Composers in the circles of Schumann and Brahms

[tcutler]

Hi, I want to branch out from the music of Brahms and Schumann with other composers who were influenced by their music. I've been learning a lot of interesting music through this group (Draeseke, Volkmann, Herzogenberg, Gernsheim, etc.). Could we start a list of composers in the circles of Brahms and Schumann? Which unsung composers should I be listening to?

[Kriton]

- Bruch (most of his music still remains unrecorded!)

- Herzogenberg (my personal favourite, try and listen to his string trios and piano quartets, especially the first one, which he wrote after the death of his wife. An elegiac work if ever there was one)

- Gernsheim (isn't there a thread on him? Severely underrated, might want to make this one of your 1st ports of call)

- Volkmann (I could actually say the same about him - his cello concerto is an amazing work!)

- Dietrich (the guy who wrote the famous FAE Sonata together with Schumann & Brahms. Nice music, for me, though, doesn't attain the heights of the already mentioned composers)

- Joachim (still don't understand why Brahms rated him highly as a composer, but I'm sure you'll find someone on this forum who does)

- Clara S. (I have, I think, all of her music. Keep forgetting to sell it on eBay)

- Bargiel (her stepbrother. I know only some of his piano works, his 3 piano trios and the string octet, makes me lament the fact he didn't compose all that much)

- Dessof (hardly anything by him available)

- Kirchner (charming music)

Then there's a couple of composers that certainly belong to the 'Brahms circle' stylistically - but, I'm not sure how much contact they had with the persons above: Kiel, Cornelius, Fuchs and Götz (Goetz). Cornelius was more one for the choral repertoire, but the other 3 composed some amazing chamber music. And, ok, their piano concertos are not half-bad, either.

Don't know if Draeseke (good, music, though!) should really be in this list, think he wasn't on the best of terms with Brahms & co.

Regards!

[Alan Howe]

Goetz, Eduard Franck, Dessoff, Raff, Reinecke, Rheinberger, Jadassohn, Rufinatscha, Bargiel, Bruch, Thieriot, Klughardt, Brüll, Fuchs, Kiel, Dietrich and Goldmark come to mind...

Where to start?

Try: Goetz's Symphony (on cpo)
       Raff Symphonies 2-5 (Tudor), VC1 (Sterling), PC (Tudor)
       Reinecke Syms 2, 3 (Chandos), VC (cpo), PCs 2,3 (cpo)
       Rufinatscha Syms 5, 6: available here...
       http://www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at/shop.php/de/cds/klingende_kostbarkeiten_43
       http://www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at/shop.php/de/cds/klingende_kostbarkeiten/klingende_kostbarkeiten_49
       Bruch Syms 1-3 (Conlon, on EMI)
       Fuchs PC/Kiel PC (Hyperion)
       Dietrich Symphony/VC (cpo)

[eschiss1]

Speaking of Bargiel, I'm really hoping someone comes along and makes a commercial recording of his symphony. Just saying...

[Alan Howe]

Watch this space, Eric...

[eschiss1]

Oh good

[black]

Julius Otto Grimm should also be mentioned here. He was a close friend of Brahms' and his compositions deserve a lot more attention.

[Alan Howe]

Julius Otto Grimm should also be mentioned here. He was a close friend of Brahms' and his compositions deserve a lot more attention.

Unfortunately there are no recordings of his major works.

[JimL]

Goetz, Eduard Franck, Dessoff, Raff, Reinecke, Rheinberger, Jadassohn, Rufinatscha, Bargiel, Bruch, Thieriot, Klughardt, Brüll, Fuchs, Kiel, Dietrich and Goldmark come to mind...

I don't know if I'd lump Raff with the Brahms circle.  Coming as he did out of the Weimar crowd, and his Die Wagnerfrage pamphlet notwithstanding, I believe he struck out on his own path in part because, having alienated himself from the Liszt/Wagner faction he was still viewed with distrust by the Brahms circle.  He may have had Brahms' personal respect, to varying degrees, at one time or another.

[Alan Howe]

You're right, Jim. I was just trying to smuggle the great man in...