erm... ok...
Friedrich Gernsheim was a composer born in Worms in 1839, died 1916, a good friend of Johannes Brahms (though they did not actually meet until 1868.)
I'm aware of four concertos by him off the top of my head:
*Piano concerto in C minor, Op.16 (ca.1869) (there's been a recent broadcast performance of this you can find on YouTube, with Oliver Triendl- who also performs Felix Draeseke and others - as the soloist.)
*Violin Concerto No.1 in D major, Op.42 (ca.1880. Dedicated to Sarasate.)
*Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.78 (has been recorded commercially on Hyperion. Premiered 1907 Feb.16 in Eisenach by Karl Piening.)
*Violin Concerto No.2 in F major, Op.86 (1912? dedicated to Marteau.)
Scores (or in the case of violin concerto no.2, and the cello concerto, a violin/piano reduction; NYPL has a full score of the cello concerto, I seem to recall looking at it) of the string concertos are available at IMSLP (http://imslp.org), though not yet the piano concerto. The violin concertos, if good enough, need a violinist to take them up...
Two additions:
Divertimento for Flute and Strings (1888), Op. 53
Fantasiestück for Violin and Orchestra (1876), Op. 33
I too, await recordings of the violin concertos.
Unfortunately there's no sign of them being done.
hrm. The violin and piano version of the Fantasiestück was I believe included in a recent pair of CDs of Gernsheim's music? Though the orchestral version would I expect still be appreciated. (I haven't heard either yet.) (At that, there's a number of his other works I wouldn't mind hearing- most of his chamber works except for his 2nd string quintet and 2nd and 3rd cello sonatas seem to be covered in one form or another, I think, quite a few @IMSLP, but there's all those choral works and symphonic poems one probably won't get to hear... ah well.)
I meant the two VCs.
I haven't seen complete material (full score, or parts, etc.) for the 2nd violin concerto, at that. I hope the reduction isn't all there is left of it...
(though if anywhere has them, maybe it's Staats. Bibliothek Berlin, which I just found out has scanned-in autograph scores of at least two of his symphonies. Neat.)
Oh right. The Fleisher Collection (http://catalog.freelibrary.org) has the score & parts to the 2nd concerto. That really needs to be my "go-to"...
The piano concerto is quite curious and beautiful... I dont know much [.. perhaps someone can shed some light..] but Gernsheim doesn't seem to be a Piano composer yet he writes quite nicely... Sort of like what Berwald did with his Piano concerto.
it is a fairly early work. He wrote a fair amount for piano during his career and had been a concert pianist since 1850 (ca. age 11).
QuoteThe Fleisher Collection has the score & parts to the 2nd concerto. That really needs to be my "go-to"...
When looking for scores & parts of orchestral music, Fleisher should be every researcher's first port of call. It's a stunning collection. We are indebted to old man Fleisher and his dedication and generosity.
Amen to that, Gareth.
There's a few others that seem to be very good at carrying complete parts too (depending and probably in specialized areas) at least judging from their catalogs- maybe Dutch Royal Library etc.- but yes - agreed!!
I agree, Eric. The Dutch Royal Library is a fine repository of orchestral music.
The problem is that the national subsidy of the NMI (Nederlands Muziekinstituut, the institute that houses the music collection of the Dutch Royal Library) has been cut off. The KB (Royal Library) and the municipality of The Hague are contributing to a solution, but there's a good chance that accessibility to the material will become restricted in the future. That would be a disaster.
Many thanks to Mark Thomas for uploading the much better-sounding recording of Gernsheim Piano Concerto. In my view the piece is greatly enhanced by the excellent sound: it's an even more beautiful, memorable and repertoire-worthy piece than I had remembered.
What's interesting is where Gernsheim 'fits'. It's his 'Schumann-on the-way-to-something-more-lyrical-than-Brahms' idiom that fascinates me, if you'll excuse my clumsy description. The composer he most reminds me of in the PC, I suppose, is Bruch (e.g. VC1).
What do others think?
Will download that re-capture soon and give it a good listen, but I'm still wondering (tangentially?) how characteristic (even if fairly good, not as much the question you asked) the work is compared to later works from some of his somewhat later chamber works , 2nd symphony, etc. on... I'm guessing the piano concerto is maybe roughly contemporary (in composition, I mean, not just in publication, though I suppose evidence mostly lacks, except for the symphonies where manuscripts definitely mostly exist and are dated) with his first cello sonata and his first symphony.
The Piano Concerto is a relatively early work, dating from 1868 when Gernsheim was 29. The First Symphony was written in 1875. I don't have a date for the Cello Sonata No.1, but it's Op.12, whereas the Concerto is Op.16.
Ah that's right, the first symphony is opus 32- I was thinking of someone else (and the fragmentary- part of the first movement- 13-page manuscript at SBB isn't dated, one estimates it's from about 1874 though. Premiered 1875, yes.) I wonder if more of his ms. (autograph or otherwise) have survived and where...
Having given the PC a number of listens over the past 10 days or so, I'm more than ever convinced that this is a major contribution to the 19thC PC literature. Why this lyrically generous, melodically rich and utterly memorable work has been neglected is quite beyond me. Gernsheim's stature grows with every piece of his I encounter.
I have just listened again (30 minutes ago) to Gernsheims piano concerto and I have to echo Alan's comments made in the last post. Today, I was "blown away" by the music , appreciating the sheer beauty and lyricism of the piece more than ever before. Many thanks to both Alan and Mark for this wonderful upload.
I'm glad I'm not the only one, Dennis. So many composers in the conservative, post-Mendelssohn/Schumann generation have been overshadowed, if not totally forgotten because of the sheer greatness of Brahms. Gernsheim is now emerging as one of the best of that particular crop. Now the question is: if the PC is this good, what about the two VCs?
I see that MusikproduktionHoflich now offer all 4 of Gernsheim's Symphonies along with the 1st Violin Concerto in their Repertoire Explorer study scores series.
Cheers,
John.
yep. I hope they might photocopy the Fleisher Collection's copy of the 2nd violin concerto (Zimmermann, 1914) full score (if it's usable, no pages too splotched or anything) and issue that with a new preface, too...