Available from Innsbruck is the Piano Concerto in G minor (1850) by Rufinatscha. It's a stunning work from his maturity - full of memorable material and in his usual, high-flown style. Also on the CD are the Ouverture dramatique and the Overture to Die Braut von Messina, as well as Schumann's Piano concerto.
The orchestra is chamber-sized (approx.40) and the piano used is a period instrument from 1838 - slightly clattery, but nothing to worry about. Which means that the door is open for a bigger-scale performance...
What a wonderful news! Rufinatscha is definitely one of my greatest trouvailles over the past years, thanks to Alan. I hope I can order this CD without problems...
Alan, could you post the link, so we can paste it into our browsers? I'm already standing in line... :)
The CD isn't being advertised yet. I have been sent an advance copy, so - with apologies - web orders may have to wait a week or two.
OK. Please post the web address for the museum and the CD number here when it becomes available, then. :)
Jim, maybe the thread Johann Rufinatscha: unjustly unsung, reply #13, can be helpful...
This is really good news.
Alan, though, has hit the nail on the head with his comment that "the door is open for a bigger-scale performance". We all know that Rufinatscha is one of the genuinely great unsungs, up there with Draeseke and Raff, someone who's music displays the quality necessary to sustain itself in the live repertoire if it ever got the chance. The problem is that we are the only people who know it.
Not a note is even available on well regarded but still niche labels like cpo or Sterling, never mind major players such as Chandos and Hyperion. The Tiroler Landesmuseum have done a great job of of creating archival recordings, and I'm hugely grateful to them for that, but they just do not seem interested in their wider distribution or in licensing them to other labels which can distribute them world-wide.
Those of us on this forum who have dabbled in the production rather than just the consumption side of the industry, and there are several of us now, know that the appetite is there amongst bigger and more prestigious recording labels for music of this quality and we just have to hope that there will be a breakthrough release of a performance from respected performers on a larger label which will mean that Rufinatscha is no longer our happy little secret.
All this talk of Rufinatscha's PC led me to break out my Hyperion RPC CD of Rufi's most illustrious pupil, Ignaz Brull. To me, there is nothing else in the literature as sublime as the coda of the 1st movement of his PC 2. Nothing. Well, maybe the coda of the finale of Raff's PC. :)
This is BIG music. Not in length, particularly, but in conception and range. And Rufinatscha is a BIG composer - a composer who makes the type of statements in music that the great composers make, whether sung or unsung. I used to think that there are two really great unsungs in the 19th century, i.e. Raff and Draeseke, as Mark says - and this because of their originality and quality. Now I would add Rufinatscha. No-one else at all could have written his music. It is utterly unmistakable, utterly original, and utterly great. I love many others: Gernsheim, Reinecke, Herzogenberg, etc. But none of these attains the individuality and greatness of the three I have mentioned. I urge anyone who has not yet heard all of Rufinatscha to make haste to acquire everything that is available and then to pester as many people you know to do the same - and then start making contacts with people in the recording industry. There must be a breakthrough soon...
I didn't mean to imply that Brull is superior to his mentor. I still want to call attention to him as a wonderful composer in his own right and to attribute his many excellences to their source.
Alan, I fully agree with you, well, almost (you know which composer I prefer above Draeseke ;) but what can I say about Draeseke, since I only have 3 CDs. I'm very impressed by his 3rd Symphony and the Piano Sonata; but his PC is more difficult to me).
But we're talking about Rufinatscha, and I wonder whether it is possible to get in touch with broadcasting companies, asking friendly if not persuading, to broadcast Rufinatscha's music, and if possible, not between 00:00 hours and 07:00 hours. I think that will cause some impact and creates a demand. Or would the Tiroler Landesmuseen Ferdinandeum object?
The CD is now available...
http://www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at/shop.php/de/cds/klingende_kostbarkeiten_62 (http://www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at/shop.php/de/cds/klingende_kostbarkeiten_62)
Oh God! Not another recording of the Schumann Concerto. That's one of the last things I need. The hammerflügel doesn't do it for me - rather too tinkly and, as mentioned, "clattery." And the orchestra appears under-powered.
