Gernsheim cello and piano concertos

[Alan Howe]

There must be continuities between these different generations, especially with those of a more conservative turn of mind. However, take Woyrsch, for example, and one realises how far he moves beyond Gernsheim/Thieriot after his 1st Symphony through greater use of chromaticism. The same is true of Fritz Brun.

[Alan Howe]

Here's the download for sale:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9743927--friedrich-gernsheim-piano-concerto-op-16-cello-concerto-op-78-zu-einem-drama-op-82

No doubt the CD will soon follow...

[Alan Howe]

Advertised here as a January 1st CD release:
https://www.clicmusique.com/friedrich-gernsheim-concertos-pour-piano-pour-violoncelle-einem-drama-triendl-hulshoff-baumer-p-112867.html?osCsid=3u754esm3i3q15rmknjlm3e5t4

[Alan Howe]

...although the CD has in fact now been released by jpc:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/friedrich-gernsheim-klavierkonzert/hnum/6142540

[Alan Howe]

My copy of this superlative recording has now arrived and more than ever I am astonished at the neglect of Gernsheim's Piano Concerto which has truly memorable themes throughout. Oliver Triendl's performance has all the virtuosity required and the orchestral support here is outstanding. The work could have been a jewel in Hyperion's RPC crown, but instead cpo are to be congratulated on a magnificent release. With the generous coupling of Gernsheim's late masterpiece Zu einem Drama and his equally late and taut Cello Concerto, this is an unmissable release.

[Alan Howe]

Why Zu einem Drama isn't played often in concerts I haven't a clue. This is truly great music - isn't it?

[eschiss1]

Well, now I have to try to hear it. When I first got interested in Gernsheim the only recording I could find was the Genesis LP with the first of the cello sonatas. I've heard the other two works on this disc (one of them possibly in the Hyperion recording of cello concertos, broadcast on radio or somehow I think at some point- but also in an appreciated private tape/CD that I received as a present decades ago; less sure if I've heard the piano concerto though I see that I have our old upload of it...), but I haven't heard the abridged recording of Zu einem Drama released awhile back- and this sounds like a disc to at least stream and then maybe get.

(Re Gernsheim: my interest probably stems from William Newman's entry on him in "The Sonata Since Beethoven", and then from having a look at various published and at the time mostly unrecorded scores at NYPL...)

[Ilja]

Why Zu einem Drama isn't played often in concerts I haven't a clue. This is truly great music - isn't it?

Certainly. Unfortunately it doesn't really fit in to modern concert programmes: too long for the opener, too short for the main fare of the evening; the same reason why the Konzertstück has all but disappeared.

[Alan Howe]

I know what you mean. Do they still programme, say, Strauss' Don Juan or Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet, i.e. pieces of a similar length?

[Ilja]

I see some performances of Romeo and Juliet on Bachtrack, but predominantly in Tchaikovsky-themed evenings or to make up for a shorter concerto. Same with Don Juan. It doesn't seem to happen often though. However, as there seems to be a move away from the typical concerto "sandwich" (overture-concerto-/interlude/-Symphony) I have some hope that pieces such as this may get another chance.

[Alan Howe]

To return to the Piano Concerto, I'd say that this is not only a magnificent work, but that the CD features a magnificent recording of it. Oliver Triendl surpasses himself in virtuosity and feeling for the idiom and Hermann Bäumer produces really strong results from the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz; the recording quality is also top-notch: clear and full-bodied with plenty of punch.

Now let's hope the recording gets its due from UK reviewers.

[Revilod]

I agree that the piano concerto is a fine piece and this is a splendid recording of it. The 'cello concerto, though, surely benefits from the faster speeds that Alban Gerhardt adopts on the Hyperion disc. I'm not sure that I would describe it as a "taut" work but Gerhardt's performance makes it sound so and is more compelling.

[Alan Howe]

I must make some comparisons myself - thanks for the tip.

[Alan Howe]

Hyperion: 5:24/3:12/5:13 >>> TT:13:49
cpo:          6:40/4:25/6:26 >>> TT:17:31

In short: two different conceptions of the same work.

[eschiss1]

OTOH, Triendl's recording of the piano concerto with Baumer on cpo (11:29/9:36/7:06) is slower in each movement than his own conception of the work with Szulc (10:57/8:54/6:41). (When you wrote that Triendl surpasses himself, I'm guessing you literally meant that, of course...)
Thomas Blees' recording of the cello concerto, at 16:14 length (I think? that may include some applause, will check) comes in between the Hyperion and cpo of course...