I have today received an e-mail from Simon Perry of Hyperion in which he reveals that Volume 58 of The Romantic Piano Concerto, to be issued on November 1st will contain
JOHANN PETER PIXIS : Piano Concerto Opus 100 and Piano Concertino Opus 68
SIGISMOND THALBERG : Grand concerto for piano and orchestra Opus 5.
The performer is Howard Shelley with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra – CDA67915.
Furthermore, he says that Hyperion are in the planning stages of the recording of the Bronsart Piano Concerto, though the coupling is not yet decided and the release is some way off.
Thanks very much indeed for sharing this exciting news with us - oh, and welcome to the forum!
As Alan says - on both counts!
The last thread I saw was on Volume 56 and now we have Volume 58.
Do we know what is on 57???
Thal
I only asked Simon Perry about the Pixis and Bronsart concertos, because in my opinion they are amongst the two best works that Vox Turnabout recorded over thirty years ago and I have been waiting for new, better versions to appear. The Bronsart has been re-issued, but the orchestral playing is scrappy to say the least and the recording leaves a lot to be desired. Of course, the Pixis has never reappeared and has the most wonderful slow movement ..... So, as you can see I didn't ask about specific volumes in the series - Simon Perry just volunteered the information I have quoted and so I have no idea about the content of Vol. 57.
I did not know the Pixis Concerto or Concertino had been recorded before, only the Concerto for Piano, violin and string orchestra.
Good news about the Bronsart though. An absolute belter.
Thal
Until I received Simon Perry's e-mail I was not aware that Pixis had composed two concerted works for piano. I have just dug out my old Turnabout LP of one of these concertos (the one for piano and strings), but the sleeve note does not quote an opus number.
Finding information about his works on the internet is not particularly easy, however the web-site http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Peter_Pixis (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Peter_Pixis) mentions only two concertos, Op.68 and Op.100 each composed in 1826. In neither case is there any mention of the type of orchestra used.
However, it is also possible to download a scanned version of the original score of Op.68 (the concertino) via http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/1/14/IMSLP20145-PMLP46976-Pixis_Concertino_Op_68.pdf (http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/1/14/IMSLP20145-PMLP46976-Pixis_Concertino_Op_68.pdf) from which it is clear that this work has parts for piano,violins,cellos,flute,clarinet,oboe,bassoon,horn and timpani.
Unless I am completely misinterpreting things, it would seem that the Concerto for Piano and Strings on Turnabout must be the Op.100 piece.
The Turnabout work is a Double Concerto for Piano, Violin and Strings in F-sharp minor. We have it in our download archives; I believe you will find it here (http://www.mediafire.com/?rce0f90vq45mr), if the link still works. It has nothing to do with the Piano Concerto in C Major, Op. 100 other than authorship. This will be a world premiere recording. It was hoped by some here that the Double Concerto would be the companion piece, but apparently the RPC series is about solo piano concertante works, which disqualified it. That, and the fact that they found the concertino and the Thalberg as companion pieces.
Quote from: thalbergmad on Tuesday 21 February 2012, 08:24
The last thread I saw was on Volume 56 and now we have Volume 58.
Do we know what is on 57???
Thal
I thought vol 57 was due to be the Wiklund Concertos - this was the last one on the last list that Mike put out just over 2 years ago.
Rob
We've been through this discusion on the Pixis concertos before - but maybe it was on the old forum. At that time I wrote: "After I directed Mike Spring to the Full Score of Pixis' PC, Op. 100 in the library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, he became keen to record it and the original coupling was to have been with the Rosenhain. However, since he discovered the score of Pixis' Concertino for piano & orchestra in the Sibley Library in America, he is now thinking about an all Pixis disk which would have to include the splendid double concerto for violin and piano. The problem is that Kees Kooper has the score and parts and declines to reply to any emails about the work. I think he wants the Vox/Turnabout recording he made with his wife, Mary Louise Boehm, to be re-released before he'll condone another recording. All a bit frustrating." I believe the MS score was discovered by the late Mary Louise Boehm.
Thanks for the detailed explanation of a rather tangled suibject - I am now feeling rather disappointed that the splendid piece I discovered in the 1970's is not about to be newly recorded.
Perhaps the other Pixis works will be good, and at least Simon Perry has said that the Bronsart Concerto is on its way, which I hope is a cause for celebration.
