German Music Folder

[eschiss1]

Anyone have non-commercial recordings of anything composed by
*Hugo Ulrich (more Silesian/Polish/German I guess. String quartet, other chamber music, two symphonies - B minor, C major - ah! I see now this one has been recorded at least "virtually" in 2007 at romana-hamburg... - reduced score of the B minor and an arrangement of the 3rd movement (Adagio) of the C major at IMSLP. Full scores of the symphonies in a couple of places apparently)
*Bernhard Scholz (at least 2 symphonies, other works. I think one work of his has been posted here, now I think of it...)

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, Scholtz is an interesting figure. He was well known and respected in his day (1835-1916). A conservative, very much in the Brahms camp, he was one of the signatories, with Brahms and Joachim, of the infamous letter denouncing Liszt, Wagner and the New German School. He was primarily an academic, succeeding Raff as director of the Frankfurt Conservatory, but wrote a lot of music including nine operas, two symphonies, a piano concerto and quite a few chamber works. It'd be very interesting to hear some of his music.

[eschiss1]

Re Jadassohn's first piano quartet - very glad to have a recording (since I haven't yet bought the one on Real Sound, though it can be heard online at Concertzender.nl ) - hope someone will record the other two though (darn, i sound ungrateful ). The score and parts can be found at http://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Quartet_No.1,_Op.77_(Jadassohn,_Salomon).

Adding to my wishlist, I assume (shouldn't) that Gustav Jenner's Serenade for orchestra (1912, recorded and published 1977 - recording coupled with Hindemith's E-flat cello concerto opus 3) hasn't made it from Musicaphon LP to CD. Anyone have the LP and want to digitize it if so? *goes to check a bit...*

[jerfilm]

Yes, thanx for that thoughtful upload, BC.  But darn, I already have the quartet.  And the piano Quintet #3 in g.  And the four piano trios that came out on CD a year or so ago.  Like his music alot.

I guess the reason I'm so fond of piano trios, quartets and quintets is because of my love of piano concertos.  The chamber works, in my mind, are like mini concertos.  And some of them would undoubtedly sound really good if orchestrated for a full orchestra.......

Jerry

[britishcomposer]

Adding to my wishlist, I assume (shouldn't) that Gustav Jenner's Serenade for orchestra (1912, recorded and published 1977 - recording coupled with Hindemith's E-flat cello concerto opus 3) hasn't made it from Musicaphon LP to CD. Anyone have the LP and want to digitize it if so? *goes to check a bit...*

Eric, who are the performers of this LP?

I have a broadcast recording with James Lockhart conducting the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, dating from the late 90s if I remember...
By some strange coincident I listened to this recording this morning and had already planned to upload it the following week!

Now, tell me, Eric: can you read my thoughts?!   

[eschiss1]

that would be the same Musicaphon (or at least I think originally Musicaphon?) LP. As to whether or not I can read your thoughts, 41.

[Lionel Harrsion]

Thanks, britishcomposer, for the download of the Jadassohn Piano Quartet.  As someone who appreciates the works of composers such as Jenner and Herzogenberg, and with Jadassohn's high reputation among his contemporaries, I expected to enjoy it and while it has some interesting and attractive moments, the thing that struck me most strongly was what came across to me as the mawkishness of the Adagio.  I know that it was once the norm to accuse Mendelssohn of sentimentality (with very little justification, in my view) and Mendelssohn is a composer I revere very deeply.  But does anyone else feel similarly queasy about the Jadassohn, or is it just me?

[Alan Howe]

No, there can be 'a little of the salon' about Jadassohn's music on occasions. This doesn't seem to be true of his orchestral music - although frustration is setting in with regard to the promised release by cpo of his symphonies so that we can establish more about him...

[Lionel Harrsion]

No, there can be 'a little of the salon' about Jadassohn's music on occasions. This doesn't seem to be true of his orchestral music - although frustration is setting in with regard to the promised release by cpo of his symphonies so that we can establish more about him...

Very well put, Alan.  And I agree with your frustration about the delay with the symphonies.

[Dundonnell]

No, there can be 'a little of the salon' about Jadassohn's music on occasions. This doesn't seem to be true of his orchestral music - although frustration is setting in with regard to the promised release by cpo of his symphonies so that we can establish more about him...

I acknowledge with enormous gratitude the marvellous job done by CPO in bringing so much obscure music to our attention ...........BUT they do seem to take a quite inordinate amount of time to release cds of music previously recorded and often advertised by them.

Their 2010 Catalogue lists Edvin Kallstenius's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2(recorded 2007) and Jan van Gilse's Symphony No.3(recorded 2009) as "Soon Available".
Well that was well over a year ago and those cds have not been released. There is no 2011 Catalogue.

[eschiss1]

I'd rather they take more time than they have done, and get the booklets done better. At least, the
(1) English translations
(2) the correspondence to the music examples with the texts (and yes, I know, who else bothers with music examples at all? I know, I know. Donemus used to have full scores with their LPs, I gather, but those days are long gone- very glad for ability to download some of the scores from IMSLP and suchlike, anyway, now. But if they're going to have them, and texts, they should correspond. Not saying it's easy- from experience there.)
at least, in the examples I've seen.
Otherwise, though, their work has indeed been often very fine and I am glad to have many of their CDs in my collection...

[Alan Howe]

cpo are simply swamped with projects (mostly radio co-productions) waiting for release. At an average of six releases per month, they probably have enough material to last well into the current  decade, so we must simply be patient, I guess...

[semloh]

Thanks, britishcomposer, for the download of the Jadassohn Piano Quartet.  ... the thing that struck me most strongly was what came across to me as the mawkishness of the Adagio. ... But does anyone else feel similarly queasy about the Jadassohn, or is it just me?

I absolutely loved it, Lionel! And although not great music, I didn't think the adagio was out of place in this work. But then, I have simple aesthetic tastes and find no problem with "mawkishness" ....which is why I love the salon arrangements of 'Palm Court' ensembles and I Salonistsi! 

And, why I genuinely cherish my Max Jaffa collection!!!!

[Lionel Harrsion]

Thanks, britishcomposer, for the download of the Jadassohn Piano Quartet.  ... the thing that struck me most strongly was what came across to me as the mawkishness of the Adagio. ... But does anyone else feel similarly queasy about the Jadassohn, or is it just me?

I absolutely loved it, Lionel! And although not great music, I didn't think the adagio was out of place in this work. But then, I have simple aesthetic tastes and find no problem with "mawkishness" ....which is why I love the salon arrangements of 'Palm Court' ensembles and I Salonistsi! 

And, why I genuinely cherish my Max Jaffa collection!!!!

I certainly have no problem with 'Palm Court' ensembles (nor with Max Jaffa!) but Jadassohn's slow movement seemed to me a tad too sugary in context -- but maybe I'm becoming too acidic in my old age!  I think it's a difficult balance to strike -- one of my all-time favourite Unsungs is Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, whose music sometimes teeters dangerously on the brink of sentimentality but it rarely, if ever tips over.  Still, as my wise old mother used to say, "it wouldn't do if we were all the same".

[Lionel Harrsion]

Thanks again, britishcomposer for the Jenner Serenade - unalloyed pleasure!  His music is so attractive and well-crafted I can't imagine why it's not standard fare...