Draeseke Violin Concerto update

[Alan Howe]

I understand that work on the orchestration of Draeseke's VC is progressing well and that it should be completed early in 2011. In addition, a well-known violinist with a reputation for recording unsung works has shown interest in the piece....

[JimL]

Turban or I'll buy a hat to eat!

[eschiss1]

Turban or I'll buy a hat to eat!

Or Tobias Ringborg, perhaps... could think of a few others- but Turban sounds a good guess to me-
Eric

[Alan Howe]

The news from Germany is that the orchestration by Professor Wolfgang Müller-Steinbach (a Draeseke expert) of Draeseke's wonderful VC has been completed. It is now in the process of being published. In addition, I can report that the violinist who is interested in performing it is British...

[JimL]

Marwood?  Little?

[Alan Howe]

Nope and nope. Much younger (and at present anyway, less well-known).

[JimL]

Anybody know where I can buy a sugar-free chocolate hat? 

[Alan Howe]

Not to worry, Jim. Unless you have a handle on the UK music scene, this particular guessing game is going to lead you to more than one purchase of edible headgear. Mind you, the person in question has made recordings...

[John H White]

Why not a chocolate turban Jim? Lets see a photo of you wearing it before you consume it.

[Richard Moss]

Folks,

You may well already be aware but for anyone interested, there are extracts of this emerging butterfly (violin & piano only version) on YOUTUBE.  Searching under 'draeseke violin concerto' works (surprisingly enough!)

The following is the text attached to a clip from the 1st mvt.

"Felix Draeseke - Premiere of the Violin Concerto in e-minor, WoO 15 (version for violin and piano; First movement: Allegro appassionata [excerpt]). Julia Röntz, Violin & Wolfgang Müller-Steinbach, Piano in the Schlosskirche Brahms-Saal, Schloss Elisabethenburg in Meiningen; June 2009.

Cheers

Richard

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for the link. These details are probably well-known to most (longer-standing) members of the forum, but it's good to have a reminder of them.

FYI, the violin/piano reduction was always known to be in the SLUB Library in Dresden - then, roughly six years ago, I managed to get them to copy the hand-written score digitally and it was made available on the Draeseke Webpages website. Thus a public performance was eventually made possible and it took place during the annual International Draeseke Society conference in Germany in 2009 - this is what can be viewed on Youtube.

But the next step is to get Müller-Steinbach's orchestration performed once the score has been published...

BTW mp3s of the 2009 violin/piano performance can be downloaded here...
http://www.draeseke.org/news/IDG2009VC/index.htm

[Richard Moss]

Alan, 

Tks for link to full work - much nicer to be able to download and then listen at leisure.

Best wishes

Richard

[Alan Howe]

My pleasure, Richard. What do you think of the concerto?

[Richard Moss]

alan,

I've now had the chance to listen  a couple of times (albeit I'm not a skilled listener/musicologist), so its amateur impressions only.

My impression was:

(i) the Benda section was very melodic
(ii) the concerto itself seems quite melodic in parts but I'm not very good at visualising (or its audio equivalent!) what the faster sections might sound like in an orchestral version. 

Apart from Mr Alkan's prodigious work (Op. 39), most renditions for orchestra down to a piano or similar don't really work for me (that was my main reservation about Mr Thadani's synthesised works by Bortkiewicz, in spite of some most enjoyable piano playing).

Hope the orchestral version isn't too long in its genesis.

Best wishes

Richard

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Richard. It's good to have your opinion. For me (as another untrained amateur), the VC is one of Draeseke's most memorable and beautiful works, together with, say, the 2nd String Quartet, Quintet Op.48 and Stelzner Quintet. And it certainly repays repeated listens...