German Music Folder

[Alan Howe]

Posted by Tapiola and moved here:

Moronic review.  I doubt seriously that the reviewer even listened.  I stay quiet about some fetiches on the board out of respect for most members.  As a balance, another review of the concert:
"After hearing the Berlin performance of this work, Wilhelm Furtwängler immediately scheduled it for one of his concerts; the piece also moved a critic to assert that Heinrich Kaminski was "the richest inner life of the younger generation." At once devout and hymnal, jubilant and lyrical, Dorische Musik ["Dorian Musik"] is the expression of Kaminski's affinity with Bach and his response to the ideology of National Socialism. Kaminski, who founded the Order of the Loving, also used his music to express a devotion to art as a revelation of the Divine."
.

[Mark Thomas]

I think I need to point out that the review which I posted with my Kaminski upload wasn't one with which I agree but I thought it germane as it was of the actual performance. Of course, it isn't "moronic" in any way, it just makes a lazy judgement and differs from the opinion of Kaminsky enthusiasts; the reviewer clearly had heard the concert judging by references elsewhere in the review, which I didn't include.

There is no obligation on any of us to agree with the enthusiasms of others and it really would be good if some could be a bit more adult in their reactions when someone disagrees with their estimation of a piece's worth. Would Tapiola have preferred that I hadn't uploaded the Dorische Musik at all? As a Kaminski advocate, presumably he's pleased that I did?

[britishcomposer]

Mark, Amphissa had already uploaded the same performance of the Dorische Musik some time ago! 

I think he is interesting but I cannot really warm to him. Anyway, this is the best performance he ever got and it's probably the dream of most enthusiasts of the unsungs to hear such a performance.

I remember having read an unfavourable comment about Kaminski in the Letters of Finzi and Ferguson but 'Kaminski' cannot be found in the index. Can anyone help?

[Dundonnell]

Could I point out that the Kaminski Dorian Music in exactly the same performance was posted by Amphissa on November 13th. That link moreover still works

Unfortunately a search fails to find the post but since I downloaded it then.............

[Dundonnell]

Sorry....britishcomposer got in just ahead of me

But the point about a search failing to find the Kaminski is an important one.

[britishcomposer]

Colin, go to the German Music Folder, search for 'Kaminski' and you will find Amphissa's post listed as No. 3! 

[Dundonnell]

Not so

Searching for "Kaminski" both from the site Homepage and from within the German Music section of 'Downloads' gives me no return for Amphissa's post.

[britishcomposer]

Strange, at least the search within the German Music section works for me.

[Dundonnell]

I must say that I am enjoying the Kaminski Dorian Music immensely

For an alternative take on the work-

http://classical-iconoclast.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/heinrich-kaminski-dorian-music.html

I am not sure that I would go quite so far as Classical Iconoclast (there is a degree to which I think it slightly outstays its welcome) but I am nearer to his opinion than that of the FT reviewer. Whilst I would not describe the latter's review as 'moronic' it is still somewhat arrogant to dismiss the Dorian Music so unequivocally and assert that "you would not want to hear it again". It is exactly such a totally dismissive attitude that can condemn a fine piece of music by an 'unsung composer' to further decades of oblivion. If Kaminski was admired by Furtwangler, Schoenberg and the composer's pupil Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling(himself no mean composer) then he is a composer worth attention.

[allison]

I too am enjoying the Kaminski Dorisch Musik very much. I have an old archival recording of his Concerto Grosso for Piano and Double Orchestra, but since the information I got from the person who gave it to me has as performers "? for pianist, Cologne RSI, Othmar Maga" I am not sure if it is accurate, or could it actually be the performance on CD here:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/145516
Does anyone know with better research skills if I should post it or not.
By the way, the Naxos disc of his Musik fur Streicher was not inspiring to me at all. A

[Mark Thomas]

Yep, all that and it was already posted! I did a search first of course and that threw up nothing. My apologies. I'm no evangelist for Kaminski and only posted it because I thought that I'd be doing those that are a favour. I rather wish now that I hadn't bothered. 

[BFerrell]

Mark, I appreciate what was posted by you. I did not know the section headings or the trio performers.  My contention is that a critic just like the one quoted probably had the same thoughts about virtually every composer on this board. Too many "of the cuff" judgements by lazy critics.

There is a un-stated prejudice against any non-Jewish composer who lived in Hitler's Germany. That is completely unfair, undeserved, and "moronic".  Kaminski, Schwarz-Schilling, Pepping etc were excellent composers of a more conservative style. It was not that easy for many people to abandon their country (money, family responsibilities, health, etc.). Then came the serial "Nazis" and these men got the double whammy!
They all deserve a fair hearing outside of Germany.

Musik for Streichorchester is on CPO as orchestrated by Schwarz-Schilling.

[BFerrell]

Please post the Maga recording of the Concerto Grosso. It is not the one on that CD as linked.  Keilbreth of 1956 is commercially released.

[Dundonnell]

Kaminski of course was of Jewish origin. He was classified as "half Jewish" in 1938 and reclassified as "quarter Jewish" in 1941.

[BFerrell]

Kaminski's father had one Jewish parent, and his father became a Catholic priest. He quit the priesthood and married Kaminski's mother. Kaminski himself was a devout Catholic. So, calling him Jewish is real stretch.