Johann Benjamin Gross chamber music

[Alan Howe]

Does anyone know this composer?
http://www.recordsinternational.com/cd.php?cd=12O048

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Nope - but I've got a feeling I'll soon be making his acquaintance.

I've just finished reading John Worthern's biography of Schumann (and very good it is), but I can't recall any mention of Gross in that book. (Which, of course, doesn't signify anything!)

[eschiss1]

Have skimmed works of his at IMSLP. Don't know much about him, but have looked forward to hearing his music. Thanks.

[Alan Howe]

The CD contains a really lovely, echt-romantic String Quartet in F minor. Superb stuff.

There's a full-ish entry in German on the composer in Wikipedia here:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Benjamin_Gro%C3%9F

[eschiss1]

He is mentioned in at least one Schumann-related book, now I look for it - "Robert Schumann, das Violoncello und die Cellisten seiner Zeit..." (2007) - and, it seems, in Berlioz'  Memoirs (or in a footnote to a recent edition of it- I'm not sure; I'll check. It seems that Gross conducted Francs-Juges in St. Petersburg in the 1840s and perhaps this attracted Berlioz' attention? Hrm. Yes, may be worth some attention as I'm interested in connections and trivia.

Unfortunately IMSLP only has some cello concertante and -with piano works at the moment, but I hope the string(-only) chamber music might be scanned in and follow at some point if it's out of copyright (not always the case, I think, even with older composers, for manuscript-law-related issues in certain particular cases, depending... law is copyrighted, who knew... )

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Ha, gotcha! That's one less on the open market. I think I'm going to enjoy this. Many thanks Alan for once again pushing back the frontiers of my knowledge.

[eschiss1]

I just can't help thinking that Gross may not be very subtle. (...I resisted that one for about as long as I felt I could. I do actually look forward to hearing the quartet and other works on the basis of that recommendation and others I'd heard already, if memory serves!)

[Alan Howe]

The String Quartet has subtlety in spades, I can assure you, Eric.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Wow! Yet another discovery of the year. I've finally acquired this Laborie disc, and a veritable stunner it is.

I doubt if I'm alone in not having encountered Johann Benjamin Gross before. Think Felix Mendelssohn for an approximate idea of what his music is like. Both were in fact born in the same year (1809) and both made a sad early departure from life in 1847 and 1848, and probably irrelevant, both have (give or take a year) the same dates as Chopin.

The disc is a generously filled compilation of the 3rd String Quartet in F minor (1841) - there are four string quartets - plus works for cello and piano (the cello being Gross's own instrument), and five lieder. Of course not everyone can be satisfied - I would have preferred 1 or discs giving all four quartets, then other discs of other chamber music, then others devoted to songs! But think of the disc as a kind of calling card for Gross - a 'Grossiade' as it were!

Like Alan I rate this 3rd String Quartet very highly. It has an exuberant romantic sweep and a wonderful melodic generosity and richness. The performance - by the renowned Quatuor Mosaiques - is quite terrific. If we indulged in musical guessing games I'd say that this might well be a newly discovered quartet of Mendelssohn. And since Mendelssohn wrote some of the greatest quartets near the middle of the 19th century that is tribute indeed.

If I haven't encountered Gross before then likewise I've never encountered the record label either. Laborie is a French label, and in its very small catalogue there are three other Quatuor Mosaiques discs (Joseph Haydn, Boely, Schubert). At first I was dismayed by the paucity of information given on the CD - a short, terse paragraph (in French, English, and German) on the composer; and then the texts of the songs (in German). Then I spotted on the back cover of the CD that a "full booklet" is available online. That took some considerable hunting down, and if anyone pursues it then I'd recommend you try: www.fondationlaborie.com, and take little note of the different address on the CD. You will eventually reach a lavish 21 page booklet (yes, there goes my printer ink) giving more details of Gross, a full worklist, reproductions of title pages of early publications, full texts of the songs (with translations into each of English and French), and very full details of the piano used in the recording (a 'Grand Piano' of ca.1838 by Felix Gross - who it seems is no relation to the composer).

Fortunately we do not have 'star ratings' on the Forum (thank heavens!), but if we did then Gross and this disc would get lavish stars (in gold) from me. And enormous thanks to Alan for his initial alert without which I might have gone to my grave (eventually!) without ever hearing a work by this composer. A perfect vindication of the whole purpose of this Forum!

And, a final ooooh! - but I wonder if anyone else will perform / record the other 3 String Quartets: how I would love to hear them!

[Alan Howe]

The booklet is available here:
http://www.fondationlaborie.com/images/stories/notesdeprogramme/livret_gross_en.pdf

[eschiss1]

The Library of Congress claims to have (sometimes library catalogs can be misleading, and this has happened with theirs) the 4th quartet (op.39 in description, op.89 in call number, Op.39 in HMB) (1845 publication by Schlesinger) (LOC record). As to the other two quartets, Op.9 published 1833 by Breitkopf and Op.16 published 1837 by Hofmeister, Case Western Reserve University in Ohio has parts for Opus 16, and the Dutch Royal Library has parts for Opus 9 (giving the key as D major, as does HMB) (dedicated to Hubert Ries) and to Opus 16 (F major) (they also have parts to a manuscript string trio of his in  A major.)