Röntgen by Hurwitz

[Alan Howe]

A great appreciation of Röntgen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IktTLlgD0Oc

[Gareth Vaughan]

Most encouraging. He is rightly enthusiastic - and more engaging than he can sometimes be. Well done, Mr Hurwitz. I hope more people will start to appreciate what a fine composer Rontgen is... And more recordings from CPO, please.

[Ilja]

He hits the nail on the head with regard to Röntgen's neglect, too. Had the man written a handful of works while radiating "tormented soul" things would have been different, but a generally contented, very productive artist who refuses to die around age 50 always arouses suspicion since he doesn't conform to that romantic Werther-esque image. I've heard people (well, one person really) dismiss Röntgen's work as "shallow" while they had obviously never heard or even read a second of it. The Dutch disregard for any of their own composers doesn't exactly help, of course.

[terry martyn]

I have four CDs of this composer but I confess that I find something lacking in his compositions. I can well understand the comment about shallowness, although the word that comes to my mind is facile.  The fairly recent recording of his Third Piano Concerto was a bridge too far for me. I suppose one just can´t like everything !

[Alan Howe]

Try Symphony No.3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaKV9BUtnJ8  (one of the truly great late-romantic symphonies)

...or Symphony No.21:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/julius-roentgen-symphonien-vol-2/hnum/2727217  (track 6)

These aren't facile works at all. They are robust, striking and emotionally involving. He was obviously a very productive composer: I suppose Haydn is a good comparison - not stylistically, but as an artist with a healthy, positive outlook. And he never wastes a note...

[terry martyn]

I have, and quite like, his Third Symphony.  It is a case of, as Gilbert said, modified rapture. I can´t warm to him as much as I can to others. For my ears, the Third Symphony of Rudorff, also a pupil of Reinecke, and composed much at the same time, is much more emotionally satisfying.

[dhibbard]

same here. I got the piano concerto set and a handful of the symphonies... bravo to CPO

[Alan Howe]

For my ears, the Third Symphony of Rudorff, also a pupil of Reinecke, and composed much at the same time, is much more emotionally satisfying

I disagree - much as I like the Rudorff.

[eschiss1]

Concertzender Hilversum had this 10-part, I think, series of Röntgen, almost entirely based on recordings- some of them older CDs (it was broadcast before some of the newer cpo discs existed)- and which last I checked? one could still hear broadcast online by searching at their website , I think; quite a few of his symphonies, concertos, chamber works, etc., a nice cross-selection. I was -especially- taken with the two piano quintets, for example. The series was re-broadcast a month ago and a month before that . (I think. This may have been a new Röntgen series with the same title "Kroniek van de Nederlandse Muziek - Werken van Julius Röntgen (1855-1932), aflevering (1-...)".) Ah. Ok, yes, seems not to be the same series as broadcast in 2011? No.3 in 2011 had the cello sonata no.5 and the serenade, no.3 in 2020 had Variations, a Chorus song, and the first cello concerto. For example. So there seem to be maybe 3 different sets or so of "selections of Röntgen's music" series on Concertzender, maybe? Enjoy. I'll go back and see if the 2020 ones have anything I missed the first time around

[Revilod]

Rontgen was having a particularly good day when he wrote his second 'cello concerto. The best piece by him I know.

[Double-A]

This thread--plus listening to Hurwitz, whom I had not been aware of before--inspired me to have another look at Röntgen's IMSLP page.  I found there the manuscript of the triple concerto (violin, viola, cello, strings).  It does not seem to be available in print nor as a recording. So I decided to typeset it.  In a few days, when the tedious work of preparing usable parts is finished, score and parts will be posted to IMSLP.

The piece would be well worth recovering IMHO; I am not aware of another concerto for the same combination of soloists.  It is clearly a triple concerto, not a concerto grosso.  The soloists are presented as three individuals, not as a string trio.  The orchestra plays a rather subordinate role throughout but especially in the slow movement.  The music sometimes alludes to Bach: The opening tutti for example or the frequent and elegant use of counterpoint. Overall the concerto is written in cyclic form with the themes sometimes being varied. The economy is also admirable (not only here; Röntgen knew how far to stretch his material).  The technical demands on the soloists considerably exceed those of Bach's double concerto (which Röntgen seems to have had in mind as a model) but they are modest when compared to romantic violin concertos.

The three movements are now posted on Musescore.com.  For anybody interested in looking at the scores and/or listening to the computer generated audio here are the links.

1. Allegro
2. Lento
3. Allegro

[Adrian Harrison]

There's Michael Tippett's concerto for violin, viola and cello, but that falls outside the remit of this forum, of course. Just saying.

Röntgen is a fine composer and I sincerely hope that your labours in producing a printed score and parts of this work will be widely appreciated. I know from personal experience how taxing this kind of work is!   

[britishcomposer]

Felix Weingartner's Sinfonietta in D major op 83 is written for a concertante string trio and small orchestra. I think I once uploaded a recording.

[eschiss1]

Well, I know of none within our remit either, but there's at least one sinfonia concertante by Carl Stamitz too And I know of/can find even few recent examples (Tippett, Wittinger, maybe Schnittke and one or two others)- ah, I'd forgotten the Weingartner.
Ilja- Dutch disregard? Ok... though there are composers here who'd give a leg for Donemus