Naxos have just released for download from classicsonline.com (http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=1088326), and will release later on CD (http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572637), a recording of Xaver Scharwenka's Piano Concerto No.4, together with the Mataswintha Overture and orchestrations of some of the Polish Dances and and the Andante Religioso from his Cello Sonata. The Overture (and maybe the Dance orchestrations) are CD premieres I think. It would be nice to think that, with Klaus Heymann's penchant for complete cycles, we'll get all four concertos eventually. The artists are new to me.
Hi Mark,
Yes, i noticed this and had a listen to the first 4 and a half minutes yesterday via the website. I was struck by how different the performance was to Hough's Hyperion recording (which so far I prefer based on this short section).
However, it is a very exciting sounding recording though so it's probably going on the wish list anyway!
Oo, the Mataswintha overture, what a marvelous piece! I treasure my vocal score of the opera, and never tire of those big, Wagnerian ensembles. Btw, Mataswintha is sometimes said to have had a performance at the Metropolitan Opera, but I can find no confirmation that it was the actual Metropolitan Opera company that performed it on that occasion. Perhaps that fondly-remembered hall was hired for the NY premiere...
David
Quote from: edurban on Sunday 03 October 2010, 17:11
Oo, the Mataswintha overture, what a marvelous piece! I treasure my vocal score of the opera, and never tire of those big, Wagnerian ensembles. Btw, Mataswintha is sometimes said to have had a performance at the Metropolitan Opera, but I can find no confirmation that it was the actual Metropolitan Opera company that performed it on that occasion. Perhaps that fondly-remembered hall was hired for the NY premiere...
David
Where did you obtain a vocal score of Mataswintha? I was not able to locate a copy anywhere, including IMSLP. I just read the book on which it's based, A Struggle for Rome ("Ein Kampf um Rom") by Felix Dahn, so I'm quite curious to see what Scharwenka made of it. According to his autobiography ("Klänge aus meinem Leben: Erinnerungen eines Musikers"), it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 1897, but I wasn't able to find any confirmation of that. I love his music and regard his four piano concertos as the greatest of the 19th century.
I think I got my score at a library sale ca. 1977, whether it was NYPL or my college I don't remember. I would be surprised if NYPL didn't have a copy, maybe there is one at Library of Congress, too?
"...and regard his four piano concertos as the greatest of the 19th century..." Do you mean greatest among unsungs, or greatest even when the competition includes Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, etc.? The latter, I think, would be a tall order...
David
Quote from: Jamie on Monday 04 October 2010, 02:47... I love his music and regard his four piano concertos as the greatest of the 19th century.
Afraid you can only count the first 3, Jamie. PC 4 dates from 1908.
Very picky, Jim. Factually, you are right; but spiritually PC4 is a 19thC concerto - and extremely conservative for its date.
Quote from: Jamie on Monday 04 October 2010, 02:47
Quote from: edurban on Sunday 03 October 2010, 17:11
Oo, the Mataswintha overture, what a marvelous piece! I treasure my vocal score of the opera, and never tire of those big, Wagnerian ensembles. Btw, Mataswintha is sometimes said to have had a performance at the Metropolitan Opera, but I can find no confirmation that it was the actual Metropolitan Opera company that performed it on that occasion. Perhaps that fondly-remembered hall was hired for the NY premiere...
David
Where did you obtain a vocal score of Mataswintha? I was not able to locate a copy anywhere, including IMSLP. I just read the book on which it's based, A Struggle for Rome ("Ein Kampf um Rom") by Felix Dahn, so I'm quite curious to see what Scharwenka made of it. According to his autobiography ("Klänge aus meinem Leben: Erinnerungen eines Musikers"), it was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 1897, but I wasn't able to find any confirmation of that. I love his music and regard his four piano concertos as the greatest of the 19th century.
An episode from Mataswintha has been uploaded to Sibley, hopefully the vocal score will follow
sometime...
Quote from: edurban on Monday 04 October 2010, 03:17
"...and regard his four piano concertos as the greatest of the 19th century..." Do you mean greatest among unsungs, or greatest even when the competition includes Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, etc.? The latter, I think, would be a tall order...
David
I meant exactly what I said--I'll take any of the Scharwenka piano concertos (and most of the unsung concertos such as Raff, Moszkowski, and Dohnanyi #1) over any of the "sung" concertos. It's high time to give the Scharwenkas and the other unsungs their deserved place in the sun and displace the hackneyed warhorses that we hear over and over and over again.
