Gernsheim Violin Concertos at last!

[Mark Thomas]

Cpo has announced that its CD of the two Gernsheim Violin Concertos,  together with the Fantasiestück, will be available or September 15th. I'm hoping that it'll be one of the highlights of this year. The soloist is Linus Roth with the Hamburger Symphoniker under Johannes Zurl. A few more details here.

[Alan Howe]

Wahay! A good spot from the Emerald Isle 

[Revilod]

Great news. The piano concerto is a really fine piece though it's true that the 'cello concerto is less impressive.

[Alan Howe]

You're certainly right about the PC. It's a great piece.

[eschiss1]

Well, there's several bits of (quite possibly) really good news, between the Gernsheim violin concertos recording and, I gather, the broadcast of the Lassen which I intend to listen to in a bit. (When it rains it pours, in a good way this time? _Not_ complaining!!!)

[Alan Howe]

Excerpts from the new cpo CD are now available at jpc:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/friedrich-gernsheim-violinkonzerte-nr-1-d-dur-op-42-nr-2-f-dur-op-86/hnum/8290276
If you like Bruch, you'll love this...

[Mark Thomas]

Oh, I'll love these works, I'm sure. Just the extracts have me slavering...

[Jonathan]

Definitely another wish list disc!

[Alan Howe]

My copy's on its way. More anon...

[Mark Thomas]

...I'll wait the month until it's available to download.

[JimL]

I'll wait until it hits Amazon.  But the excerpts sound scrumptious!  I guess the Fantaisiestück is sandwiched between the two concertos.  It appears to be in D like the first concerto.

[eschiss1]

Yes, it is.

[Alan Howe]

Well, my first listen-through to VC1 (1880) reveals more or less what one might expect: a beautifully-written work full of memorable melodic inspiration in the conservative tradition of Brahms and Bruch. In fact I can't hear any real reason why this work should have been neglected in favour of certain of Bruch's (e.g. VC2, VC3) - it's fully their equal. As one might expect from a work in D major, it's predominantly a sunny, lyrical piece; it's entirely what one might expect from the pen of Gernsheim who is now emerging as an unsung master of the front rank. The finale, by the way, may remind you more than a little of the equivalent movement in Bruch VC1!

As has been our experience with cpo, this is an altogether superior production, with first-class sonics and an alert orchestral response from the Hamburg Symphony under Johannes Zurl. Linus Roth, of course, is a world-class virtuoso and we are indeed fortunate to have the benefit of his advocacy here.

Hats off - a winner! Now to the rest of the CD...

[Alan Howe]

VC2 (1912) turns out to be a rather sparer piece, but equally adorable. More later...

[eschiss1]

(To be really, really and pointlessly picky, the first concerto was, I gather, written in the summer (June-July) of 1879 in Rotterdam, premiered also in Rotterdam in January 1880 and published in the latter year Re concerto 2, I think 1912 is right...)