Even before the release the much anticipated Vol. 60 of the RPC series - Dubois. Hyperion has announced the release of
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67950&vw=dc (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67950&vw=dc)
vol. 61 - Theodor Döhler - Piano Concerto in A major, Op. 7
&
Alexander Dreyschock - Morceau de concert in C minor, Op. 27,
Salut à Vienne 'Rondo brillante, Op. 32
Good news for Dreyschock fans!!!! :)
Good news for Dohler fans as well. This could be one of the best of the series.
The Dohler is one of those works that you can really let yourself go and under the right fingers could be a display to match even the Dreyschock.
Not one for the Schumannites.
Thal
Woot WOot!!! ;D yay more Dreyschock!!! I'll receive it !! oh yeah!
A mandatory purchase, of course. But I'm not greatly excited...
Well, I'm looking forward to this one myself. The Dreyschock Konzertstuck is a really attractive piece, as we have discussed here before, but I know nothing of the Dohler. Can you add some flesh to the bones of your post, please, Thal?
I knew this release was imminent, but I did not know it would be announced so soon. It is, for me at least, very exciting.
A new Hyperion RPC Volume is always exciting. I will certainly buy this Vol. 61 for Dreyschock's Konzertstück. But the Döhler, well, it's one of those 'dime a dozen' PC's I'm afraid. The audio samples didn't result in clapping my hands and stamping my feet. However, it's better to hear the whole PC before making any comments.
Whilst I'm certainly looking forward to this issue, I must say that it's a miserly one at only 56 minutes duration.
But they have given us some very well filled disks. A lot of their releases are over 70 minutes. I don't think we should complain too loudly when we consider the repertoire chosen, a great deal of which has to have orchestral parts made up from a full score, frequently in MS - no small additional expense.
I agree Gareth, and it's only a minnow of a carp, really.
"minnow of a carp" - I love it.
I do hope the Hiller Konzerst⌂ck is on Hyperion's radar. It deserves another recording.
This volume is now published, and it's another winner. The main work is by the obscure-even-by-UC's-standards Theodor Döhler. I had expected one of those vapid, tinkly "brillante" creations, all technique and no heart, so prevalent from composer-virtuosi in the 1820s and 30s, but Hyperion have chosen well and there is much more to the Döhler than that. As Jeremy Nicholas' insert notes suggest, you'd need to look elsewhere for nobility or profundity, but at the more modest level of entertainment this concerto is no slouch. The orchestra pays a full part (there's a very forthright opening tutti, echoed elsewhere), there is plenty of good quality lyrical melody and quite a bit of drama, particaularly in the lengthy opening Maestoso. The short slow movement isn't "pretty pretty" at all and, after some spectacular passage work, segues straight into an effective, dancing finale which is, perhaps, nearest in character to the sort of "brilliant" style which I'd feared the whole work would prove to be in, but even then it has more substance to it, although the technical demands placed on the soloist are prodigious. Not a master work, but an enjoyable one with more to it than just surface glitter. Well worth recording.
Of the two Dreyschock works, the dramatic Konzertstück has been a favourite of mine since I bought Genesis' LP of Frank Cooper's scintillating performance (downloadable from UC here (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1401.msg35658.html#msg35658)), coupled with the Raff concerto, way back in 1972. The Tasmanian Symphony are a much better orchestra than Zsolt Deáky's Nuremberg Symphony and the extensive tutti have real power but, maybe because I am just so familiar with Cooper's reading, I was a little disappointed by Howard Shelley's interpretation. Anyone not knowing the Genesis recording will, I'm willing to bet, be bowled over by the Konzertstück in this recording, but Cooper somehow manages to squeeze out of it just a little more drama and excitement than Shelley does.
The other Dreyschock piece, the jolly Salut à Vienne, is not as strong a piece as the Konzertstück, but Shelley plays it for all, if not more than, it's worth. A lot of pianistic fireworks dress it up, but it's a good natured, tuneful romp and, at that level, very enjoyable.
I must commend Nicholas for two, unknown to me, wonderful examples of musical invective in the booklet, both aimed at poor Döhler. As an exercise in damning with faint praise, Heinrcih Heine's sly review of a recital is priceless. Schumann dispenses with the faint praise and just gets straight on with the damning. What fun.
I hadn't expected to like this issue a great deal, but Mark is right - and it's largely down to the quality of Shelley's championship of this music which, in other less convinced (and less convincing) hands, might seem trivial or second-rate. Schumann might have been right about Döhler in particular, but that hardly matters nearly two hundred years later when we can enjoy this music for its own sake.
