I notice this release on clicmusique.com
http://www.clicmusique.com/eduard-kunneke-concerto-pour-piano-serenade-zigeunerweisen-triendl-theis-p-99057.html?osCsid=ed6416658f04dfdfabff77d1c10fdf01
What confuses me is this paragraph:
For example, his Piano Concerto is a work very much displaying higher aspirations and qualifying as top-quality musical entertainment. His concerto is certainly the most original and spirited example of a genre of works engaging in dialogue with classicism and swing in the 1920s and including contributions by Gershwin and Ravel.
Listening to the Concerto as recorded by Stech I'm hearing a big, romantic piano concerto - not hearing classicism or swing/Ravel or Gershwin. Is this a different piano concerto does anyone know?
Rob
From the cover page it seems its the Op. 36. So it's the recorded No. 1. Incidentally .. is there a No. 2. I tried to see if this has been discussed in this forum before but can't seem to find anything.
Well, friends can make up their minds here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HexPd4F5nIg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HexPd4F5nIg)
...but there are certainly very clearly jazz-inspired passages towards the end of the finale.
If the first piano concerto is opus 36, where did I get the idea that the recording I have of #1 is in Ab and I have it as opus 85??
Jerry
Well, PC1 Op.36 is certainly in A flat. As for Künneke's 'Op.85', I can find no reference to it anywhere.
I did some research into this a few years ago but I couldn't find a 2nd PC by Kunneke anywhere. Perhaps he called his PC "No. 1" intending to write another, but never managed to do so. In much the same way, Holst called his choral symphony "Choral Symphony No. 1" - but he never wrote a No. 2.
Phew! That was the conclusion I had come to (in the absence of any evidence of a PC2), so I'm glad to have your expert confirmation, Gareth.
As to "Op.85" Künneke's opus numbers do go up at least as far as 53 (Biedermeier-Suite) anyway, perhaps further...
The No. 2 ref. was based on the booklet info accompanying the Piano Concerto No. 1. It refers to orchestral works including a 1 movement "Romantique" Piano Concerto No. 2. Anyways... back to the CD, this would be a very welcome recording as the Pianist on the Koch CD never did complete justice to the piece.
is this something to be looked into?...
(http://i67.tinypic.com/2qarex5.png)
Now that is interesting! Of course, it's only a piano reduction, so one wonders where the full score might be.
Gareth: how do you react to this information?
This is new information to me. Mind you, my research was done about 15 years ago and more info is now available online than it was then. I did also write to a number of major libraries, I recall, but none could help. As Alan points out this is a piano only edition, so we would need to locate the full score and/or set of parts. Perhaps a letter to the Archiv would be helpful. Better still, I see the publisher is Otto Wrede (Regina Verlag), and they still exist so they could be contacted to see if they have the performance materials for hire.
QuoteListening to the Concerto as recorded by Stech I'm hearing a big, romantic piano concerto - not hearing classicism or swing/Ravel or Gershwin
By the way, listening again to the YouTube performance, I disagree. I hear plenty of Gershwin and Ravel in the syncopations and harmonies of this piece almost from the word "go".
Here's the entry in question:
https://archiv.adk.de/BildsucheFrames?easydb=ub5q0i015jq7c2elsn7jpuju26&ls=2&ts=1494839649 (https://archiv.adk.de/BildsucheFrames?easydb=ub5q0i015jq7c2elsn7jpuju26&ls=2&ts=1494839649)
Bestand Eduard-Künneke-Archiv
Signatur Künneke-Eduard 582
Klassifikation 1.1.2. Instrumentalwerke
Titel (Romantisches) Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 2
Enthält Klavierauszug
Datierung 1943
Objektspezifische Felder - Auflage/Edition/Label: Otto Wrede (Regina-Verlag) Berlin
Personen/ Institutionen - Künneke, Eduard (1885-1953) , Komponist
Provenienz Sammlung zum Nachlass
Umfang Dr., S. 3-26
Permalink https://archiv.adk.de/objekt/2101138
Standort Robert-Koch-Platz
Aktueller Standort - Magazin
Importantly, another entry under 'Liste über fehlende Bücher und Partituren' (List of missing books and scores) has this:
Klavierkonzert Nr. 2 (Partitur, Hs. einziges Ex.) - which I think means: 'Piano Concerto No.2 (score, manuscript only copy)'.
So the implication is that it wasn't published and that the manuscript of the full score is missing. Nevertheless, there would seem to be a piano reduction available. Fascinating...
Incidentally, we're talking about a location in Berlin here (Robert-Koch-Platz), which is part of the Archive of the Berlin Academy of the Arts (adk.de).
I was in touch with publisher Edda Wrede in late August last year in connection with another composer, and she replied to my email inquiry very quickly and also said I could phone her, which I did. So contacting her should not end in a long frustrating wait as is sometimes the case...
Alan's post noting that the MS partitur is lost does not sound encouraging. If, however, the work was ever performed it is possible the publisher may have a set of parts. But I am not sanguine.
Neither am I, but I have now written to them anyway – just on the off-chance.
Well done - and thank you very much.
Indeed. Thank you.
The reply has just come in: all they have is a version for two pianos of this work in one movement. They didn't say how substantial (how long) the piece is - and no trace of a set of parts...
There's at least one book about Künneke, Schneidereit's "Eduard Künneke, der Komponist aus Dingsda" (Berlin : Henschelverlag, 1978). Does anyone have a copy, does it mention a 2nd piano concerto?
Ah, hrm, ok, more to the point, "Eduard Künneke (1885-1953) : Komponistenportrait und Werkverzeichnis" (Ries & Erler, 1995.)
(I'll see if I can't interloan that latter book. Request put in, will see if the libraries that have the book work with my local library...)
There is a copy of the 1995 book in Zurich, in the reference section and thus not available for interloan, but I could have a look at it when I'm next in Zurich.
Wrede publishers suggested in a second reply that the GEMA could be contacted, although they didn't sound very hopeful.
So, it is as we surmised - probably only the reduction has survived. But one lives in hope...
No free interloan available of the 1995 book anyway...
The new cpo recording features the same work, which Koch-Schwann had produced in 1998, i.e. "Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 (1935)". That is an excellent performance, by the way!
Just a matter of Opinion but I found the Koch-Schwann recording lacking a bit performance wise. The slacking of tempo in the thrilling Piano Introduction and dynamics made me feel instantly that it could have been done a bit better [just my opinion]. On the other hand I found the rendition by Ernst August Quelle to be excellent.
I have finally had a chance to look at the 1995 Ries & Erler Werkverzeichnis, but it does not mention the whereabouts of any score, unfortunately.
Are we talking about the first concerto? I think that's rented by Birnbach ("Lochham Berlin Richard Birnbach Musikverlag, Administration: Ed. Intro Meisel") according to D-NB not by Ries & Erler? (Though admittedly if it's a werkverzeichnis of all works of the composer, not just those rented by R&E, that wouldn't matter, true...)
I was referring to the second concerto in one movement. Regina/Wrede publishers have this only in a two-piano reduction and as such it is listed in the composer portrait and list of works published by Ries & Erler.