Gernsheim Violin Sonatas

[Alan Howe]

Due out on 9th July from Brilliant Classics is this two-CD set of Gernsheim's four Violin Sonatas, plus three other pieces:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Brilliant%2BClassics/94403
Can't wait myself!
Looks as though Amazon.co.uk will be cheaper, though...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gernsheim-Sonatas-Stefan-Kirpal-violin/dp/B0085U0GPG/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1338307914&sr=1-4

[eschiss1]

Very happy about this- his music is being explored _much_, much more quickly than I expected when I first got interested in it (especially if one counts a few recordings available here and at IMSLP - and the now OOP, I think, symphonies recording and one other I seem to recall seeing mentioned- not the cello sonata no.1 LP, I've heard that, something else...)
Thanks!

[Mark Thomas]

This is great news; I've never heard a poor piece from his pen.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I heartily agree with Mark. His music (what I know so far) has never disappointed.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Splendid news indeed. Two copies already ordered - the second in case the first gets worn out through incessant playing.

The earlier Brilliant Classics CD of Piano Quartets 1 and 3 (by the same Kirpal brothers plus friends) was a veritable delight - and its 'production' easily outclassed many a full price disc. Roll on more Gernsheim!

[Alan Howe]

From Brilliant Classics' website:

The music of the German composer, conductor, performer and musical director, Friedrich Gernsheim (1839--1916), unlike his more successful contemporaries, Camille Saint-Saëns and Max Bruch, has never achieved the popularity that its quality merits. Although his compositions display the intelligence, discipline and complexity of his great friend and inspiration, Johannes Brahms, Gernsheim's music fell out of fashion after his death, as avant-garde composers ushered in a new style that overshadowed his Romantic masterpieces.

However, as this excellent new recording of music for violin and piano demonstrates, Gernsheim's decline in popularity is even more surprising when his music is considered. Spanning his entire musical career, the 2-disc set traverses youthful promise (the early Andante, composed when he was just 14 years old), energetic virtuosity (Introduction and Allegro appassionato), yearning beauty (Violin Sonata No.1), and mature, masterful control of artistic means (Violin Sonata No.4). All the while, Gernsheim's skill as both a violinist and a virtuoso pianist can be felt, given ample expression by the duo of brothers Stefan and Andreas Kirpal, whose perfectly-matched techniques and timbres combine to create a recording of finesse and polish.

Other information:
- Recorded in April and December 2011, in Heideck-Selingstadt, Germany, the Second issue on Brilliant Classics of works by German composer Friedrich Gernsheim: first recordings on CD!
- An indispensable opportunity for listeners to delve deeper into the chamber music of Friederich Gernsheim. His grand, Romantic compositions will be particularly admired by any fans of Gernsheim's great friend and mentor, Johannes Brahms.
- Gernsheim was a close friend of Johannes Brahms, whose influence is evident in the formal discipline, the harmonic language and the grand-scale "Romanticism" of these highly accomplished and attractive works.
- Excellent performances by the brothers Stefan and Andreas Kirpal, who won prizes at the Brahms Chamber Music Competition in Austria, and won a Diapason d"or for their recording of Weinberg's Violin Sonatas.
- Includes booklet notes in English and German, providing an in-depth overview of Gernsheim's life and works for violin and piano.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I've transcended mere impatience and become a palpitating panting wreck. Can't quite believe our good luck - as I said before the earlier disc of the Piano Quartets was hugely welcome. And now this! A 2CD set, undoubtedly some excellent performances, and (judged by the earlier disc) a first rate recording and insert notes that would put many a full price release to shame. And at a price considerably less expensive than a double Naxos set.

Hallelujah!

[Mark Thomas]

Am I being thick (don't tell me) or is there no mention of a release date on the Brilliant Classics website?

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I've got an order in at Amazon (UK). They announce a release date of July 7 - and I should start some serious saving for Amazon are going to sting me for £6.91 for this set. And Brilliant Classics might become my label of the year since there is a 4CD set imminent called 'Romantic Piano Quintets' and it appears stuffed full of goodies. Life looks up!

Thick? Remember, Mark, that Socrates proclaimed himself the wisest man in Athens on account of the fact that he professed to know nothing at all.

[Alan Howe]

I've ordered through Amazon too - so I'm going by the release date they advertise.

[Mark Thomas]

Well I'm grateful for the comparison with Socrates, Peter, but I think I hear someone spinning in an Athenian grave! I shall go straight to Amazon now...

[jerfilm]

July 17th here in the colonies according to Amazon.com

J

[Alan Howe]

Here are some intriguing audio excerpts...
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Friedrich-Gernsheim-1839-1916-Violinsonaten-Nr-1-4/hnum/2788260

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Alan.

