FERDINAND HILLER Piano Music 2 Cd Set

[izdawiz]

I Just Checked www.recordsinternational.com to see the August Catalogue and found this new Cd Set By Genesis Label .. the pianist is Adrian Ruiz.. It's not a reissue from old Lp Material, but new stuff.. looks to be a good Set.

Aside from Hiller the other disc that could be ok is Herzogenberg's Piano Quintet in C Op.17 and his last String Quartet in Fminor Op.63 on CPO Label, in the same August Catalogue.

I'm still very anxiously awaiting for Gernsheim's Piano Quintets.. I hope they come out soon!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Yes, I noticed this too - and I have ordered the 2 CDs from Amazon.com. Ruiz recorded the sonatas for Genesis back in vinyl days, but I never saw a copy of the LP in the UK.
I am surprised by Jeff Joneikis' assertion that these are all new recordings, but, whether he is mistaken or not, this is a set I'm looking forward to playing

[Peter1953]

From Adrian Ruiz I have a CD with Norbert Burgmüller's piano sonata in F minor (what a delightful piece, by the way), including piano music from Volkmann and Kirchner. This recording was previously released on LP in 1973. That made me wonder whether the Hiller double disc was also previously released on LP some 30 years ago. So I surfed on the internet and viewed at the website of Adrian Ruiz. See http://adrianruiz.com/pages/1/index.htm

The Hiller discs are mentioned as a recent release. Soon to be released are "the Raff Suite and first Sonata along with Schulhoff Concert pieces". How interesting.
I will order the Hiller double CD. The 3 piano concertos are not favourites of mine, although the 2nd is quite pleasant to hear, but I'm still curious to play his piano music.

[Gareth Vaughan]

The announcement on Ruiz' website is teasing. What Raff Suite is meant? Raff wrote 7 for solo piano (8 if you include the Suite de Morceaux pour petites mains, Op. 75). My guess is it's probably the Op. 91 Suite which Ruiz recorded for Genesis in 1973 (I think). If so, is this a new recording or a re-release? When we come to the Piano Sonata, which version? There are two, and they are very different one from the other, being really two completely distinct and separate works. The announcement raises more questions than it answers.

[Mark Thomas]

As you say, Gareth, all very tantalising. My guess is also that the Raff Piano Suite will be the op.91 in D minor which was originally isued by Genesis on LP. As for the op.14 Piano Sonata, again my guess would be the second one as it would have been very much easier for a score of that work to have ben sourced. I  have only ben able to track down scores of the first op.14 in London, Brussels and Brno, whereas Ruiz could have found the later one at the Library of Congress. Fingers crossed that it's the early one, needless to say as te later has  aleady been ably recorded by Valentina Seferinova.

[Hiller_Heller_Feller]

Yes, I noticed this too - and I have ordered the 2 CDs from Amazon.com. Ruiz recorded the sonatas for Genesis back in vinyl days, but I never saw a copy of the LP in the UK.
I am surprised by Jeff Joneikis' assertion that these are all new recordings, but, whether he is mistaken or not, this is a set I'm looking forward to playing

These are new recordings, never issued before any any form.

[Hiller_Heller_Feller]

As you say, Gareth, all very tantalising. My guess is also that the Raff Piano Suite will be the op.91 in D minor which was originally isued by Genesis on LP. As for the op.14 Piano Sonata, again my guess would be the second one as it would have been very much easier for a score of that work to have ben sourced. I  have only ben able to track down scores of the first op.14 in London, Brussels and Brno, whereas Ruiz could have found the later one at the Library of Congress. Fingers crossed that it's the early one, needless to say as te later has  aleady been ably recorded by Valentina Seferinova.

You are correct. This is a CD reissue of the Op.91 Suite but the Raff Sonata, Op.14 (second version) is recently recorded and has never been issued before.

[Hiller_Heller_Feller]

From Adrian Ruiz I have a CD with Norbert Burgmüller's piano sonata in F minor (what a delightful piece, by the way), including piano music from Volkmann and Kirchner. This recording was previously released on LP in 1973. That made me wonder whether the Hiller double disc was also previously released on LP some 30 years ago. So I surfed on the internet and viewed at the website of Adrian Ruiz. See http://adrianruiz.com/pages/1/index.htm



The Hiller discs are mentioned as a recent release. Soon to be released are "the Raff Suite and first Sonata along with Schulhoff Concert pieces". How interesting.
I will order the Hiller double CD. The 3 piano concertos are not favourites of mine, although the 2nd is quite pleasant to hear, but I'm still curious to play his piano music.

The Schulhoff will be a compilation of the LP material along with five or six newly recorded pieces to fill out the CD.

[Mark Thomas]

Hello Hiller_Heller_Feller (that's easier to type than to say!) and welcome to the Forum. Many thanks for the confirmation that Ruiz's new CD for Genesis will couple the Raff op.91 Suite and the second version of the op.14 Piano Sonata. Ruiz's interpretation of the Suite has always been my favourite so I'm looking forward to hearing what he does with the Sonata, which seems to me to be one of Raff's more problematic scores. It's an unusually austere work. Valya Seferinova did a good job of making it interesting in her recording of a few years ago but it remained a curiously un-Raffian work. Maybe Ruiz will be able to find the work's heart.

[Peter1953]

A new and/or not a new recording, I think it's a pity that Ruiz, an excellent pianist!, couples Raff's Suite op. 91 and the 2nd version of the very interesting Piano Sonata. Both Alexander Zolotarev and Valentina Seferinova did a good job. I know, I cannot compare their performances with another pianist, but the Ruiz CD will not be a must-buy for me.
A pity because so few pianists record Raff's piano compositions, and Raff wrote so many still unheard by us. How would the Album Lyrique, op. 17, sound? All those poems? Romances? Impromptus and so on? How would Ruiz play those jewels (must be jewels...)? Maybe these shorter early piano works are not enough of a challenge for ambitious pianists?

Adrian Ruiz is a very good virtuoso pianist. I have a few CDs including the Hiller double disc. I've listened to this double disc a few times, but if I like to listen to romantic and unsung piano music, it's not the first CD I'm thinking of... I prefer Heller 

[chill319]

Replying to Peter1953. The Burgmueller has to be one of the best sonatas ever composed by a teenager! A combination of excellent training plus enormous talent. Regarding the Hiller concertos, don't forget his Konzertstueck (op. 113), which may be his most winning piano concerto. A solo piano work of enormous charm is Hiller's Impromptu, op. 97. But I get the feeling that really to understand Hiller means finding the rapt, parlando style at the heart of the Ghazals, his most original contribution to keyboard literature.

[Peter1953]

I fully agree with you, chill319. Didn't compose Burgmüller his wonderful sonata when he was only 16 years?
I must confess that unfortunately I'm not familiar with Hiller's Konzertstück op. 113 nor the piano pieces opp. 97 and 36 (Ghazals?). Are they available on CD?

[JimL]

In the old Raff Forum the Hiller Konzertstuck was highly praised except for the first movement march, which many posters considered trivial and bombastic.  I'd like to hear it for myself.  But, to me, nothing is more winning than that 3rd Concerto.  The 2nd may be more brilliant, but the 3rd certainly lives up to its Espressivo subtitle.