Reinecke Cello Concerto

[JimL]

   <= Bow.

[Michael Samis]

Hi all, Just wanted to say thank you again for your help with this.  My Kickstarter is funded at 140% which is truly wonderful!  I'm so excited to make the best recording of this forgotten gem that I can.

Please enjoy the YouTube clip I just posted with footage from our performance last February.  The Grutzmacher cadenza is included in this excerpt from the first movement.  -Michael

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FthgpPIJZnk

[Gerhard]

Excellent playing, thank you!!!

[Alan Howe]

Great news, Michael! We wish you all the best for the recording sessions and look forward to hearing the result in due course.

[Alan Howe]

I thought forum members might like to read this in-depth article about Michael's project:

A Forgotten Concerto Remembered
Mary Ellyn Hutton
Posted: Mar 25, 2013 - 7:20:34 PM in news

When cellist Michael Samis was approached by Delos Records to make his debut recording, he could not have guessed where the path would lead him.

"They wanted something that hadn't been recorded, ideally, at all," said Samis, by phone from his home in Nashville, where he is a member of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. "Ideally, that would be something from the romantic era, because that is the voice most suited to my playing." Samis, who is also principal cellist of the Grammy-nominated Gateway Chamber Orchestra in Clarksville, Tennessee, also wanted something for cello and chamber orchestra. "I had spoken with the conductor (Gregory Wolynec) about a collaboration, so it was perfect timing."

Finding that "ideal" work would not be easy. "Although they're finding more and more things that just got run over because there was so much musical output at the time, it's hard to stumble across something that's both good and obscure."

"So how in the world am I going to do this?" he thought. Samis went online, searching through "forums, blogs and whatnot."

"I ran across this really neat forum called 'Unsung Composers.' Basically, it's a forum dedicated to lost, obscure music from the romantic era. I searched through that and there was a forum about cello concertos ("Unsung Cello Concertos"). Someone had posted that there really needs to be a top notch recording of the (Carl) Reinecke Cello Concerto. I had never heard of it."

Taking his cue from that, Samis went to the online music library, International Music Score Library Project. He found Reinecke's 1864 Concerto there, but only in a piano reduction. There were no parts for orchestra.

Now what?

Samis downloaded the score and looked it over.

"I went to my studio and played a couple of themes, particularly the opening theme, which had a haunting, folksy, singing quality, with a little bit of harmonic minor in the middle (a minor scale with a raised seventh degree). There was something about it that really spoke to me." (Samis performs the opening of the Concerto with the Gateway Chamber Orchestra at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/michaelsamis/a-forgotten-cello-concerto.)

Samis' research found that a non-professional orchestra in Europe had recorded it at one time, but he could not find the actual recording. "I tried and tried to find it, but I just couldn't. I guess it's out of print or something." Samis learned the Concerto by studying the solo part from the piano reduction score.

However, that was the least of his problems. "The orchestra score can be purchased from Germany, but here's the kicker: there were no orchestra parts. We ordered the score from Schott, and they said they would have to re-print them."

Enter Wilson Ochoa, producer of Samis' album for Delos and librarian of the Nashville Symphony. "He actually found a copy of the score with a set of parts in a library in Philadelphia. Well, it turns out those parts were in such decrepit shape that they were unusable. We had to have Schott reprint them, which took so much time that we didn't actually get them until about ten days before the performance."

Samis performed the Reinecke Concerto with the Gateway Chamber Orchestra Feb. 11 at the George and Sharon Mabry Concert Hall in Clarksville. "That concert was, as far as we know, since we can't find any evidence to the contrary, the U.S. premiere," he said.

Waiting for the parts to arrive from Schott was "a nail-biter," said Samis, because Ochoa had to proof them (check them for errors) before the concert. "He had to spend the whole Super Bowl weekend and cancel his party to go through these obscure parts so we would play it at the concert."

And still there were obstacles to overcome. The Thursday before the concert, two members of Gateway's first violin section fell ill and could not perform (there are five first violins in the Gateway CO).

As it happens, Samis' mother is Sylvia Samis, first violinist in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Sylvia and Michael had discussed the possibility of her playing in the Gateway CO for the Feb. 11 concert, "but I had pretty much decided that I would rather be in the audience as a spectator and be able to enjoy the whole experience from that standpoint," she said. She contacted violinists she knew to help find substitutes for the orchestra. "We gave it another day, then I checked in with Michael and he said, 'We can't find anybody. Could you please play?' So, of course, I said yes."

Sylvia got the music via e-mail and left "very early Sunday morning" (Feb. 10) for Clarksville. She got there "just five minutes before the rehearsal started, but it was fine." The rehearsals were from 12 to 6 on Sunday, with a sound check Monday morning.

"What was amazing to me was how wonderful it felt to be performing on the stage with him as a soloist. That's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, to have that feeling. It was hard for me to hold the tears back."

The Reinecke Concerto "is very romantic and soulful," said Sylvia. "The slow movement is really gorgeous. It's heart-rending. There are beautiful melodies, and the orchestration is really well done. Technically, it's a bear for the cello, which might have something to do with its being dismissed." (Reinecke composed it for 19th-century cello virtuoso Friedrich Grützmacher.)
In her review of the concert, Karen Parr-Moody of Clarksville's Leaf-Chronicle called Samis "a remarkable presence," adding that "he matched his instrument's beauty with the dark looks and intense emotion of a silent movie actor."

Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) was a prolific composer with over 200 numbered works. The Cello Concerto is Op. 82. He was also a noted pianist (he wrote four piano concertos) and conductor of the famed Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. He taught at the Leipzig Conservatory for many years. Among his students were Edvard Grieg, Leoš Janáček, Isaac Albéniz, Charles Villiers Stanford, Johan Svendsen and Max Bruch.

Compared to well known composers, "I would put him closest to Mendelssohn," said (Michael) Samis. "Mendelssohn and Schumann were his teachers, and to me, his Concerto is almost like the Mendelssohn cello concerto that never happened. Not that it doesn't have its own voice, but it starts very similarly, with timpani and strings for two bars, then the solo cello enters."

Recording sessions for Samis' Delos album will be June 17 and 18 in Mabry Hall in Clarksville, which is highly regarded for its acoustics. The theme of the album is "connections to the past," said Samis. In addition to the Reinecke, it will include the Adagio and Allegro (1849) by Schumann in a never-recorded setting for cello and orchestra by Ernest Ansermet. There will be a pair of elegiac works, "Threnos" (1990) by John Tavener for solo cello and Osvaldo Golijov's "Mariel" (1999) for cello and marimba, both written in remembrance of close friends. Joining Samis in the Golijov will be percussionist Eric Willie.  Also on the album will be the Cello Suite No. 1 (1956) for unaccompanied cello by Ernest Bloch, which looks back to the suites by J. S. Bach.

Release is tentatively set for early 2014.

http://www.musicincincinnati.com/site/news/A_Forgotten_Concerto_Remembered.html

[Michael Samis]

Thanks so much for sharing that, Alan!

[Alan Howe]

It's a genuine pleasure, Michael.

[Jonathan]

I look forward to buying the recording when it is available.  Congratulations!

[Alan Howe]

The recording has now been made:

Dear Backers,

Carl Reinecke's forgotten cello concerto will now be remembered. The quality of the past two days of recording sessions has far surpassed my already high expectations in all regards, and we have successfully recorded this disc!

On Monday, I recorded the Reinecke concerto and Ernest Ansermet's setting of Schumann's Adagio and Allegro with the Gateway Chamber Orchestra. I am most grateful for the orchestra and music director Gregory Wolynec's sensitivity to every nuance in the music, as well as incredible concentration though what was a very challenging day for all of us.

Tuesday's sessions began with Golijov's Mariel for cello and marimba. Eric Willie played with utmost care and precision, while helping me elicit the work's haunting and transcendent atmosphere. I recorded Bloch's Suite #1 for solo cello and Tavener's Threnos for the remainder of the afternoon and evening.

Producer Wilson Ochoa ran all of the sessions with great ease, thoughtfulness, and organization, helping all of us bring out the best in the music and ourselves. Sound engineers John Hill and Kevin Edlin were able to accurately capture the true sound, expression, and immense energy of these two days for all time.

This is a collaboration I will never forget. I am now more moved than ever by the emotional and communicative power of the music on this album. I thank each and every one of you for making what we accomplished in the past two days possible.

Most sincerely, Michael

(News received today by e-mail)

[jerfilm]

And that, dear friends, is the example of what we can do together.  Part with a few pesos, about what you'd pay for the CD and when enough of us do, it happens.

Congratulations to Michael.   I can hardly waitk to receive a copy of the recording.

Jerry

[Alan Howe]

Received from Michael Samis via email today:

Editing is finished, and mixing is well underway. The bottom line is that the production team is doing an incredible job and this CD is going to be fantastic! It looks like release will happen a bit later than originally thought. I am awaiting Delos to let me know the exact release month of 2014, but so far it is looking as though it could be as late as the summer months. That being said, I will not be able to deliver CD's or digital downloads this month, as originally hoped. I'm sorry you won't have them as holiday gifts this year, but next year for sure!

As soon as I know the precise timeline, I will send another update

[ken]

I just received an email from Delos Records.  The official release date for the Reinecke Cello Concerto is June 24, 2014 for a physical CD.  The recording will also be available for download from itunes on June 3, 2014.

[Alan Howe]

Excellent. Greatly looking forward to the CD.

[Alan Howe]

Michael Samis writes:

I am very excited to let you know that Delos has scheduled the release of my debut CD for this coming June! Accordingly, in three short months, the world will hear the gorgeous, long-lost phrases of Carl Reinecke's Romantic-era cello concerto.

Digital release: Scheduled for June 3, 2014
Street date: Scheduled for June 24, 2014

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hear the final master, and I cannot express enough how grateful I am to the whole team for making this labor of love come to reality in the best way possible. Though I apologize that, for reasons beyond my control, delivery of this project is several months later than originally anticipated, I assure you that the final product is worth waiting for. The musicianship of all involved, the engineering, the producing, the cover/booklet design, and the program notes all comprise a project of which I am truly honored to be a part. I am told that I should be able to deliver your physical CD's no later than mid-June, and downloads early that month.

[Mark Thomas]

The recording is now available for download at ClassicsOnline: www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=2088522 . First impressions are very favourable!