I wonder what the coupling will be for the Bronsart? IIRC, Vox Candide paired it with a slightly hacked Goetz #2. Well, alright, the finale was mightily hacked; the entire central episode was missing. I'm hard pressed to find a comparable work. The Raff would be a no-brainer for me, but apparently there is a prejudice against it over at Hyperion.
Gareth and I have both made approaches to Kees about the Pixis double...without success. I asked him in person and got the response referred to above. I have never seen the score in their apartment (though I'm sure that's where it is,) and I don't know where they found the score in the first place. Kees is now quite old (late 80s) and unwell, and I'm sure the score will eventually find its way to some library with the other contents of the apartment...
David
Quote from: edurban on Tuesday 21 February 2012, 22:54
I'm sure the score will eventually find its way to some library with the other contents of the apartment...
David
Or it ends in the wastepaper basket, if his inheritance is not taken good care of and being dealt with by an incompetent family member who doesn't recognize the Pixis score. If seen this before, albeit not with rare scores but with other valuable papers.
Let us hope not. Since "Edurban" knows Kees and is on the spot, perhaps he could keep an eye on things. If the collection goes to auction, of course, it may end up in private hands. I really would like to know where Miss Boehm found the MS and what its provenance is.
On the subject of Bronsart couplings, Mike was contemplating the Urspruch PC at one time, but if this is to be released by CPO (as we have heard) then he may be looking for a different work. The two unrecorded piano concertante works by Brull - the early Rhapsodie and late Concertstuck (recently edited by Michael Laus, the conductor of the Malta Philharmonic) are a possibility. There is Neitzel's PC, but I haven't seen the score and have no idea how good it is. There is also a Konzertstuck by Volkmann which could do with a new recording. Bronsart's PC was written in 1873 (I think); a PC written a year later is that in G minor by the American Otis Boise - a big-boned and, I think, rather good work if a little bombastic (but then we quite like bombast - in the right context!!). Other roughly contemporaneous German/Austrian PCs are those by Emil Paur, Oskar Raif, Reinhold (Suite for piano & strings), Julius Zellner and, perhaps, Max Vogrich (though his was published in 1888). Apart from the Raif, which I like, I haven't seen any of these others, and I'm not even sure that the orchestral parts still exist for the last two. One might contemplate Gernsheim's lovely PC - but Mike Spring is loth to do so, and, besides, we may see that on CPO eventually.
I have just learned that Bronsart's PC, although it will certainly be recorded by Hyperion in their RPC series, is not yet at the scheduling stage. There are at least half a dozen other volumes in preparation before Bronsart, so we shall have to be patient there. I am also given to understand that Mike has had second thoughts about Gernsheim's PC and it is now on his list to be recorded.
Hyperion has quite a few interesting surprises up its sleeve over the next few years, some of which I know about and others which I do not - but I am sworn to secrecy. Suffice it to say I don't think readers of this forum will be disappointed.
The Gernsheim/Bronsart coupling sounds intriguing, if for no other reason than that Bronsart was most decidedly in the Liszt/Wagner camp, whereas Gernsheim was more a Brahms acolyte (if that's a proper term for it). I'm sure there would be interesting points of comparison and contrast between the two.
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Wednesday 22 February 2012, 12:54
Julius Zellner
That might be the first one I don't buy if it ever happens.
Not as bad as Street, but not far off.
Thal
Ah, well now - don't go jumping to conclusions. I didn't say Bronsart would be coupled with Gernsheim - and I didn't say Zellner's PC was even under consideration. I did say, however, that I hadn't seen it... and if it is anything like the insipid and uninspired Street I don't think it will find entry in the RPC series - and I shall not mourn its absence from the catalogue.
As far as I know, there's no sign of cpo bringing out the Gernsheim PC...
Nor did I mean to imply that I assumed the Gernsheim would be coupled with the Bronsart. However, such a coupling would be intriguing for the reasons I mentioned.
Just to add one name to those mentioned by Gareth
Józef Deszczyński (1781-1844), Concerto in F op. 25
It was presented here in Warsaw in 2007 during the 5th Festival of the Polish Chamber Music.
I do have only off-the-concert-hall rather poor recording.
