Pianophilia

Dear Alfred,

Along with Sir Peter and Frank, I also endorse this wonderful series of G's pieces. I have been so engrossed in playing through G's piano quartets, that it is nice to return to his solo works.

Dear Frank, dear Peter, dear fleubis,

you are welcome....to another Gernsheim gem:

Friedrich GERNSHEIM
Romanze op. 15Very good! The simple harmony of the middle section does not affect the excellent overall impact of the piece.

Not an early work, dear isokani, but worth a try nonetheless, imho:

Ferdinand HILLER
Walzer op. 188Quickly changing harmonies, some rhythmic intricacies and
a good stretta make this an above-the-average piece.

Hope, you will enjoy this, dear Frank!

Friedrich GERNSHEIM
Sonate op. 1 A masterpieces in its own respect! Remarkably mature and self-assured writing for a first opus!
Three movements: 1st mvt. serves as a slow introduction, 2nd mvt. serves as a (Mendelssohn influenced) Scherzo. 3rd mvt. in the form of (...Frank will tell us... ) is the longest and possibly most mature.

Dear Alfor,

I was hoping that the Gernsheim Sonata was going to be one of the wonderful works you have shared with us.
You have made my day by posting it. I can't thank you enough.
Now to print a copy off!! Ready for tomorrow, when I shall have a go at playing it.

Many thanks, and best wishes.

Peter.

Many thanks, Alfor, for the Gernsheim fair... this is quite a treat. Although a lot of it is beyond my normal abilities, it feels great to read through them Largo

Best regards,
Parag

Dear Alfred,

What a tremendous delight to see and play through Gernsheim's Op. 1 Sonate!!! An incredibly great rarity!!! You are completely right, he emerges as a mature composer from the very first Opus, much like has often been said of Medtner (and quite rightly so!)

This Sonate is a classical/romantic feast...starting off with a "Pathetique" formal introduction of enormous power; then yielding to a very lightly spirited Scherzo which is completely delightful; and then concluding with a most masterful and captivating Rondo. It is in this last section where we are treated to Gernsheim's most beautiful melodies. There is a recap of the "Pathetique" qualities of the first movement, set to beautifully phrased passages which (again typical of Gernsheim's piano writing) are perfectly fluid and gracious to both performer and listener.

I believe that this wonderful Sonate and the much later, titanic Op. 76b "Fantasie und Fuge" are possibly Gernsheim's best works (imho)...and if it were only on the basis of these two piano works alone he should be hailed a genius! But from your many other Gernsheim postings we see the true depth of character in this man's piano music. His piano arsenal includes countless beautiful melodies amidst a multitude of brilliant settings. Said once again, it is incredible how piano literature on this high level has fallen into such incredible obscurity!!

The recording of Gernsheim's piano works would be a magnificent undertaking for an up-and-coming young pianist immersed in the Romantic repertoire. From links which have been previously posted on your thread, I have obtained recordings by Bas Verheijden (Gernsheim's Op. 2 Preludes...possibly the only solo Gernsheim to have been recorded?!?) and John Kersey (wonderful recordings of Robert Fuch's and August Winding's piano music; and once again world premiere recordings). It is so gratifying to see young pianists take up the great unknown Romantic masterpieces!! Dear Alfred, I take these as fruitful signs that the influence of your postings is being felt world-wide, and will continue to be many, many years from now. Perhaps we will indeed live to see a second "Romantic Revival" such as was nutured in the late 60s/early 70s by the great visionary and philanthropist Robert Commagere, through his monumental series of LPs on the Genesis label.

Lest I ramble forever about my obvious love for Gernsheim, I will close now with sincerest thanks once again for bringing perhaps the ultimate Gernsheim piano rarity to light, and for sharing it with all of us!!

All Best (as ever),

Frank

Is op.36 (Stimmungsbilder) the only missing piano piece ?

Caprotti wrote:Is op.36 (Stimmungsbilder) the only missing piano piece ?

Praeludien op. 2*, Suite op. 8 and Stimmungsbilder op. 36 will come.
Then we should have the c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e solo piano works of Gernsheim!!

*have been reissued: Bisel Classics, Dietikon, 2011 (expensive!)

I'm not trying to correct anyone here, but just add some informations to the latest posts. First of all, I want to thank Alfor for all the latest pieces and specially Gernsheim. Having in mind Frank's interest in the recordings I also want to share that I did some research on those links of John Kersey and he as indeed recorded the preludes op. 2 but also other pieces. Sorry if this information is not so valuable.

1st: http://johnkersey.wordpress.com/2011/09 ... blished-5/
http://rdrecs.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/ ... hms-vol-2/
You have more works of Gernsheim recorded including the op. 76! And the Rudorff I believe has also been shared by Alfor.

2nd: http://rdrecs.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/ ... -93-vol-3/
http://rdrecs.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/ ... 1859-1937/
He also recorded the Edouard Franck sonatas, Alfor shared with us some time ago, and this is the third volume already. Also Algernon Ashton pieces that Malcolm also shared with us in his thread.

3rd: Since Alfor, at least to my understanding, states as missing the Op.2 Preludes, I'd only like to remember this :
http://imslp.org/wiki/6_Preludes,_Op.2_ ... iedrich%29

Best regards.

Dani_area_51 wrote:I'm not trying to correct anyone here, but just add some informations to the latest posts. First of all, I want to thank Alfor for all the latest pieces and specially Gernsheim. Having in mind Frank's interest in the recordings I also want to share that I did some research on those links of John Kersey and he as indeed recorded the preludes op. 2 but also other pieces. Sorry if this information is not so valuable.

3rd: Since Alfor, at least to my understanding, states as missing the Op.2 Preludes, I'd only like to remember this :
http://imslp.org/wiki/6_Preludes,_Op.2_ ... iedrich%29

Best regards.

I didn't know that Kersey had recorded the ultra-romantic's Op2. I thought it was Bas Verheijen.
(Please refer to the links I gave on this matter previously.)
The pdf of the Preludes, which has actually been around for about 5 years, is also here:-

http://classicscore.hut2.ru/G.html