Pianophilia

alfor wrote:

fleubis wrote:...and is much easier for me to grasp than his sonata, which I still don't have a handle on...

Which sonata?? Op. 98 ??? Or did you mean Leon who wrote a couple?

Oh dear! Yes, Alfor, I've gotten my Kirchner's mixed up, although how Leon & Theodore could be confused by me or anyone is a ridiculous. Of course, i was referring to Leon, who died recently in 2009 and wrote 3 sonatas that I'm aware of, the first of which I don't quite grasp, but the 2nd & 3rd are quite interesting--guess I just like his later music better.

Some interesting Reineke here--the Gavotte, especially. Thanks for posting.

Eduard SCHÜTT
Nocturne op. 5Praeludien op. 35 (alternative scan)

Lovely SCHÜTT preludes, Alfor. And fairly easy to play with very few of those nasty 10ths for my small hands to contend with, these pieces are just fun to play. Thanks for posting these.

Dear Alfred,

What a wonderful group of pieces you've posted for us recently... Kirchner, Reinecke, Schutt .... this repertoire is heaven to my ears!! And I heartily agree with dear fleubis, the Schutt in particular is fun to play and very kind to the hands. So much music for a minimal investment in pianistic effort; I say that this is the sign of a very skillful composer. Also, the quality of your scans is just perfect (as always!) and this lends further pleasure in sight reading these scores.

I so dearly love these composers! The Schutt op. 5 Nocturne is a wonderful discovery imho, very very beautiful. It seems that the early Schutt pieces are extremely hard to find. I have always enjoyed his op. 13 Lose Blatter which you shared with us some time back.

Thank you once again for your priceless contributions to our collective piano literature. I am forever grateful for all of your hard work and your boundless generosity. The recent contributions are most thankfully received as they are a great tonic for my slowly healing hands!

As always, heartfelt best wishes

dein
Franz

Dear Franz,

you are most welcome! Hope you will be able to enjoy the following (not easy, but extremely pianistic):

Emil (Ritter von) SAUER
Concert Etudes:
No. 13 La Chasse
No. 14 Prélude érotique
No. 15 Tarentelle fantastique
No. 16 Etude en Trilles
No. 17 Les Sirènes
No. 18 Volubilité

A great scan of the some of Sauer etudes, dear Alfred. I have been wanting to get a better copy than the IMSP scans for some time. Sauer writes highly pianistic music and these etudes are no exception. I have always liked these pieces!

Dear Frank--glad to hear that your hands are healing. Hope you are back to normal soon.

To my two most important and appreciated supporters:

To Frank:

Xaver SCHARWENKA
Romanze op. 25 No. 2Philipp SCHARWENKA
Rückblick from Vier Clavierstücke op. 77 Excellent romantic pieces. Especially the piece by Philipp was a real
positive surprise for me and convinced me that P. is worth further investigation.

To fleubis (and his cute...cutting girl):

Daniel RUYNEMAN
Kleine Sonate (No. 8) Slightly expressionistic with a touch of exotism. Much interlocking of hands.

Thank you for the Ruyneman, Alfor. Also, Phillip Scharwenka has really great pieces like the Scharwenka Piano Quintet op. 118 in B minor, that you can hear here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN8PWMQQ04I

Interesting pieces, dear Alfred. Not having heard of Philip Scharwenka, I see he was the older brother of Xaver Scharwenka and has written a good bit of music and he packs a lot into the short piece you posted. Young brother Xaver is the one I am more familiar with but this piece is new to me.

For me, the Ruyneman is indeed a very choice piece just bursting with rhythmic vitality, so much so that the composer just dispensed with time signatures. Earlier you posted his lovely Sonatina (1954) which one would expect to be an earlier work, but no this Kleine Sonate is actually earlier dating 1928. I just love the figure that culminates in the "xylophone" passage....very brilliant writing.The material is tightly controlled and logically developed--all you could ask for in a small sonata. And this is another piece I have to ask: Why isn't this piece being played?

A brilliant posting, Alfred.

Dear Alfred,

I just finished reading through the Scharwenkas, and they are absolutely beautiful! Of particular note is the Phillip Scharwenka opus...what a romantic masterpiece! It is somewhat of an elegy in character, and full of sweeping romanticism that I for one can't resist! It's such a shame that out of his 100+ opus numbers we have so few. He would be an ideal "target" composer for a sweep of the wonderful Berlin Library. Like dear fleubis, I'm far more familiar with brother Xaver's piano works (and concerti), and his material is uniformly superb imho. But this particular number by Phillip really moves me a great deal. And I love seeing the original Hainauer cover in color!! That wonderful company in alt Breslau gave us so much beautiful music during its years of operation. The Breslau sheets always make me smile because of their intimate connection with the young Moszkowski.

On the Ruyneman pieces, I gaze in wonderment at them but I must admit that they are beyond me (for now, at least!) Surprisingly the Sauer Etudes are indeed remarkably friendly to the hands, and I love them dearly (I'm certainly not playing them at tempo, but still they sound wonderful). I'm mostly familiar with these from a fine CD recording of some 20 of them by Oleg Marshev, (which is available as a pocketbook-friendly download from Amazon!)

Thank you once again for your thoughtful and insightful choice of material for us, Alfred. It is truly amazing... looking back over the multitude of pages of uploads you have made... this is such a rich and wonderful pianistic resource!!

As Always,

dein
Franz