD (have a look at the Doremi-website), so I placed my order some minutes ago

Best regards

Paul

[paolor]

Dear Tim,

some years ago I came across a radio broadcast with a g-minor Symphony, two string quartets and the piano quartet op.148 recorded at the Czerny -Festival in Edmonton in 2002. Together with some of the 4H piano music recorded by Tal/Groethuysen and the piano sonatas opp.7 and 57 recorded by A. Kuerti this is what I would recommend to discover the composer Carl Czerny.
Btw, answering this question I just discovered that the Edmonton recordings have made their way on CD (have a look at the Doremi-website), so I placed my order some minutes ago

Best regards

Paul

... and let me add that Czerny's 4H concerto op.153 has already been recorded by Tal/Groethuysen - it's not yet available, but certainly something to look forward to (it will come together with K 365).
Bw, paolor

[Alex]

I second all of Paul's recommendations, along with Czerny's first Symphony in C minor Op. 780. The first four piano sonatas are all good, especially the first one. Some of his 4-hand music is marvelous, such as his Sonata Op. 10 and the Brilliant and Characteristic Overture Op. 54. How I wish I could hear those string quartets played at the Festival... sigh...

[Timtin]

Many thanks Paul, Paolor, and Alex.
I've just checked out his Symphony No.6 in G minor on YouTube,
and it sounds rather good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZpAcGmsIP4

[Alex]

Apparently the Festival concert was in fact released on cd. I'll be buying this!

http://www.amazon.com/Rediscovered-Geni ... rds=czerny

[thalbergmad]

This was his view:-
"It would be difficult to find a failure of imagination greater than that of Czerny."

If you have been infested with the Schumann virus, you will struggle to appreciate Czerny. Schumann lovers are a bit like those that have been assimilated by the Borg and are incapable of thinking outside of the collective .

Schumann was almost a worse critic than he was composer and it is beyond belief that he should accuse another of a failure of imagination, when that expression is the perfect description of his own bland output.

Test the Czerny Variations on a Theme By Haydn as a partial cure to your Schumannitis. This is fun, which Schumann and his horrific restrained romanticism would not have been capable of.

Thal