Danke, aber nein - I'll keep the powder dry and wait for a full-blooded recording.
I'll take what I can get. And thank God I don't have a recording of the Schumann anymore. Didn't need one - until now. Besides, I've never been satisfied with the solo/tutti balance in any of the performances of the Schumann that I've ever heard. Maybe a period instrument performance with a smaller orchestra will provide the proper sound. But I'll still have to wait to order, 'cause I'm movin' at the end of the month and I don't want it to arrive where I used to be.
The performance is perfectly good enough to demonstrate the quality of Rufinatscha's inspiration - and I've heard much more clattery early pianos. Who knows when a better recording will come along....?
In any case, the Schumann coupling hardly counts against the CD: there are two substantial overtures by Rufinatscha in addition to the PC - easily enough to justify the outlay.
Personally I'll just pretend the Schumann wasn't on the CD...
I'm with you, Alan. Only this will be my Schumann PC recording, too. Hopefully it will be a good performance as well.
Quote from: JimL on Wednesday 11 November 2009, 21:16
Besides, I've never been satisfied with the solo/tutti balance in any of the performances of the Schumann that I've ever heard. Maybe a period instrument performance with a smaller orchestra will provide the proper sound.
You want to hear the Schumann on a real piano, supported by a full-sized orchestra? With a darn good balance?
Try one or both of these:
Zimerman/BPO/von Karajan - on Deutsche Grammophon
Michelangeli/NYPO/Mitropoulos - on ASDisc
I'd bet you would have no nits to pick over either performance.
Maybeso. But now I'm more curious than ever to hear how the work sounds on a period instrument with orchestral forces that are more likely to be those found in local orchestras when the work was new. That, and the Rufinatscha are the selling points to me.
I have Zimerman's performance: it's extremely indulgent. Try Andsnes with Jansons on EMI...
Quote from: Alan Howe on Thursday 12 November 2009, 12:12
I have Zimerman's performance: it's extremely indulgent. Try Andsnes with Jansons on EMI...
Thank you, Alan. You never fail to do a one-up on any recording I mention. Well, I am benefiting from your superior knowledge and, at the same time, I marvel at your ability to take an opinion and state it as fact. Beautifully done!
I wonder, if I have the temerity to make another suggestion on this site, whether you will continue to bat 1.000 in debunking it? No doubt your consistent ripostes, mild but so
definite, will come. And I am surprised you use the first person singular, and not the royal
we.
My opinion of Zimerman's CD - which I actually love - is shared by most commentators I have read. And facts, in this case, are facts; here are the timings:
Zimerman: 15:31/5:26/10:38
Andsnes: 14:33/5:07/10:13
The differences are quite obvious.
Sometimes opinions can be backed up by objective facts - as here. And notice, I didn't rubbish Zimerman's performance with Karajan. I just said it was indulgent. For a more 'central' performance, Andsnes is likely to please rather more people - that's all.
Finally, sarcasm is no substitute for engaging with the facts. You were the one to suggest two performances of the Schumann, one of which is distinctly slow - and people should know that before they accept your recommendation.
Today my new Rufinatscha CD arrived. I've listened to it twice, of course also including the Schumann, and must say that I'm extremely happy with it.
It's a registration of a feast (or celebration) concert "Piano Concerts of the Romantic Period" held on 11th and 12th July 2009. The concert consisted of 3 works by Rufinatscha and Schumann's PC. Hence another Schumann. The CD ends with an applause, but I like to give the applause to the producer, Manfred Schneider.
Rufinatscha's wonderful PC (definitely a masterpiece, it's impossible to forget the gorgeous main theme of the 1st movement) is sandwiched between two overtures, of which the Ouverture dramatique impresses me most. Both the orchestra and the solist, Michael Schöch, gave a very fine performance. The fact that the Orchester der Akademie St. Blasius is a small orchestra, and the piano used is an ancient Conrad Graf pianoforte (1838), is absolutely not disturbing, at least to me. Of course, a large orchestra and a modern piano sound different and is preferred, but this one is nice to hear as well. How would Rufinatscha review this performance? I think he would be satisfied.
