From Hyperion's website:
Fans of more frivolous piano fare will welcome our 66th Romantic Piano Concerto series release. Howard Shelley and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra have recorded Henri Herz Piano Concerto No 2 & other works, their third and final visit to the bejewelled territory of this Austro-Parisian sensation.
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/ym.asp?ym=2015_08 (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/ym.asp?ym=2015_08)
Well that's some damning with faint praise there isn't it...
Well, "frivolous" or no, it'll be a very welcome addition to my collection.
Well, Herz is frivolous. That's the whole point. Anyway, if returning to the 'bejewelled territory of this Austro-Parisian sensation' is damning with faint praise, I'm a banana...
I agree with what you say, Alan, but then we both know Herz's music and can put the word "frivolous", in particular, in context. To someone who doesn't know the pleasures of his music, I do think that it's an unhelpful word.
But does it contain the 6th Concerto with chorus?
Almost certainly not, for a number of reasons. The orchestral material appears to be missing. All that exists is a score for two pianos with the chorus part, so it would have to be reconstructed (see "Not what it says on the tin" on other board). Also, I know Mike Spring considered the music banal, and he told me he did not want to record the 6th, but he did want to issue a disk with some of the other pieces Herz wrote for piano and orchestra with the 2nd PC. There are, to my knowledge, two sets of Variations for piano and orchestra and a Grande Polonaise. Some or all of these will be the likely couplings, I'm sure.
Needless to say, I personally am delighted at the prospect of more Herz. I love his frivolity.
It is happy music. I like it and so does my Venus Fly Trap.
Thal
Is that cockney rhyming slang, perchance? ;)
Oh dear! I have most of the Hyperion piano concerto series and have to say the Herz were a real low point musically speaking. They were well played, in fact considerably better played than some in the series.
He simply makes me smile. It is superficial music with no pretensions. Herz set out to please and, for this listener at least, he does just that.
A must have for me, since it seems that's all the Herz we're likely to get. Bummer that nobody seems to have been able to find the full score of the 6th, though. :(
I doubt there was a full score, Jim. All the other concertos seem to exist as piano scores for the pianist (with orchestral tuttis as cues) + sets of orchestral parts - at least, that's my understanding from Hyperion. I expect Herz conducted them himself from the keyboard. The same was true of a lot of PCs written at this time (most of Moscheles', I think; certainly Dreyschock's). Schott's published all of Herz's concertos and although their lists appear to offer for sale 2-piano scores AND scores "avec accomp. d'orchestre" for all apart from No. 8, these do not seem to have come down to us - if, indeed, they ever existed! I know that No. 4 could only be done because I found a set of parts for Hyperion in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (and even that lacked the viola part, so that one had to be specially written for the recording).
erm... take "or full set of parts" as read (Jim, am I reading too much into your statement?)
As you know, Eric, the chorus parts are there on the score at IMSLP. It's just the orchestra that's missing. Such a pity.
It great to see that Herz's piano concerto 2 will be coupled with three other piano-and-orchestra works:
Fantaisie et variations sur la marche d'Otello de Rossini, Op. 67 (publ. 1832)
Grande fantaisie militaire sur La fille du régiment, Op. 163 (publ. 1850)
Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 30 (publ. 1837)
Hyperion A68100: Howard Shelley (pf, cond.)/Tasmanian SO
background notes etc. available at
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68100
*sigh* all I meant was "full score" wasn't quite so important as "full, complete, entire set of performable material" (orchestral, choral, solo piano)- which we don't have, just the piano, chorus, and hints of the orchestral contribution here and there but not a full, complete set of parts.
