Friends may be interested in a 2-CD release of piano music by Anton Urspruch (1850-1907, a student of Raff) on the Genuin label, billed as Vol.1...
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Anton-Urspruch-S%E4mtliche-Klavierwerke-Vol-1/hnum/4942819 (http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Anton-Urspruch-S%E4mtliche-Klavierwerke-Vol-1/hnum/4942819)
Good news. The pianist's web site (http://www.quint-essenz.com/Kuenstler/Ana-Marija_Markovina/Diskographie_Markovina.html) confirms that there are only five pieces on each CD - they must all be pretty substantial pieces.
hrm. ... ok, I'm intrigued by the violin sonata, symphony, cello sonata, piano trio, piano quintet, ... by him that haven't been recorded (nor scanned and uploaded, that I can see, either :) ) (my mistake, I read that the symphony and piano concerto await release on cpo. but there's a lot of other stuff there that looks interesting. I'm guessing the discs will include the 1872 opus 1 sonate quasi fantaisie) and maybe the opus 10 variations on an original theme... there's some sets of pieces (9 waltzes op.31, dances op.7) that might be being counted as '1 piece'... :) )
perhaps bring in a second pianist for some of the big 4-hand works Urspruch wrote, too (like the opus 13 Variationen u. Fuge über ein Thema v. J.S. Bach) and that would do it definitely. I'm a newcomer to the composer just guessing based on available resources, though (and should really check antonurspruch.de - maybe the contents of the cds are already there, ah- yes.
News (http://antonurspruch.de/aktuelle.htm) contains contents of the first CD or two in the upcoming cd edition - opus 19 (5 pieces for piano), Cavatina and Arabesque (op.20) and op.2 (cavatina and arabesque). op.1 etc. will be for a later CD then!
I look forward to these releases, but they might be beyond my attention span.
The PC is huge and if memory serves is about a long as the Busoni, but there was just not enough interesting material to warrant the length and I found myself wandering. I enjoyed it more when I listened to one movement at a time.
Greater composers have said more with less notes, but perhaps the solo works contain some gems.
Thal
Urspruch's PC does tend to sprawl a bit, although it's half an hour shorter than Busoni's monster!! I like his music, but it's a bit of a guilty pleasure. Perhaps the piano music will be more concentrated...
Maybe it's just me, but once I really get to know a work, and get an idea of its organization, it tends to shorten it for me. I love the PC from beginning to end. In fact, I think I'll break out the CD of it someone burned for me.
I'm afraid that for me "Heavenly length" just doesn't apply to Urspruch. Both the Symphony and the Piano Concerto would benefit from being shorter.
You are probably right, Mark. I just find his (orchestral) music rather endearing, that's all.
Well, we are all different - thank God! I'm with Mark on the Symphony - but with Jim on the PC. That may be because I had read the score of the PC in the BL before I heard it, but I don't think so.
Excerpts from the new release are now available at jpc (see above for link).
This is a really lovely 2-CD set, with just over 90 minutes of sheer musical pleasure. Beautifully recorded too, with plenty of impact and yet enough space around the sound to enhance the more reflective pieces. Lovers of piano music broadly in the Schumann-Brahms orbit will just love this stuff. Yes, it is stuffed full of notes (not like Reger, though!), but what passion and what drama - usually followed by something quieter and more contemplative. Wonderful.
Actually, the more I listen to the CDs, the more I am astonished. There is some hair-raisingly virtuosic music here that is way beyond Schumann or Brahms - try the extraordinary fifth of the Five Fantasiestücke, Op.2 from 1872. Of course, he was a pupil of Liszt (as well as Raff)...
Alan,
That's all the excuse I need to add this to my wants list! Many thanks...
OK, I'm going to take a punt here and say that the fifth of the Five Fantasiestücke, Op.2 is one of the most extraordinary piano pieces written in the Romantic era. It is an absolute tour-de-force of virtuoso pianism. I defy anyone not to be totally blown away by it!! And it lasts 13:51, so be prepared!
BTW, the costs of the recording were born by the pianist herself, Ana-Marija Markovina!
Then we should support her in her endeavour. My order is in too... Thanks for the heads up and strong recommendation, Alan.
I say chaps, where is the best place to order this from for UK residents?
Amazon don't have this until 15th May and by what has been written here, I cannot wait that long.
Thal
Amazon Germany have one copy in stock...
http://www.amazon.de/Gesamtwerk-Klavier-Vol-1-Ana-Marija-Markovina/dp/B004TNZVAS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303310895&sr=1-2 (http://www.amazon.de/Gesamtwerk-Klavier-Vol-1-Ana-Marija-Markovina/dp/B004TNZVAS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303310895&sr=1-2)
It's still available from Amazon.de...
It's E15.99 at JPC at the moment...
That's where I got mine from. I just wondered whether non-Germans might find Amazon easier to purchase from...
Thanks chaps.
Thal
I ordered my copy from Amazon UK several days ago at £10.82 and although they claimed that it would not be released until 16th May, I received a notification TODAY that the item was now in the post!
Lucky you Martin - I ordered mine from Amazon and i've not heard anything yet! :(
I'll keep my fingers crossed...