And the Schumann? I cannot hear or say anything unfriendly or negative about this magnificent concerto. And the performance on this disc is very fine. Michael Schöch (b. 1985) surely knows how to play Schumann.
In short: a wonderful CD and for most (if not all) Forum members a must-buy. You won't be disappointed.
Well, I just ordered this, and it'll cost me a pretty penny or two. But Rufinatscha is definitely worth it!
Wow! It arrived yesterday. That was fast! Put it in my car last night. Been listening to it as I can. Sounds promising so far. More on this later.
Well, I have got to wait until Christmas Day, so I hope it is worth it.
I will probably not play it in my car. The Bortkiewicz almost got me a speeding ticket once.
I don't think the Courts would accept " I got a bit excited during the cadenza"
Thal
The Tiroler Landesmuseum is having their year-end sale on their CDs, selling at roughly half the regular price. Even though, this year, the CD-shop website does not reflect this, I am assured that the lower price will be applied at the point of sale.
I just ordered three discs for a total of about €35 (including shipping cost - in this case to the USA).
Aw, crap! I shouldda waited! I ended up spending 15 Euros (it was listed at 18.) I could have saved more! No matter. I'm impressed enough with the work that I'll post an analysis after I've fully assimilated it (and the overtures).
Quote from: thalbergmad on Thursday 10 December 2009, 12:59
The Bortkiewicz almost got me a speeding ticket once.
I don't think the Courts would accept " I got a bit excited during the cadenza"
Must have been Bortkiewicz PC 1. That's the only one with a cadenza, as I recall. :)
Okay, getting back to Rufinatscha. I'm still getting my internet hooked up on my computer at home after my move, so I can't give my full analysis of the work yet, but can anybody PLEASE tell me what is going on with that first theme you hear in the finale? As near as I can figure out it sounds like it starts out with three (count'em THREE) bars of 4/4 meter, then abruptly switches into 3/4 time. Which gives it a) a highly idiosyncratic phrase structure and b) a really knotty hitch in its metric giddyup. I love this finale tremendously while finding it slightly disappointing at the same time. Here is an example of a Romantic era finale that actually understays its welcome. The transition between slow movement and finale is most ingenious, and its recapitulation in the finale bears some resemblance to a similar spot in Beethoven's Emperor. Rufi does quite a bit of innovative stuff in the first movement, too. Lotta great music and clever organization in this piece. Which is what I've come to expect of Rufinatscha by now.
I know what you mean, Jim. I've just listened to this particular movement again. But isn't it just creative craftmanship of a genius? It's surprising, and that's one of the reasons why I like it very much. It's so Rufinatscha.
By the way, look at the written scores by Rufinatscha (some of which are illustrated in several booklets), and you will see what a beautiful, clear and elegant handwriting he had. I believe this says something about Rufinatscha's accuracy. He knew very well what he did.
There was something about the mathematics of my previous post that bugged me, so I listened a few more times and I figured it out. Three bars of four contains the same number of beats as four bars of three. Now I get it. It's actually four bars of three, but the phrasing is divided in such a way as to make it sound like three bars of four! Was this guy a tummler or what? ;D
Actually, a closer listen revealed that the first theme in the finale starts out with a five measure phrase. Or at least that was how it sounded at my last count. This thing really grows on you.
The first movement has some relatively unusual procedures, too. The opening dialogue between soloist and tutti is more like an in-tempo introduction, which also serves as a point of articulation and focus of development. The actual first subject (which bears no small melodic and harmonic resemblance to the first theme of the Chopin Op. 11) is used as a baroque ritornello (it closes the exposition - in B flat minor, no less!) It begins the reprise, pops up in the expertly integrated cadenza and closes out the movement. The second subject has an interlude based on the piano's opening part of the introductory dialogue which is omitted from the solo exposition but returns at the culmination of the development and again in the coda. Again and again one is reminded that Rufinatscha was truly an original thinker with a notable melodic gift. His music simply must not be allowed to languish in a museum.
Apart from all musicological analyses, it's just wonderful music to listen to.