It's true yes that -- e.g.!!!!!! (this is _just_ an example. Yes. I know this is neither Romantic nor unsung. Do. Not. Shoot. Me. Please. It is an example for learning.) Mozart's piano concertos were mostly (except for the best-known ones) not released in full piano/orchestral scores until the 1860s or so (by Richault of Paris) but almost all of them _were_ released in full performing-edition sets of _parts_ by 1810 or so (iirc) by one publisher or another. So I'm not entirely being nitpicking, one, and from the point of view of would-be performers, the lack of a full-score is not disabling if complete parts are available, again, so I just thought the wrong word ("score") was being fixated on at the expense of the actual point of Jim's question (unless I did miss Jim's point!) :)
I'm dying to know...what text did Herz feel was just the thing to end a piano concerto? A hymn to champagne? A poetic description of a day at a fashionable spa? Paradise Lost? Someone please tell me.
David
End (or all?) of text, in French, from p.31 of the vocal/choral score (at IMSLP, downloaded from Bavarian library):
Mais oublions et dangers et misère
Non, ce n'est pas un mirage trompeur,
Et l'oasis réfuge tutélaire,
Va nous offrir un ? protecteur.
A nous son onde, a nous son frais ombrage,
Encore un pas, nous y voilà!...
Oui nous touchons au terme du voyage,
Gloire au prophète Allah!
(Ah. My mistake- the chorus does start earlier, all the way back on page 19, with
Fils du prophète, allons que l'on s'éveille...
À l'horizon le soleil apparait.
La brise est douce et l'aurore vermeille.
D'un ciel clément nous promet le bien-fait.
Comme le serpent la longue caravane
Dans le desert s'en va se déroulant,
Sinistre et noir là haut le vautour plane,
Espérant de nous un destin sanglant.
Followed by a Prière which concludes as above ending the work.
Just to complete :
pp. 19-21 (Chœur seul)
Fils du prophète, allons que l'on s'éveille.
À l'horizon le soleil apparaît.
La brise est douce et l'aurore vermeille,
D'un ciel clément nous promet le bienfait.
Comme le serpent la longue caravane,
Dans le désert s'en va se déroulant.
Sinistre et noir là haut le vautour plane,
Espérant de nous un destin sanglant.
pp. 26-30
Prière
De nos voix, entends le concert,
Oh Mahomet, divin prophète.
Que tout péril dans le désert,
Soit écarté de notre tête.
Tous à genoux, nous t'implorons, protège-nous.
Oh Mahomet, veilles sur nous.
pp. 31-33 (Chœur et Tutti)
Mais oublions et dangers et misère.
Non, ce n'est pas un mirage trompeur.
Et l'oasis refuge tutélaire,
Va nous offrir un abri protecteur.
A nous son onde, a nous son frais ombrage.
Encore un pas, nous y voilà!
Oui nous touchons au terme du voyage.
Gloire au prophète Allah! Allah!
pp. 34-35 (Chœur puis Chœur et Tutti) (répétition)
Oui nous touchons au terme du voyage.
Gloire au prophète Allah! Allah!
C.T.
Crikey! Shades of Felicien David. Very unexpected and delightful.
Many thanks, all.
David
No need to sigh, dear Eric. I understood what you meant exactly. I was only pointing out the slightly unusual presence of full choral parts in the existing piano score of No. 6 - so often these would just have been cued. I should have said "just the orchestral parts that are missing". I was not implying we should expect a full score. And, of course, I am aware that earlier concertos were often released as sets of parts only, not in full score. I think I made reference to the fact that this was the case with the Dreyschock concerto (and also, from my researches for Hyperion, the Carl Hartknoch 2nd concerto, where the solo piano part exists but the orchestral parts are sadly missing).
Just listened to the extracts on Hyperion's site. Utterly delightful. I do so WISH someone would attempt a reconstruction/orchestration of the 6th concerto. One longs to hear such a "perfumed" work.
I too echo Gareth's wish that someone attempt a reconstruction/orchestration of the 6th concerto. In my case, I would particularly like to hear the final movement "Rondo Oriental" which includes of course a part for chorus. I do so enjoy classical music with a touch of the exotic/oriental to it!
