John Kersey/Romantic Discoveries Recordings

[Alan Howe]

Hi Mark,

I know that you have been plundering the catalogue of recordings of unsung music made by pianist John Kersey...

http://rdr.johnkersey.org/cd41.html

I wonder if you could let us know what you believe to be the most worthwhile of his releases? Thanks!

[Peter1953]

I wonder how the Kullak sounds... (RDR CD50). I am very impressed by his PC but haven't heard anything else.

[Mark Thomas]

I do have a number of John Kersey's recordings.

Disregard the music for the moment and concentrate of the more mundane issues. These are not commercially produced CDs mass produced from a glass master. They are CD-Rs burned using a PC or a CD duplicator. So, they may not work on all CD players and will become damaged or deteriorate more easily. The labels are stuck on rather than printed, the insert appears to be printed using a laser or inkjet printer and they are supplied in a thin CD case, which has no spine or back insert. The sound quality can vary from moderately acceptable to surprisingly poor with a level of hiss akin to an old cassette recording. Finally, the tracking, especially of the older CDs in the "archive" series, can be ungenerous so that a whole set of six pieces is tracked as one long track rather than six short ones.

So, bearing mind the price and these limitations which set the series apart from a normal commercial release, the first decision is: "am I sufficiently interested in the repertoire to put aside these negatives?". If the answer is yes, then John Kersey's performing style is another important factor. Gareth, in another thread, describes it as "uninvolved" and that is spot on. Personally I quite like the fact that he lets the music speaks for itself and doesn't impose his personality, but it really is a mater of taste. He plays the notes very well, but also lacks warmth. Each CD on Kersey's site has one track which you can listen to and you do get a fair idea of his pianistic style from them.

So, what of the music itself? Overall, he has done us all a tremendous service unearthing these forgotten piano works, many of them with Klaus Tischendorf's help and support. Of the recordings which I have, particular favourites are the two discs of music by Heinrich von Sahr, who has a very individual voice, quite unlike the "Schumann with water" of so many of his now obscure contemporaries, such as Adolph Bergt, whose music didn't impress me much. On the other hand, the Bargiel works are as worthwhile as you'd expect them to be, particularly the three movement Piano Sonata.

Kersey's two CDs of Jensen show that he had real poetry and I enjoyed the works very much, although there isn't much meat on some of them. The Kirchner CDs  showcase works which on the whole are pretty but slight and after 20 or so such numbers the ear does wander. This is a typical problem with these compilations; many of these CDs aren't really good for listening to all the way through more than once.

Although I have the Kullak recording, Peter, I can't remember what I thought about either the Symphony or the Piano Sonata, which maybe is a comment in itself!

The other CDs I'd mention as being worth exploring are those with the music of Heinrich Hofmann (deliciously sweet and melodious, if rather shallow), Salomon Jadassohn, Emil Hartmann (I don't have the latest recording), Ludvig Schytte and Carl Reinecke. I found the Huber works worthy but dull and the Cowen slight in the extreme. I haven't heard the last four or five CDs: Röntgen, Hiller, Heller, Emil Hartmann and Mendelssohn.

Personally, I'm prepared to disregard the very real limitations of this series for music that I'm really curious to hear, but I'm a completist. If you are only slightly curious about these works then you'd probably be better spending your money on something about which you feel more passionately.

[Peter1953]

Thanks very much for your interesting and useful comments, Mark. I prefer to spend my money on other CD's. There is so much more I like to add to my collection, although I get tempted to buy a lot of Kersey's CD's, after reading names like Bargiel, Jadassohn, Kirchner, Reinecke, and so on. Maybe I give the Kullak a try in due course.
Interesting is also the link to the site of The Henselt Library of Nineteenth-Century Piano Music, http://www.henseltlibrary.org/. How many unknown gems for the lover of romantic piano music are there still to be discovered and recorded....

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for those comments, Mark. Very enlightening - and spot-on as to the limitations of the offerings available. For myself, I would thoroughly recommend the expansive Bargiel Piano Sonata and thought the Heller Sonata No.2 also worth pursuing.