Julius Engelbert Röntgen (1855-1932) – Chamber Music

[Peter1953]

If members like warm, melodious, late romantic piano trios, I can very heartily recommend the recordings by the Storioni Trio (Vol. 1 & 2). What a wonderful  music, and so beautifully played. The Trio No. 6 in C minor, in 1907 awarded the first prize in the Concours International de la Société Musicale in Paris, has a Brahmsian grandeur, but the other trios are also absolutely gorgeous stuff. BTW, I see that the English translation of the booklet notes is done by Alan Howe. Is that you, Alan, or another Doppelgänger?

There is more of Röntgen's chamber music available to explore, but these trios are a good start, if you like the genre. Audio samples are given by jpc, see here and here.

[Alan Howe]

I did volume 1, but not volume 2. Lovely music, I agree.

[Peter1953]

For members who like Röntgen's music I like to ask your attention for the CD Right through the bone (RCA Red Seal, 2007), filled with four lovely pieces of chamber music, full of memorable themes. For a very good review see here.

The Cologne Piano Duo has filled a CD (Koch Schwann, 1998) with works for piano duet. In total 37 pieces, including some real gems. Röntgen's op. 4, Aus der Jugendzeit (From younger days) could have been composed by Schumann, but that doesn't bother me at all. The music with its lovely themes gives us a very pleasant listen.

I'm very pleased by Gaudeamus. The life of Julius Röntgen (1855-1932). Composer and musician, a thesis from Dr Jurjen Vis of Amsterdam (2007). Unfortunately for most members the 560 page book is written in Dutch, but has a 3 page summary in English (and in German).

Röntgen is a fascinating composer and personality, that's for sure.

[Taneyev]

Yes. I've his Fantasy op.24 for violin and piano, and his A minor SQ.

[eschiss1]

a G minor quartettino by Rontgen has been broadcast on Dutch radio a couple of years ago (live broadcast) and may still be available for online audition. (BTW, besides the A minor quartettino on Challenge Classics, there's been at least two or three other quartets by Röntgen (in G minor "Fancy"- as in "Phantasy", instrumental-motet, I mean!, not as in Embroidered (an older sense of Fantasy, I think, then he was using with op.24 ) - and in C, on Cobra Classics I think...) recorded, which also may still be audible on the same station, which unlike BBC and other stations seems not to take things down much... and since they did a whole ... thing of a dozen broadcasts of Röntgen over as many months or so back around 2007, that means one can by finding out when they were using google, hear quite a lot of Röntgen's music that way...) ("googling" site:concertzender.nl/programmagids.php

generally does it for me they've played a -lot- of the works from cpo and other recordings, and I've tried not to abuse the service too much, I fear.

[X. Trapnel]

If you like Rontgen (I sure do), you may also like the chamber music of another Dutch composer of the period, Jan Brandts Buys. I've managed to find only two works of his, a couple of serenades for string quartet; not light music at all, both intense, beautiful, and memorable.

[eschiss1]

Brandts Buys? A string sextet and string quartet of his (full-length, C minor, not the serenade) have been recorded by Steve's Bedroom Band and posted at imslp.org ...

[jerfilm]

I have a cassette tape of a Piano Concerto by Brandt-Buys but unfortunately no information on a number, key signature, opus number or even performance data....

Jerry

[Peter1953]

I have a cassette tape of a Piano Concerto by Brandt-Buys but unfortunately no information on a number, key signature, opus number or even performance data.... Jerry

That could be the concerto in F major, op. 15. For the score see here.
And for some more information (in Dutch) see here.

[Jonathan]

Just to say that i totally agree with Peter's assessment of the "Right through the Bone" disc, it is lovely (as an aside, and slightly off topic, I also enjoy the 3rd symphony on the CPO disc)

[X. Trapnel]

eschiss--Are the Brandts-Buys works downloadable? I tried repeatedly with no luck.

[eschiss1]

I download them by clicking or "right-clicking" on the little file number under each file, which brings me to the file page, and then saving the file to my hard drive (not opening in iTunes, which only creates a webstream). It's a bit of trouble but I often find it worth it.

[X. Trapnel]

eschiss--thanks, I tried that but must be doing something wrong. Files won't play or burn on to a disk. Oh well...

[John H White]

If you go to the Noteworthy Scriptorium at nwcscriptorium.org, you can find my transcription of Rontgen's brief Piano Quintet in C, Op 100. All you'll need to see and hear it is a decent MIDI sound card with suitable audio output and a free download of Noteworthy Viewer. You'll also, while you're there, be able to sample lots of other music from both sung and unsung composers, put there over the years by various users of Noteworthy software.

[Alan Howe]

Thank you, John.