Gernsheim Cello Sonatas 1-3

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from cpo:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/friedrich-gernsheim-cellosonaten/hnum/3860284

[eschiss1]

Well, good
Recapping if I may from the earlier thread,
Op.12 in D minor (premiered in April 1868 and published in 1868 also) was recorded on a Genesis LP in 1975.
Op.79 in E minor (in manuscript only I think?) - 1906, premiered 1907.
Op.87 in E minor - date unknown?... (so where it fits in this list is unknown as far as I and the library housing the manuscript know, and saying "#3" might be arbitrary.) Published in 2014 by Editions Dohr (which claims "1914"- maybe premiere date? ... I don't know...)

[Alan Howe]

This a CD of the highest quality, both in terms of the performances (by Alexander Hülshoff, cello, and Oliver Triendl, piano) and the music whose neglect is completely incomprehensible. Most interesting is the fact that Gernsheim was apparently dissatisfied with the first two movements of Op.79 (fp 1907) and went to write Op.87 in the same key, composing two entirely new first two movements and re-working the 3rd movement finale. The date of composition given in the liner notes for Op.87 is 1914, i.e. when the composer was 75!

We are now, I think, getting a clearer idea of Gernsheim's late period in which his music becomes more compressed and is characterised by sharp, even violent changes of direction and mood. Of course, the basic idiom is still conservative, but it's fascinating to find a composer whose style was still developing in his seventies...

My first contender for Chamber Music CD of the Year 2018! A superlative release in every way!