Braunfels Piano Concerto etc. from Dutton

[Alan Howe]

Just thought I'd start a separate thread on this too (i.e. in addition to the Bax Symphony in F). Immediate impressions: the PC's going to be less hard going than the much later Schottische Phantasie, but I need to do some further listening...

[Mark Thomas]

I have only listened to the Piano Concerto so far, but found it gorgeous in all its Straussian late-romantic lushness. Not exactly brimming over with big tunes and maybe lacking in momentum for much of the time, but a real wallow.

[jerfilm]

    YAY!  It's available for download at Amazon.com

Jerry

[Mark Thomas]

Second impressions of the Piano Concerto: a real full-on, full-volume late-romantic wallow indeed; the soloist often struggles (and sometime fails) to hold his own against the massed orchestral sound in the outer movements. For me, the finale is of a lower order of inspiration than the first two movements, which themselves are well contrasted, with the central slow movement having all the intimacy lacking in the big, outgoing opening Allegro. That's ma non troppo, by the way, and I did feel as if the music was sometimes straining to get going but never quite made it into top gear. Whether that's down to Braunfels or the conductor Wildner's responsibility I can't judge. At first hearing I thought that the whole work was melodically a bit thin but, while Braunfels is no Rachmaninov, I'm happy to withdraw that allegation. All in all an enjoyable romp, which I'm very happy to add to my collection.

The 10 minute orchestral work Ariel's Song is a lovely restrained, delicately scored piece, in sharp contrast to the primary coloured showiness of the Concerto.

I haven't listened yet to the Scottish Fantasy.

[jerfilm]

I guess I was expecting something reasonably tuneful.   Perhaps Braunfel's thinking is just too complex for my tired old ears.  Yes, it's certainly a full blown wallow but I'm reminded once again of the comment that some detractor of R. Strauss made - There's less here than meets the ear.......

I'm glad to have more of Braunfel's music in the collection, but I am disappointed.

Jerry

[Alan Howe]

Yes, it's all terribly gorgeous in a sub-Straussian sort of way, but oh where are the tunes? No wonder this one sank without trace....

[Mark Thomas]

As I've said above, I didn't find it sans tunes, but they don't stick in your head somehow.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Yes. I must admit to having been a little disappointed in the Braunfels concerto. I enjoyed it, but expected more obvious lyricism. Given that there are many PCs which have NOT so far received a commercial recording and which IMHO are more immediately attractive than the Braunfels (e.g. Herz 2, Gernsheim, most of Cleve's, Novak, Boise, Marie Jaell's two, the two by Ferdinand Thieriot that I have seen, Walthew, etc.) I wonder why it was chosen.  But one must not complain. If one had not been given the opportunity to hear it, one would not have been able to form an opinion.

[Alan Howe]

Agreed, Gareth. I did enjoy the Braunfels, though - it's just that it's obvious why it didn't make much of an impression on the repertoire.

[LateRomantic75]

Thanks for the interesting feedback everyone! I like my romantic PCs to be lushly tuneful, so I too may be a tad disappointed by the Braunfels. Also, I'm not too sure the idea of a Straussian PC appeals to me that much. Even so, I'll try to listen with an open mind!

[LateRomantic75]

Given that there are many PCs which have NOT so far received a commercial recording and which IMHO are more immediately attractive than the Braunfels (e.g. Herz 2, Gernsheim, most of Cleve's, Novak, Boise, Marie Jaell's two, the two by Ferdinand Thieriot that I have seen, Walthew, etc.) I wonder why it was chosen.

I totally agree with you regarding the quality of the Gernsheim, Cleve, Novak, and Jaell concertos! New recordings of the Palmgren and Rozycki concertos would also be most welcome.

[Alan Howe]

Well, the 'Schottische Phantasie" turns out to be a highly chromatic piece in Braunfels' later style. Can't say I enjoyed it very much - I kept wanting the heavy washes of sound to clear for the odd moment. No - all too relentlessly acidulous for my taste. But then, I didn't much care for his later style anyway - seems to me like an obvious stylistic dead-end.

[Mark Thomas]

I completely agree, Alan, but then Braunfels is one of those late-romantic composers whose early works I enjoy, and whose mature pieces usually leave me cold, so I wasn't expecting the Schottische Phantasie to be much to my liking. Still, one has to give any previously-unheard work a fair crack of the whip...

[jerfilm]

Yet another example of too much expectation.  Bruch trumped the Scottish Fantasy card and i don't think theres much of the deck left for anyone else....... Ya gotta hand it to Walter tho - he hung in there til the bitter end.

Heehee

J

[eschiss1]

Sometimes it works the other way around- composers who mine a lesser-known genre (wind chamber music, e.g.- though here it's a matter of providing repertoire for out-of-the-way groups, not "competing" with another's Hungarian or Romanian Rhapsody or Scottish Fantasy e.g. using standard instrumentations etc.) find their contributions to much-better-explored territory (string quartet) nearly ignored (I think of Reicha and Krommer and their string quartets, in these cases, for example, though not only.)