Messages

Steven - don't get me started on Moscheles.  Which actually means do get me started on Moscheles, but do it when I have more time to dissemble.  Let's just say the G Minor (3rd) Moscheles Concerto is just the tip of the iceberg.  It's 10:40 in the P.M. out here and I'm hittin' the hay.  G'night all.

Another couple of concerto beginnings that I find stunning are the Napravnik and the Paderewski - both in A Minor, and both premiered by Mme. Anna Essipova.

Peter I have the Kullak/Dreyschock CD, and I'm in full agreement with you.  It's a pity that Dreyschock didn't compose a more memorable piano concerto, but very little of it sticks in my memory compared with the Konzertstuck (or the Kullak concerto, for that matter.)  Unfortunately, the only recording of the Konzertstuck ever made was the old Genesis LP by Frank Cooper, coupled with the Raff Piano Concerto.  Neither performance has ever been re-released on CD.

Forgot about that one.  It's a good one, too!  If we expand the thread to cover any and all concertante works for piano, the beginning of the Dreyschock Konzertstuck still raises goosebumps on the back of my neck.  Now there's a work that's waaay, waaay overdue for a new recording!

(Taneyev premiered Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto and completed his 2nd and 3rd concertos, and the major Russian chamber music competition is named for him, so he was well recognized in his own country, even if we've forgotten him now.)

Welcome back, Dave!  I was wondering when you'd join us over here!  Just a point of fact - Taneyev may have premiered Tchaikovsky's PC 1 in Russia, but the work was first premiered by Hans von Bulow in Boston, MA (although that was the first edition - maybe you're talking about the revised version of 1889?)  And Tchaikovsky's 2nd PC was completed by Tchaikovsky (although it was later revised by Aleksandr Siloti).  Only the PC 3 was left in fragments at Tchaikovsky's death.

But, getting back on track, I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the piano trios and quartets of Friedrich Kiel, considering how many of you guys praised them to the skies on the old Forum...

I have never heard the Henselt. I know the Concerto and the Etudes pretty well, so I can imagine. I have the Alkan on Naxos. A wild piece. Thanks for the lists!

Steven

You know the odds of hearing the Henselt on the radio as much as I do.  Best you pick it up, on CD or download.  The piano part, of course is full of the same insane stretches and resulting full sonorities as the Concerto and Etudes, yet there is truly a sense of balance between the instruments.  There is a melancholy, yet dramatic first movement (in 6/8 time), a wonderful chorale-like slow movement and a rollicking scherzo, followed up with a frantic, yet eminently satisfying finale.  It probably doesn't get performed very often for the same reason as the concerto, IMHO - the difficulty of the piano part.

Snap up the Piano Trio of Henselt, if you can.  It's a favorite of mine.  The Trio of Alkan isn't too bad either.  The former is on MDG, the latter on Naxos.  If you can find the old Mirecourt Trio release of the two (coupled with the Litolff Trio #1 and the Thalberg) on Genesis, so much the better.  Actually, I don't know if the CD release includes the Litolff - they may have paired it with the Gerald Robbins rendition of the Concerto Symphonique 4.  I'm quite fond of the Thalberg Trio, too.  I don't know if it quite qualifies as unsung, but the Quintet for Piano and Winds by Rimsky-Korsakov is an absolute delight.  A lot of us plump for Rubinstein's Piano and Wind Quintet, as well.  Unfortunately there was a wealth of chamber music on one of the recent threads of our defunct Raff Forum.  Speaking of Raff, just about anything of his in the chamber realm is recommended, but the Piano Quintet, Op. 107, is considered by many here to be his masterpiece.

P.S. I wonder if the budding young pop star Juliette Commagere is the daughter of the founder of Genesis, Robert Commagere?

The orchestra in the double concerto is just strings?  Bummer!

You know, Gareth, I'm starting to think that you don't get nearly enough honorable mention in the liner notes of some of these CDs!

What about Hiller 2?  The Alnaes concerto?  For more subdued but equally stunning and effective PC openings the 2nd and 3rd Concertos of Reinecke are favorites of mine.  And of course, the Napravnik Concerto Symphonique has a spectacular opening gesture.

Um, Peter, Michael Ponti never did the Hummel E Major Concerto.  That's Hans Kann you're thinking about (on an old LP coupled with the Kalkbrenner PC 1).

I just ordered the last 2 Naxos CDs of the Ries piano concertos, to get current.  That would be the 3rd (C-sharp Minor) and 7th (A Minor) concertos.  In addition, I picked up the Jadassohn/Draeseke release on Hyperion.  Also, a peek at the Hyperion website disclosed that there will be a CD of the 2 extant PCs of Julius Benedict coming out in a couple of months.

Hi all

It is a good question as to why some some moron/vandal/piece of garbage would bother to harm such a site.

I can think of a couple of possible reasons. One, the human malice factor. The Joachim Raff Forums were well-run, generated a lot of interest and - trust me on this one - were becoming rather influential in various ways. Am sure others also know the influence factor to be true.

Secondly, I assert that the site was playing a very solid role in raising the status and concert and recording chances of Raff. I do not like to be rude, but it may have put unknown noses out of joint. For example, noses on people who like ultra-modernist music, such as that of the (hopefully) now forgotten Richard Hayman. Among his more sane compositions was "Roll", which involved the composer rolling, lying down, in the street, covered with bells as a token of Hindu veneration. Enough said.

A more obvious factor which may have attracted vandals was sheer volume of traffic. For example, the Rufinatscha thread had over 10,000 hits. The German Romantic Violin Concerto (parts 1 and 2) attracted over 6,000. Plenty of other threads also achieved mega-hits. A nasty type or two may have become peevish about it.

Such numbers of hits, I think, are also I sign of something more positive. Take a bow for the success of the Forums, Mark. In your shoes I would be a little happy, despite the recent horrors.

regards
Peter

Hmmm.  I'm wondering if there wasn't a more personal vendetta involved.  Probably not, but still...  Oh, well.  I don't like it when my mind goes there.  Nonetheless, there have been a couple of former members who exited the old Forums on, shall we say, somewhat less than genial terms...

I wouldn't mind that.  I have a nice photo a friend of mine took with her cell-phone and emailed it to me sitting on my desktop.

BTW, I'll be posting less frequently.  The new website is now covered by the internet restriction at my full-time job, so I can't access it from there.

Perhaps you could add in a little bit of artwork?  Maybe a collage of a bunch of unsung composers (with Raff featured prominently, of course ) would spruce the place up a bit, no?  It would make it a little more homey, like the last Forum, with good old JJR looking out at you from the Home page...

If you'd like I could see if I can scrounge up a handful of unsung composers' photos or portraits, splice them together into something like what I have in mind, and then email it to you as an attachment.