Oh absolutely. That would go without saying were it not for the fact that it needs saying - often and to whoever you can say it to. And now I'm not so sure that it's a five measure phrase - maybe it's divided into 4 and 3...I can't figure it out and I can't get it out of my head either! And now it's telling me to get someone else to listen to it too... ;D
O.K. It's time for the million dollar question, I guess. The Raff PC is one of the greats of the literature, sung or not. The von Henselt Op. 16 is right up there with it, IMHO. In your humble (or otherwise) opinions, how does the Rufinatscha G Minor stack up next to them?
Well, I'm the first to answer my own question, since you are all a little slow (for whatever reason), but my answer is a resounding VERY WELL! Put the Rufinatscha up there too for occasional (or even better, frequent) revival. Dare I say even repertory status?
BTW, that theme that begins the finale starts out (as near as I can tell) with THREE measures in common time, followed by a switch to triple meter. Like I said, it's got a hitch in its metric giddyup. Absolutely splendid!
Of course, I'd really like to get a look at that score to check...
Hi all
I agree with your 'self-answer' Jiml. The concerto is pretty much one of a kind, with wonderful individual touches and ideas. Yes, it fully deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the Raff and Henselt concertos. Just to narrow things down a bit, it must surely be one of the truly great concertos of the period c1840 -1856 (death of Schumann). Am listening to it again right now.
Now for a bit of real heresy - I think the work could well hold its own in the concert hall with the likes of its companion piece on the Tirolean disc. All that is needed is some committed concert performances and a couple of recordings (with all the high-tech trimmings) featuring major international pianists - with A+ grade orchestras and modern grand pianos, not just period instruments, however well they sound.
regards
Peter
I understand that Hyperion may be interested...
No heresy to me Peter...
Has Mike Spring inquired about obtaining the score from the Landesmuseum?
Mike has a copy of the 2-piano score, which I sent him, and the recent CD. Let's see what happens.
In the full awareness of risking the ire of my fellow forum members, might I say that I experienced a (albeit slight) slight sense disappointment after hearing the concert? Not that it's bereft of ideas, not melodious enough or not well-constructed – it's just that in my view, it just doesn't quite measure up to the level of most of his other compositions. Those are exceptional works, whereas this concert remains much more generic.
Could your slight disappointment be caused by the fact that the concert is performed by a small orchestra, Ilja?
Well, I must confess that I really like the Piano Concerto, and I think it is very Rufinatscha, but... my favourites still are
(1) Symphony 5, (2) Symphony 6 and (3) Piano Quartet in C minor.
I was only let down slightly by the finale. I felt it could have been a bit more formally expansive than a simple rondo, rollicking and jaunty as it may be. The brevity of the finale throws the overall balance of the piece a bit out of whack (the first movement is longer than the last two combined by a couple of minutes). But it's a minor quibble. I consider the work to be a major find and sure to bring a smile to the faces of any audiences fortunate enough to hear it live, and garner standing ovations for performers and work alike. It certainly has no shallow and flashy pyrotechnics, but is constructed entirely of strong musical ideas, expertly worked through (except, as I said, in the finale). Even then, the unabashedly delightful material of the finale more than makes up for its uncomplicated formal straightforwardness.
That said, I'm afraid I can't really agree with Ilja's assessment of the work vis-a-vis the other music of Rufi I've gotten to know. I hear a strong and individual voice in every measure. He had his own style, which was far from "generic". Indeed, as I pointed out in an earlier post, his construction of the first movement is quite ingenious and individual. He had his own take on the "concerto problem", and his solution works quite well for me. IMHO, it is indeed too bad that this work seems to be the only one he attempted in the genre.
Hello
a Merry Christmas to all members.
I recently received the PC. It arrived quite quickly, although I did pay a little extra for a speedier delivery - worth it though! Listened to the concerto this morning. I quite enjoyed it but felt a little unmoved by it. I also agree with JimL and his comments re- the finale. I feel that I too will need to listen to it a few more times to more fully appreciate it. I don't think though it has anything to do with the old-fashioned piano but I did feel that the piano sound sounded a little "dull" in comparison to the more quicksilver tones of a modern piano. I too would like to go on record as saying my favourite Rufinatscha is symphony no 5! I especially love the opening movement!