I admire what Shelley et al. are doing to champion these obscure composers, but I'll admit I was thoroughly disappointed with the quality of the music on Vol. 61. Compare the Dohler PC with, say, the magnificent Hummel PCs (which Shelley also championed) written around the same time, and you'll see what I'm coming from. To me, there are no redeeming qualities to the Dohler whatsoever, expect if you need music to accompany a dinner party. At least the Dreyschock was a little more exciting, but deep it most certainly is not. I don't want to sound harsh; I'm just being honest. I've heard much praise regarding Pixis here, so I'm expecting his concertos to be of a higher caliber than the Dohler and Dreyschock. They better be! ;D
The Döhler is not really to be compared with Hummel, in my view, any more than Hummel is to be compared with Beethoven. I suggest listening to Döhler on his own terms...
The Döhler is simply entertainment, of course. Look for more than that and you'll be disappointed.
Quite. And Hummel is mere entertainment when compared with Beethoven. But the comparison is both irrelevant and unhelpful.
And to the extent anyone remembered Döhler even for a brief while, it was for a few of his brief piano works- which did attain a sizeable number of reprints (some of which have been digitized, and I think recorded too) and may be more worth looking into (at a guess, even though I don't usually try to guess quality based on popularity :) )
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Monday 02 September 2013, 22:08
The Döhler is simply entertainment, of course. Look for more than that and you'll be disappointed.
Well, sorry, but I don't listen to music for "entertainment" alone. I realize that there are many who do, and I'm perfectly okay with that. It's just that I have to have some kind of emotional gratification when I listen to music. OK, I'll admit my Hummel comparison was somewhat unfair, but am I not allowed to express a negative opinion without getting scolded? It seems like everyone here has to agree with each other. ::) I mean, that rather defeats the purpose of a forum, doesn't it?
Is there a logical glitch here? I don't always listen to music for entertainment "alone" (in the sense of always and only? quite ambiguous, that!), but if that's all a certain piece has to offer me, then in certain moods, I'm perfectly glad and content to have that, too. Mahler 6, and Pettersson 9, are happily on my shelf (well, "shelf", since I rarely use my CD player now'days, mostly my iPod)- but so are quintets by Cambini - and much else of varying emotional hues and "demands" ; for some people only one or the other or something else will do - that's fine too, yes, no international legal case need be made nor offense felt at the thought I should suppose.
Quote from: LateRomantic75 on Monday 02 September 2013, 21:49
To me, there are no redeeming qualities to the Dohler whatsoever
I am perfectly happy with your opinion - but that's what it is - an opinion. I just don't happen to agree with it, that's all. Nothing wrong with that. And BTW, nobody is scolding anyone - just disagreeing. And that's what this forum is for - gentlemanly, well-argued agreement, or disagreement.
Two quick, quite off the thread, points:
First, whether or not this concerto has redeeming qualities, isn't it marvellous that Hyperion has issued it?
Second, and re. Alan's last point, I do hope the Form welcomes good natured agreement and disagreement from contributors other than 'gentleman'.
'Gentlemanly', of course, is a synonym for 'courteous'.
Actually, I'm not in favour of the recording of music which has no redeeming qualities...
It depends on what one considers redeeming qualities. There is some 'modern' music which I would claim have none, yet others sit entranced. There is also the argument of the 'comlpletists' some bits of Lizst or even Mozart, I would argue are not in themselves worth hearing yet there is always a curiosity about these pieces. Finzi's wife Joyce Black, took it upon herself to destroy much of Ivor Gurney's late compositions. It is very subjective. and who is to judge, one has only to read reviews by music critics to wonder if they have been at or listened to the same performance that I have heard.
To stick my neck out further, we seem to be talking about the Hyperion recordings, well for me the only composers in this series that I wonder why they were recorded are Vianna Da Motta and Henri Herz. However there was a direct link between Da Motta and the pianist Pizarro so that may be the reason for that.
Well, you said...
<<whether or not this concerto has redeeming qualities>>
...which clearly implies that you thought it possible it might not have any such qualities - and, of course, you are perfectly at liberty to pose the question...
All I was saying was that music that has no such qualities - and there's an awful lot if it around, I'm sure, just as there is music out there which does have such qualities - is not worth recording.
I realise that any judgment as to whether any particular piece of music is worth bothering with can be subjective - which is why a consensus of opinion is essential when it comes to a recording project. Unless, that is, an individual is wealthy enough to get something recorded anyway.
Regarding the "redeeming qualities" of music and weather the lack of it should stop the same music from being performed, let alone recorded... The liking of any piece of art is always subjective, and while that should not be a reason to put a pile of trash on a table and label it art, turning up our nose on anything lesser than a standard bench mark could prove very dangerous as we can witness in the classical performance repertoire. Unsung composers are shunned in the concert halls or NOT reviewed in so called stellar music publications. An open mind is the best solution here. You are allowed to NOT like anything. Just don't label them too strongly [you might ruffle some feathers... ;D ;D] Let me put across the example of Henry Hertz whose wonderful concertos we are well acquainted with thanks to Hyperion. Some of us hate it. I personally love it. Is there anything profound in it? ABSOLUTELY NO. Does it cheer me up. HELL YEAH! And doesn't comfort on some level play into music? Or else we might as well all start reading great volumes of Spinoza and Confucius and listen to endless torrents of Reger [my version of Hell !]