Carl Hartknoch? ... ...
(HHRrrrrmmmmm... Karl Eduard Hartknoch, 1796-1834. Sambeek of Amsterdam republished a few works of his in 2011; wrote a violin sonata op.2, a piano trio op.4 published ca.1823, etc. ... will have to try to turn up more and see -what- turns up. How intriguing. Cheers...)
That's right, Eric. Though his name is spelled "Carl" on the British Library copy of the printed piano part of PC No. 2 (at least, I think it is - it's a long time since I looked at the music). Don't know anything about the first PC.
Just checked the record on COPAC and it is spelled Carl.
"Second grand concerto pour le piano-forte avec accompagnement de grande orchestre... Oeuvre 14... piano seul"
Pub. Leipzig: Fr Hofmeister (c. 1830)
It's rather a nice piece. Wish we could locate a set of orchestral parts.
I see I wrote on the forum in July 2013 in a thread on Tausig:
QuoteCarl Eduard Hartknoch (1796-1834), born in Riga, which (I think) was then part of Russia. Pupil of Hummel. Wrote, among other things, 2 PCs (first lost -?) and a Grand Rondeau Russe for pfte (Pub. St Petersburg, 1830). The "Second grand concerto pour le pianoforte avec accompagnement de grand orchestre" was published by Hofmeister in Leipzig, also in 1830. British Library has the piano solo part (and also the Grand Rondeau). The orchestral parts of the 2nd PC were known to have existed in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, before the outbreak of WW II, and it is thought they were taken to Poland by the Russians. Parcels of music which disappeared during the occupation of Berlin by the allies are still coming to light and (sometimes) being returned to the Staatsbibliothek. I hope Hartknoch's PC will turn up eventually. It is an accomplished work in the early Romantic style. Hyperion wanted to record it.
Van Sambeek published some piano music of his, including the Op. 6 Grand Rondeau Russe.
See: http://www.tfront.com/g-4976-hartknoch-carl-eduard.aspx (http://www.tfront.com/g-4976-hartknoch-carl-eduard.aspx)
Re publication date of his G minor 2nd piano concerto, Op.14: 1833, actually. http://www.hofmeister.rhul.ac.uk/2008/content/monatshefte/1833_09.html#hofm_1833_09_0070_12 (http://www.hofmeister.rhul.ac.uk/2008/content/monatshefte/1833_09.html#hofm_1833_09_0070_12)
Anyhow. Offtopic- sorry...
Thanks for the more accurate publication date. BL catalogue data has only c.1830, and there is no date on the actual score they have. Or if there is I didn't see it.
it's possible it was first published earlier by another publisher (as I often find to have been the case, lately, having "discovered", with help, French, Nordic, Italian, Spanish, &c periodicals of some interest useful in occasionally helping establish publication dates which (periodicals) have occasionally been digitized by one place or other)
The third volume of Henri Herz's works for piano and orchestra by Hyperion seems to be already available. Perhaps I can get a copy today...
Incidentally: has anybody noticed how much Henselt, in his F minor Concerto, must have been inspired from Herz's First Concerto? The themes of the first movements are quite similar...
It's great that they have released this! But something is still missing.
Herz's 6th Piano Concerto has never been released. And this 6th Piano Concerto also features a chorus, just like Busoni did.
Far as I know, they don't intend to issue the 6th, and have said as much... according to discussion slightly earlier in this thread, the orchestral material is missing (and so, if it ever existed, is the full score.) Maybe a collection of Herz autographs will come up for auction somewhere containing this, but until then...
What Eric says is true, alas. There is a piano score with orchestral cues and the chorus parts, but no full score and no orchestral material of any sort. The same is true, very sadly, for the choral piano concerto by Daniel Steibelt, though here (and I stand to be corrected) the entire work is missing. Incidentally, the Herz differs from the Busoni not only in scale but in the fact that the chorus is SATB, whereas Busoni calls for a male chorus.