Gernsheim Violin Sonatas etc.

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from cpo:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/friedrich-gernsheim-werke-fuer-violine-klavier-vol-1/hnum/9735515

[eschiss1]

ooh nice, this set includes the unpublished sonata in E minor, not just the published 4. Not sure what vol.2 can look like with so much already here but maybe the other unpublished sonatas and duo works or something ...

[Alan Howe]

Yes, that's a strange one: 'vol-1' appears in the url, but not on the cover or in the blurb.

[eschiss1]

They may of course not have known of it, anymore than Arte Nova (or cpo at the time) knew of the early E-flat symphony (or cpo may -have- had a look at the E-flat symphony and decided it was well-below par? I can't know, not having seen it, of course.)

There's now a new set of recordings in progress (I think?) of a fellow friend of Brahms (Robert Fuchs') music that also has the opportunity, I think, to include some of his manuscript works - I wonder if it will. (The Naxos set of Fuchs' violin sonatas...) (The old Thorofon set is, if I remember, pretty out of print in that case. Pity. In all these cases I, anyway, have had a lot of enjoyment of the music.)

Re Gernsheim, I think his first and third piano quartets have been recorded twice? but his second not at all?... ah well. Sorry. Anyway, glad to see this new set, and hope to at least have a chance to stream it and compare it to the Brilliant set.

[Alan Howe]

Christoph Schickedanz is a brilliant violinist. Should be a winner.

[Alan Howe]

Here's Schickedanz in Op.4 in C minor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSEyiIMvmNc

[eschiss1]

I see this is already available from jpc; Presto says they'll have it by January 29.

[Alan Howe]

It's a fabulous set. All five of Gernsheim's Violin Sonatas are included, plus his Introduction and Allegro appassionato and Andante in F, so I can't see how there can be a vol.2.

What we have here in effect is a snapshot of Gernsheim's entire composing career, ranging from the unnumbered early Sonata written in 1853 when the composer was 14 to Sonata No.4 which was published in 1912, with No.1 appearing in print in 1865, No.2 in 1885 and No.3 in its final form in 1905. And it's quite a compositional journey: by No.3 a more unpredictable style is emerging, all within a conservative framework.

Christoph Schickedanz plays with bright, shining tone and plenty of vibrato - no hint, thank goodness, of HIP here. These are full-blooded renditions, passionate yet sensitive when needed. As usual with Gernsheim there are tunes a -plenty. The idiom? Think Bruch, I suppose, rather than Brahms: but simply enjoy the floods of inspiration that emerge in these works and the ask yourself why on earth violinists don't play them.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Alan. Looks like I'd better talk to Mr PayPal.

[Alan Howe]

I talk to him regularly. A very useful 'pal' indeed...

[semloh]

He's not on speaking terms with me!