Er... how well do you know Spinoza?...
er... never mind, never mind, never mind...
Sorry, I'd like to agree, but there's some awful music out there. It makes no sense to claim otherwise. We must recognise that some music has been forgotten for all the right reasons...
However, this doesn't apply to Döhler or Herz. But don't mention Prout too loudly...
It's a difficult one. Like Alan, my instinct is to agree. Deciding something should not be recorded, which is just about equivalent to banishing it from the public ear, would seem to be just as regrettable as censorship. And none of us would want to play the role of a censor.
On the other hand a certain realism must prevail. Imagine yourself to be whipping up the funds to organise a concert. Wouldn't you feel a little wretched if you knew the proposed works in your concert were third rate, pretty shoddy, and actually not worth a performance? You'd want to preserve your funds for unsung works that you considered at least worthwhile. Same with record companies surely. For good or ill there's a huge amount of music out there, and far more than one could hope to listen to even in a long life of dedicated listening. It just isn't sensible or practical to hope to record it all.
Incidentally, and forgive me, for years of correcting text have produced an ingrained habit: the 'weather' is the thing that rains. You surely meant the subordinating conjunction of 'whether'.
And my experience of reading Spinoza is to engage with unending torrents of hell. Listening to Reger is light relief in comparison. (Earlier tonight I treated myself to the Op. 49/1 Clarinet Sonata. Ha, pure bliss.)
Haven't read Spinoza in awhile (Wittgenstein somewhat more recently though) but agree about Reger. About quite a lot of Reger (then again, have said so before.)
(Weather or not, we -are- having a picnic.)
Thanks... Peter. I'll weather in my whether in the future [didn't even realize I was doing it ;D] As for Spinoza I once tried his Ethics. Felt like I was being thrown against a brick wall repeatedly. Which is the same way I feel about Reger. I remember listening to his Piano Concerto and telling myself "... this is a transition passage. It's going to start now." After about 10 min's I realised that for me Reger would almost always be a series of passages that never get anywhere [same as Bruchner! except his later symphonies!] Anyway the point of this whole discussion was that this is MY opinion. Just that. We are all free to choose what we like. I just wish we'd relax the rules a little bit.. then we would get a recording of Hertz's Piano Concerto with Chorus [2 or 6?] or even Holbrooke's Ship's Symphony. ;) ;)
Back to the RPC 61. I haven't listened to it yet but am sure that I will like the Dreyschock at the very least. [I so thoroughly enjoyed his concerto.] The RPC Vol. 60 has become another fav. but what I'm really looking forward to is Vol 62 - Gounod!
Quotea series of passages that never get anywhere [same as Bruckner!
My word, you're brave. Stand by for some shelling!
Quoteam sure that I will like the Dreyschock at the very least. [I so thoroughly enjoyed his concerto.]
IMHO his
Konzertstuck is a much more powerful and tautly constructed piece than the Piano Concerto, so you should love it.
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Saturday 07 September 2013, 14:48
Quotea series of passages that never get anywhere [same as Bruckner!
My word, you're brave. Stand by for some shelling!
Actually I said " for
ME Reger would almost always be a series of passages that never get anywhere". Just me.... little old me! :'( I hope I don't have to invest in a bulletproof Vest!
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Saturday 07 September 2013, 14:48
Quotea series of passages that never get anywhere [same as Bruckner!
My word, you're brave. Stand by for some shelling!
I shall lead the bombardment as an avid Brucknerian! >:( ;)
I'm not an avid Regerian, but his VC and Böcklin Tone Poems are pieces I'd dive back into my house to retrieve if ever the proverbial fire were to hit...
Don't worry, FBerwald - just blow raspberries back at 'em. I happen to enjoy Reger very much, but I wouldn't expect everyone to share that enjoyment. The world would be a very dull place if we all converged in our preferences.
Might cheer you up if I confess there's a certain composer who often flits through various threads here who I've decided I really don't like at all. It is not so much the case that he doesn't 'do' anything for me. Far worse than that, I'd probably cover up my ears and run screaming from the concert hall. I find his music clumsy, ponderous, bombastic, usually far too loud and always far too long. Can't understand at all why nearly everyone else regards him in profound awe and veneration. Your view of Reger is probably quite mild compared to mine of ..... And nope, not going to reveal the name for nearly everyone else would wish disease, famine, pestilence, and eternal fire and brimstone on me. Along with a few locusts and a plague or two.