[Alan Howe]

Here's an interesting review of this release:

Gernsheim: Cpte Vn Sons (4); Intro &..., Fant, Andante (vn & pno); S.Kirpal/A.Kirpal [Brilliant]
RECOMMENDED (2 CDs)

Born in Germany within six years of each other, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) and Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916) both wrote a substantial amount of chamber music. But only that of the older composer has stood the test of time, which is regrettable because Gernsheim made some significant contributions to the genre. In fact Brahms, who didn't suffer fools lightly, knew him from 1862 on and thought highly of his work.

Fortunately Gernsheim has undergone a silver disc resurrection thanks to the efforts of several enterprising record labels. These include Brilliant Classics, who previously gave us an invaluable release featuring a couple of his piano quartets (see the newsletter of 10 May 2010). And now they turn their attention to his violin sonatas with this recent two-CD album that includes world premiere recordings of all four extant ones (an early student piece is lost).

The first disc starts with Introduction and Allegro Appassionato for violin and piano (c. 1875) [CD-1, track-1]. A two-part violin showpiece, the restrained pensive opening hints at the virtuosic frenetic theme (VF) that soon begins the allegro [02:44]. VF is then contrasted with a second rhapsodic idea (SR) [03:34], and the two undergo an immaculate development. The piece ends recalling SR, and in a thrilling coda based on VF.

The first violin sonata is next, and was probably written during the five years Friedrich spent in Paris (1855-1860). The first of its three movements is a lovelorn andante possibly reflecting a failed affair he'd had with a Parisian beauty. Things become a little more cheery in the scherzo-like second movement, while the concluding allegro [CD-1, track-4] is energetic and full of purpose except for a romantic central episode [01:29-03:02]. The sonata then ends with exciting virtuosic flourishes for both soloists.

Between 1874 and 1890 Gernsheim served as director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Society, and it was during this period he wrote his second sonata. Also in three movements, this is a much more sophisticated effort. Granted the piano part is reminiscent of Brahms, but Friedrich gets all the credit for the gorgeous, lovingly harmonized thematic ideas present. An introspective opening allegro finds the violin having an inquiring discourse with the piano, while there's a tentativeness about the next andante that makes it an affecting wistful offering.

The final sonata form allegro [CD-1, track-7] begins with the violin playing a huffy-puffy theme soon followed by an expansive countermelody (EC) [00:42], which is at one point set to a very Brahmsian piano accompaniment [01:00]. The two undergo an inventive development, are recapped in reverse order, and then the sonata ends with a coda based on EC.

Around 1876 the composer wrote a Fantasiestück (Fantasy Piece) for violin and orchestra, also making the arrangement with piano accompaniment that fills out this disc. An eleven-minute impassioned lied for the violin with a dramatic supporting piano part, it's based on a gorgeous spun-out Gernsheim melody spiced with occasional bravura passages.

The second CD opens with his fourth sonata (c. 1912), which once again adheres to a three movement structure. It's Friedrich's crowning achievement in the medium, and the equal of similar works by any of his contemporaries. There's a melodic fluidity and increased chromaticism right from the beginning of the lovely initial allegro that put this sonata considerably beyond the world of Brahms.

With a dreamy start and finish surrounding a folksy central dance episode, the andante could be considered a delightful combination slow movement and scherzo. The final allegro is a playful fiddler's holiday having a fugal hoedown first subject and winsome romantic second. An impish development with plenty of opportunity for the artists to strut their stuff follows. Then a coruscating reprise ends the sonata in a burst of sunlight -- Richard Strauss (1864-1949) eat your heart out!

Next, the third sonata, which was apparently a problem child that began life as a piece for cello and piano in the late 1890s. Unsatisfied with it, the composer decided to rearrange it for violin, and even revised it around 1905, giving us the version heard here. A four-movement work, its cello genesis may explain what seems to be a relatively low tessitura for the violin.

The first allegro is solidly constructed and characterized by more of those attractive flowing Gernsheim melodies. It's followed by a scherzoesque movement with energetic outer sections haunted by the spirit of Mendelssohn (1809-1847) bracketing a comely melodic episode.

The andante is a slow-moving wheel of misfortune with somber spokes revolving around a piteous, sometimes imploring hub. But the mood brightens in the concluding moderato, where violin and piano work each other up into a passionate exchange, ending the sonata in the best tradition of the high romantic.

The second disc concludes with a brief encore, an andante from 1853 written by the fourteen-year-old Friedrich as a Christmas present for his mom. Even at this tender age there's a precocious sincerity auguring much greater things to come.

The performances by the Kirpal brothers are uniformly good with violinist Steven giving loving accounts of these romantic treasures, despite a couple of intonationally queasy extreme upper notes. Pianist Andreas delivers uniformly ideal support, showing restraint and sensitivity in violin-dominated passages, and playing with great panache in the many demanding solo ones.

Made at a private estate in Germany, the recordings are clean. They project violin and piano to left and right with a comfortable distance between them in a clement salon-like acoustic. The violin tone is natural and the piano sound well-rounded but lean, which is probably an inherent characteristic of the instrument rather than the miking.

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com, P120928)

http://www.clofo.com/Newsletters/C120930.htm