Quote from: Jamie on Monday 04 October 2010, 12:45
Quote from: edurban on Monday 04 October 2010, 03:17
"...and regard his four piano concertos as the greatest of the 19th century..." Do you mean greatest among unsungs, or greatest even when the competition includes Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, etc.? The latter, I think, would be a tall order...
David
I meant exactly what I said--I'll take any of the Scharwenka piano concertos (and most of the unsung concertos such as Raff, Moszkowski, and Dohnanyi #1) over any of the "sung" concertos. It's high time to give the Scharwenkas and the other unsungs their deserved place in the sun and displace the hackneyed warhorses that we hear over and over and over again.
Have you actually
listened to some of these warhorses, or did you just
hear them too often?
I do agree some of the unknown concertos are right up there with the sung repertoire. I also agree that they should be given a "place in the sun". But, please,
next to Schumann and Brahms etc., not above them!
There are two issues here: personal preference and the notion of an objective hierarchy of great PCs. One is entitled to take, as a matter of personal preference, any particular PC over any other. However, when it comes to making more objective judgments, one has to be very careful not to let personal preference overwhelm the need for critical distance, objectivity and fairness. Thus, for example, I personally find Röntgen's PC2 an absolutely wonderful piece and would take it over either of Liszt's PCs, or even the Schumann; however, I would hesitate to place it above them or even equal to them if asked to justify some sort of hierarchy of PCs.
BTW the Mataswintha Overture is a very beautiful piece in a distinctly Wagnerian style (think, say, Lohengrin, with touches of Tristan). The CD will be well worth waiting for, particularly as it so sympathetically played and beautifully recorded in a warm acoustic.
and saying one would place any of the unsung concertos over any of the sung ones (placing some of the ones you mention that I've heard over Brahms' 1st or Mozart's 24th seems going quite a lot too far) makes me for one think that the main point and best plan (give or take, and asking for some extra things like historical context and etc)... is to bring the pieces out there so that people -can- hear them - and reach their own judgements - rather than declaring in advance that the unheard is unworthy, or on the other hand, that it's far more worthy than anything at all and whatsoever we've been hearing -- shortcuts both and intimidating but not thought, exactly.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Monday 04 October 2010, 16:38
Thus, for example, I personally find Röntgen's PC2 an absolutely wonderful piece and would take it over either of Liszt's PCs, or even the Schumann;
After that recommendation, I went looking for the Rontgen PC. Amazon hasn't got. Any idea where I can get a fair-priced CD?
I don't know if there already exists a recording of that concerto Gerhard, but according to another post on this forum, CPO will release Röntgen's Piano Concertos nos. 2 & 4 later this year or early 2011.
Maybe other members have more accurate information.
Morten
I never claimed that the "sung" PCs are unworthy, just that I prefer the unsung 19th century PCs I mentioned to them mostly because I'm tired of hearing them. I never referred to 18th century PCs--certainly Mozart's 24th (c minor, K. 491) is the greatest of them all and IMHO, is the greatest of all Mozart's concertos (my second favorite is his clarinet concerto). Even Beethoven felt that this concerto couldn't be surpassed.
This has developed into a two subject thread! To revert to the topic of the Naxos Scharwenka CD, I just want to echo Alan's assessment of the Mataswintha Overture. IMHO it's one of his finest works: measured, restrained, noble with, as he says, more than a whiff of Wagner about it. These seven minutes are worth the price of the whole CD.
The snippets I heard sound like a viable alternative to the Hough on Hyperion. Also, FWIW, Klaus Heymann has informed me that Naxos is planning to do the other 3 Xaver Scharwenka PCs, and also has brother Phillip's VC in the works somewhere.
Quote from: JimL on Monday 04 October 2010, 23:30
The snippets I heard sound like a viable alternative to the Hough on Hyperion. Also, FWIW, Klaus Heymann has informed me that Naxos is planning to do the other 3 Xaver Scharwenka PCs, and also has brother Phillip's VC in the works somewhere.
Terrific! And though I haven't seen them, I gather there are three symphonies too (D minor op.96 - I may have the number wrong - and two others). Have very much enjoyed the chamber music of P. Scharwenka's I've heard (especially the late sonatas, trios, string quartets;...) (and that of Xaver) - haven't yet, I think (though it's archived on Concertzender, some of it) heard the tone poems of Philipp on Sterling- but hope to and sometime the symphonies and other works too...
Eric
having listened to the concerto in their entirety, I am happy to find that Naxos approached it frome a entirely different angle than Hyperion - there's something to choose between. This is a much more expansive approach, focusing on the elegiac elements rather than the fireworks. Inhowfar that produces an authentic result I gladly leave to others, but after withstanding initial shock I found that this approach revealed aspects of the work I hadn't heard before.