Not rarely I buy a CD just out of curiosity, or because I read a good review, but after listening I ask myself what the music really adds to what I've already have from similar composers. Like many of us, I think, I have a lot of piano music from the (late) romantic era, so why should I buy the double disc with Urspruch? Because of what Alan has written in his replies #10, 11 & 13. This has triggered me, and I'm very grateful to Alan for his recommendation!
This IS definitely an addition to my collection. Urspruch has something to say in his piano pieces. Indeed, what a passion. There are emotional explosions followed by quiet passages, and the music leads the listener through all kinds of moods. It is not background music, on the contrary. Each piece deserves to be listened concentrated. And indeed, what a pianistic pyrotechnics in the last piece of his op. 2.
Disc 1 is 44:38 and disc 2 46:54, together just too much for one CD I suppose. Beautifully played by Ana-Marija Markovina. The booklet notes by Prof Dr Helmut Reuter gives some interesting information on Urspruch, but says nothing about the twelve piano pieces. BTW, there is an Anton Urspruch Gesellschaft e.V., see http://www.antonurspruch.de/Aug.htm (http://www.antonurspruch.de/Aug.htm) for those who can read German.
Indeed, very warmly recommended. This double disc is Vol. 1. Due for release is Vol. 2 and that's good news.
Yes, I have been meaning to add my two penn'orth to the commendations for these two CDs. All that Alan says about the music and Markovina's performance of it is justified. I'm not as enthusiastic as some here are about Urspruch's Symphony and Piano Concerto, but almost every piece here had me sitting on the edge of my seat trying to anticipate just what Urspruch was going to do next. Considering the man's background - he was a pupil of Raff and was then pretty much buried as a piano teacher at Raff's Frankfurt conservatory until his death in his 40s - this music is really quite remarkable for its independence of mind and, above all, the depth of passion which invest almost every piece. It's broadly in the Schumann tradition and very much of the end of the 19th century (or the beginning of the 20th in the more adventurous works), but actually Urspruch is imitating no one. As Alan says, it is certainly busy, but to a purpose. I can't think of a piano music recording which has impressed me as much since Dale's Piano Sonata.
Strangely enough the CD doesn't give the keys of the 12 recorded pieces. The website of the Anton Urspruch Gesellschaft provides us with that information in German, which is in English:
Op. 2 Nos 1 in D flat major, 2 in C sharp minor, 3 in A major, 4 in E major and 5 in G sharp major.
Op. 19 Nos 1 in E major, 2 in B major, 3 in E flat major, 4 in B flat major and 5 in G minor.
Op. 20, the Cavatine is in E major, the Arabeske in A major.
Urspruch also wrote four-handed piano music and piano music for two pianos.
I hope his PC op. 9 will be released in the near future.
also operas "das Unmöglichste von Allem" (published in 1897 by August Cranz, prelude available on YouTube, apparently scheduled to be revived this November?; and Der Sturm (poss. after Shakespeare?) published 1888.) and vocal and choral works (e.g. "Die Frühlingsfeier" for mixed chorus and orchestra, op26, "Ave Maris Stella" op24, lieder op.25, and of course the 6 works for male chorus that - not to deprecate them in themselves - one of which is unfortunately the only work I could find scanned-in online, now also at IMSLP. (The work uploaded is listed under 6 Mannerchöre because it's part of the group with that title, and does not get a page to itself- especially in case other works from the set of 6 are found and uploaded in the future) )
Quote from: Peter1953 on Sunday 29 May 2011, 12:04
Strangely enough the CD doesn't give the keys of the 12 recorded pieces. The website of the Anton Urspruch Gesellschaft provides us with that information in German, which is in English:
Op. 2 Nos 1 in D flat major, 2 in C sharp minor, 3 in A major, 4 in E major and 5 in G sharp major.
Op. 19 Nos 1 in E major, 2 in B major, 3 in E flat major, 4 in B flat major and 5 in G minor.
Op. 20, the Cavatine is in E major, the Arabeske in A major.
G sharp MAJOR? There isn't any such key. There isn't even a signature for it (unless on wants to make one up with a double sharp, which wasn't a period practice during Urspruch's lifetime). It's either in G sharp MINOR (relative of B Major) or in A flat Major (for which there IS a key signature).
Jim, I know you are an authority on keys. FYI, as a source I've taken the information, including translations, from a Belgian website: http://www.winob.be/media/data/bibtechnologie/16uniformetitel.pdf (http://www.winob.be/media/data/bibtechnologie/16uniformetitel.pdf) The translation of the keys is on page 49, which is the last page (Dutch, German, English, French, Italian). They could have made a mistake, but I cannot comment on that.
______
You're absolutely right, Jim. I've checked the Urspruch website again, and the key of Op. 2 No. 5 is gis Moll which is G sharp MINOR. My mistake, although the Belgian website mentions the existence of G sharp major.
I've been enjoying this disc recently too as well. Ana-Marija Markovina really is an excellent pianist and seems very much at home in this music. The whole of disc 1 is fantastic and it's been round in the car several times, so much so I've not even put disc 2 on yet!
Roll on volume 2!!
Quote from: Peter1953 on Sunday 29 May 2011, 17:51...the Belgian website mentions the existence of G sharp major.
The leading tone of A-flat is G natural. In the sharp notation that would have to be notated as F-double sharp. But in the 24 keys of the circle of 5ths, there are no signatures with double sharps. So G-sharp Major can exist if notated enharmonically, but not as a key signature.