Cheers
Dennis
I understand concertos a little differently, as immersed as I am in the ethos of the times in which the Romantic works in the genre were created. The concerto was the equivalent of "pop music" today - designed more to be entertaining and moving than intellectually stimulating or challenging. That was the province of the symphony. Rufinatscha's work, in that respect is very much of its time. I find the material more moving the more familiar with it I get, and in some respects, Rufi was ahead of his time in the first movement's distribution of material and motivic transformations. Definitely a precursor to Brahms. The slow movement is absolutely exquisite, and I find it taxes my patience less than many a slow movement in a good number of concertos. The concerto's only concession to popular taste is the finale, but you know, considering just how many Romantic concerto finales outstay their welcomes, maybe its quicksilver conciseness isn't that bad a thing after all.
And let me add now: MERRY XMAS TO ALL!!!!!!!
P.S. My birthday was yesterday. Looking back, I can see the hill now. ;D
A musicologist friend of mine who has just been listening to the Rufinatscha PC for the first time has emphasised what is of fundamental importance about the work - and that is its sheer originality. As he has written to me, when listening to a PC from 1850, one might expect clear influences - Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Hummel, Moscheles, etc. However in reality there is no such clear influence. Rufinatscha, as in his other mature compositions, is an original voice and should be taken on his own terms.
I suspect that a couple of the major independent labels have twigged this and that there may be a bit of a Rufinatscha splash over the next year or two. Let's hope that recording plans actually come to fruition...
I heartily second that musicologist's opinion...with some caveats. What is most fascinating about the Rufinatscha PC is the foreshadowing of Brahms (and several 20th Century composers) in this work (particularly). There is a lot of "the same thing happening at different speeds at (more or less) the same time." The first thing the piano plays in the first movement is a slowed down version of the orchestra's opening flourish. That tricky opening of the finale has the cellos and basses in the orchestra playing a slowed down version of what the piano started out with. BTW, the finale is in triple time, but the theme is so phrased as to sound as if it is in a duple meter - which way outdoes anything Schumann did in the finale of his PC by far. The finale is the most derivative (of Mendelssohn more than anyone else) movement in the work, and even then, there is something distinctive about those passages most reminiscent of Herr Felix (mainly that staccato theme right after the tuttis), especially when it comes to orchestration. Particularly original is the way the bridge between the slow movement and finale is structurally incorporated into the finale proper. No, Alan, your musicologist friend (and you) are quite right - this guy is, as you said, a "one-off."
It's my opinion that in terms of originality, melodies and their developments, and listening pleasure, Rufinatscha's PC outclasses many of the PC's gathered in the Brilliant Box set.
Hear, hear! Also, I'm interested in Rufinatscha because of his place in music history. In the accepted "canon" of "Master composers" there is a dearth of composers who lived in and worked in Vienna from the death of Schubert to the advent of Brahms and Bruckner. During that time, the nexi of European musical life were centered around Paris (Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Chopin), Italy (Rossini et al., Verdi), Dusseldorf (Schumann), Berlin/Leipzig (Mendelssohn), Weimar (Lizst) and Munich/Bayreuth (Wagner). It wasn't until Brahms and Bruckner arrived on the Viennese scene that composers of major works once again made their headquarters there (J. Strauss pere et fils being the only noteworthy exceptions, but they were mainly specialty - read dance and theater composers). Rufinatscha is noteworthy as a potentially major, and neglected figure who made Vienna his home in that interregnum between Schubert and Brahms/Bruckner.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Wednesday 11 November 2009, 15:17
The CD is now available...
http://www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at/shop.php/de/cds/klingende_kostbarkeiten_62 (http://www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at/shop.php/de/cds/klingende_kostbarkeiten_62)
Michael Schöch, the Pianist, was invited 2010 to participate at Beethoven Piano Competition, Bonn. The famous Piano ist equal to the piano Robert Schumann bought his wife Clara.