As JimL, I think, wrote, the obvious coupling is the Raff PC. It's a great fit in both date and style and the two composers were friends who had been disciples of Liszt in their youth. But as we know, Mike Spring seems to have set his face against it and that's fair enough. I hadn't thought of the Boise, which I know only by repute, but of all Gareth's suggestions it stands out for me as being the most appropriate choice. He was a Lisztian who moved in the same circles as Bronsart and Raff and was quite highly regarded whilst in Germany. The PC itself garnered favourable contemporary reviews.
The score of the Reinhold suite is at IMSLP, I think?
In my opinion the best coupling for the Bronsart piano concerto would be that of Peter Benoit 1834-1901. It was composed in 1865, the Bronsart in 1873. They were both Belgian so perhaps a Flanders orchestra could be induced to give it's services for less than the going rate.
I did not know that Bronsart was Belgian. The Beniot is orchestrally sumptious, but has been recorded before.
I have just finished applying my feeble technique to the Fritz Kauffmann PC after doing the same to the Ferdinand Hummel PC. Both were Kiel pupils and would make a nice coupling.
I guess the suggestions are almost endless. The Stanford 0 also dates from 1873.
Concertingly.
Thal
Quote from: giles.enders on Tuesday 28 February 2012, 11:18
In my opinion the best coupling for the Bronsart piano concerto would be that of Peter Benoit 1834-1901. It was composed in 1865, the Bronsart in 1873. They were both Belgian so perhaps a Flanders orchestra could be induced to give it's services for less than the going rate.
I thought Hans' brother Paul was a noted general in the Prussian army.
Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf wasn't Belgian, but from a Prussian military background.
My apologies. Bronsart von Schellendorf's other brother Walther was also a general in the Prussian army. As was, apparently, their father. I guess poor Hans just didn't measure up.! :)
This just in: The Bronsart Bros.' mother was Antoinette de Rège, possibly a Belgian Walloon. Maybe Belgians are like us Jews. You get it from your mom.
P.S. Antoinette died the year the Bronsart PC was composed.
Jim, I don't think Hans was from the same family as Paul and Walther, maybe they were cousins but not brothers. I'm going to check to back it up, but Paul Bronsart von Schellendorf was a very well-known figure who even made it to Prussian Minister of War (an unlucky appointment, by the way). Everything I've read about him doesn't even mention Hans. They came from a Dantzig family, whereas Hans was born in Berlin. Finally, I find it unlikely that in a military family the eldest son would have been allowed to become a composer (Hans was born 1830, Paul 1832). But let me check.
Sorry, my mistake about nationality, misread my notes.
Quote from: Ilja on Thursday 01 March 2012, 07:24
Jim, I don't think Hans was from the same family as Paul and Walther, maybe they were cousins but not brothers. I'm going to check to back it up, but Paul Bronsart von Schellendorf was a very well-known figure who even made it to Prussian Minister of War (an unlucky appointment, by the way). Everything I've read about him doesn't even mention Hans. They came from a Dantzig family, whereas Hans was born in Berlin. Finally, I find it unlikely that in a military family the eldest son would have been allowed to become a composer (Hans was born 1830, Paul 1832). But let me check.
It says in Hans' Wiki he came from a military family. How many military Bronsart von Schellendorfs could there be. Also, he was born in different years from both Walther and Paul. I'm not saying that is proof, or even evidence, but it does indicate that he was not born concurrently with either of the other two, making a case for him being a brother in that family plausible.
P.S. I see nothing about Hans being born in Berlin. Educated at Berlin University, yes, born there, no. He could have been born in Danzig, for all I can tell.
Paul Bronsart von Schellendorff is listed by Stamm-Kuhlmann as the oldest of four, which pretty much scuttles the idea of him being a brother of Hans (who was two years older). By the way, the German Wikipedia lists Berlin as Hans' birthplace, so I'll go with that.
And yes, there might've been a LOT of Bronsart von Schellendorffs, if there were even half as many as the Gneisenaus or the Bülows.
Cousins then. I guess Heinrich's brothers were also in the military, since it says Hans came from "a military family".
Let's cut the guessing game and concentrate on the facts, please - if they're available. Otherwise, back to the music...
"Not as bad as Street, but not far off.
Thal"
Sorry to ask this but who is this Street.... and why is he(?) so bad? ;D
Joseph Street, go to 'search' on this sight and you will see some postings.