Reicha, Romberg: Concertos for Two Cellos

[Joachim Raff]

Hello,
Maybe of interest, a new edition from Sony's Beethoven's World is to be release. Already available for download on streaming services.
Details:

Reicha, A: Sinfonia Concertante for 2 Cellos in E major
Bruno Delepelaire (violoncello), Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken und Kaiserslautern, Stephan Koncz (violoncello)
Reinhard Goebel

I.Romberg, B: Concertino for 2 Cellos in A Major, Op. 72
Bruno Delepelaire (violoncello), Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken und Kaiserslautern, Stephan Koncz (violoncello)
Reinhard Goebel

Eybler: Divertisment für Fasching Dienstag 1805 for Orchestra

Sony Catalogue No: 19075929652

All i can say the performances are super and recording is first class.

[Alan Howe]

For the context of this issue, see this thread:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,7567.msg79411.html#msg79411

[eschiss1]

definitely Anton? It sounds like something cellist Josef Reicha might write.

[Alan Howe]

Yes, but Josef could hardly be classified as a contemporary of Beethoven. As for Anton's Concerto, I have the CD on order, so hopefully the sleevenote will enlighten us as to its date and the provenance of the score used in the recording.

The blurb at jpc.de says this: 

The insanely virtuoso Sinfonia Concertante by Antonín Reicha (1770–1836) is full of creative experiments and has clear references to Beethoven's new musical grammar.

[hyperdanny]

very curious about this release, since I found Reicha's symphonies an unexpected delight..

[Alan Howe]

The Reicha concerto is on a large scale: at 38:26 it is almost as long as Beethoven's Emperor Concerto! Its full title is 'Sinfonia Concertante for 2 Cellos in E major'. This article (in German) gives a composition date of 1805:
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/konzerte-von-reicha-und-romberg-cello-for-two.727.de.html?dram:article_id=471346

To put the work in the context of Beethoven's compositions, if a date of 1805 is correct, that would place it between the Eroica and 4th Symphony, and make it roughly contemporary with the 4th Piano Concerto and the Triple Concerto.

[Revilod]

Here's the first movement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp2sBAZvhWg

and the slow movement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8adiKwUPgI

and the finale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsKfDxuSers

[eschiss1]

hyperdanny - I suggest checking out Reicha's string quartets and piano music, too. Beethoven wasn't the only experimenter of the early 19th century

[Alan Howe]

Indeed - but please don't post about them here! Check first to see whether a thread already exists - or, if not, start a new one.

[Alan Howe]

And what a find Reicha's Sinfonia Concertante is! If this isn't great music, I don't know what is. I can't think of anything remotely like it.

[Mark Thomas]

It's on my listening list for tomorrow. Reicha seldom disappoints - such an original voice.

[Alan Howe]

The Reicha really is a remarkable work for 1805. This isn't late-classical music, but burgeoning romanticism, with long-drawn melodies and strange harmonic twists and turns - and all in the form of a concerto for two cellos. Conductor Reinhold Goebel, who wrote the sleevenote, describes the work as a 'Monstrum' - i.e. as a monster or monstrosity! Let's hope 2020 brings more Reicha amongst all the Beethoven.

[Joachim Raff]

Seeing that i started the thread originally, i free the urge to comment further. The Reicha and Romberg are good well constructed pieces but nothing especially sticks out with them. Joseph Eybler is a different story. His music is so much related to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and not to Beethoven's World. Hardly surprising as he was a close friend and well respected by Mozart. Can you imagine his Requiem finished by Eyler? Another what ifs.

The Divertisment für Fasching Dienstag 1805 for Orchestra is a pure joy and full of frivolity. I especially like the second movement. It is like a clog dancing festival with Morris dancers jiggling their bell pads until the clock strikes twelve and its time to go home and then the third movement begins
Music not to be taken seriously, but just to make you smile. Buy just for the Eyler. 

   
     

[Alan Howe]

The Reicha and Romberg are good well constructed pieces but nothing especially sticks out with them. Joseph Eybler is a different story.

Well, on this CD it is the Reicha that stands out as the extraordinary, original and memorable achievement - by far, for the reasons given above. The Romberg is a display piece, pure and simple (and very enjoyable on its own terms), but Eybler's 'Divertisment' is a pièce d'occasion with no great pretensions to profundity. As Goebel says in his sleevenote, it's 'an example of the actual light music of the period' - in Goebel's German original, 'U-Musik' (short for 'Unterhaltungsmusik', or 'Entertainment Music'), as opposed to 'E-Musik' (='ernste Musik', or 'Serious Music'). The Eybler is thus not to be compared with the Romberg or Reicha pieces - it is light music, pure and simple. Good stuff, I admit, but it is what it is. The comparison, therefore, doesn't really make sense.

Buy this for the Eybler, by all means; but listen to the Reicha over and over again. It'll surprise, delight and move you each time.

[Joachim Raff]

Did you read my post? Did i say the music was not to be taken seriously? What is more enjoyable, is the Joseph Eybler. A bit like a 'musical joke' but obviously the joke went straight above your head. The rest is forgettable. Do not get me wrong some super performances but thats about it as far as I'am concerned.