Stand firm against the hordes of Regerians and don't think for a moment that your musical judgments are somehow defective. Now perhaps back to the safer world of The Romantic Piano Concerto Vol. 61.
Quotea certain composer
Mahler? ;)
Actually, I thought he meant Beethoven.
(And honi soit qui mal y pense!- is that the expression? (hrm- probably not. but it's fun to say.) - if one takes that to reflect my view of Ludwig... !?! :) )
Waiting for Spindler's symphonies--
Eric
Heavens, Eric! Far more likely for the earth to reverse its orbit than for my love of Beethoven to expire.
And no, Mark, not Mahler. Though I do confess that, for me, he is a once in a while composer, and only in the flesh. (I'm psychologically quite incapable of sitting in my armchair in my own music room listening to, say, the C minor symphony. Other than the songs the only Mahler I could tolerate in less than a concert hall would be his arrangement for string orchestra of Schubert's D810).
Oh come on petershott! don't keep us hanging. Who is it? I wont mind knowing. I have a feeling it might be Medtner or Scharwenka! I am guilty of liking many a composers that people might frown upon. eg. I like Waldteufel better than Strauss II on most days! Let the shelling begin.
Wait, hold on.....I get attacked for criticizing a composer as minor as Dohler who composed for the salon, but no one even counters FBerwald's statement about Bruckner who was a great and influential composer who composed for God. I'm not trying to stir up trouble, but I don't think this seems fair.
LateRomantic - you weren't "attacked", people just disagreed with your view. There's a very big difference.
I didn't think I was attacking your view of Dohler. I don't know enough about Döhler yet, mostly a couple of brief once-popular piano pieces, I believe... ... I should assume you mean someone else, i think... or your threshold for attack is way low.
As to Reger, though, as I tried (and always fail) to explain - once in my 2005 preface to his Symphonic Prologue (http://www.musikmph.de/musical_scores/vorworte/436.html) for MPH - I think what he was trying to do (I recall reading something like this; and it made sense...) - was to adapt sonata form- a way of articulating the dramatic contrast between groups of thematic material basically in different keys - to the expanded harmonic system "inherited from" Wagner etc. in the late 19th century. So you used to have (A, B, etc. are groups of themes in different keys, though they may briefly leave the key, as with Haydn- later on less briefly, as with Schubert or even Beethoven or later, Bruckner- well, let's not go that late- but usually only to return to the key of the section...)
A-Ao (transition) - B - Bo - (exposition; might be repeated)
development (section whose job is to take you back to the main key. it might use dramatic and rhythmic variation of themes from the exposition to do this, but that's not essential- see many examples by Mozart and his contemporaries who didn't seem to think it was necessary...) --
return to exposition (often but not always fairly dramatic here!) - recapitulation (A-Ao-B-Bo often more or less exactly repeated with slight changes - but only "often"; lots of exceptions. Maybe not oddly, Reger who takes liberties with so much else is going to be at his most exact in this section. It's -all- the matters of drama, contrast, tension and relief, after all, and knowing when to apply which... not joking at all about that.)
So for contrast between tonal regions, I guessed that he substituted instead contrast between kinds of activity- or... something- to push the drama forward in his sonata structures. Though Griffiths (was it?) was probably still right that Reger's music, despite all of its (I think!- and with my caveats etc. about the chamber music being rather better...) fine points- being more a statement of the problem, than its solution. After which he starts talking about another composer as a very natural segue, and here most people, though not me, will think we will have left the forum orbit, so I will leave off there. ;^):D
(In a typical effective sonata, A and B are tonally fairly stable regions (Ao and Bo less so, development often very much heckno (technical term, of course.)) In a middle-period Reger work (from around 1902? - 2nd piano quintet and first string trio to around 1910 or so, not that long in all really, though he wrote quite a lot of chamber music in that time (not counting solo piano or solo organ music)-
#2nd piano quintet Op.64 (1901-2)
#Violin Sonata No.4 Op.72 (1903. Scandal over this resulted in a sort-of infamous bathroom incident, I gather...)
#String quartet in D minor, Op.74 (one of those hour-long quartets. 1903-4.)
#Op.77a & b: Serenade no.1 in D , String Trio no.1 in A minor (1904)
#Op.78: Cello sonata no.3 in F 1904
#Op.84: Violin sonata no.5 in F# minor 1905
#Op.91: Solo sonatas for violin (1905)
#Op.93: Suite im alten styl in F for violin and piano
#Op.102: Piano trio no.2 in E minor (1908)
#Op.103a: Violin suite (1908)
#Op.103b: Violin sonatinas (1909) (Violin sonatas 6 & 7)
#Op.107: Clarinet sonata no.3
#Op.109: String quartet no.4 in E-flat
#Op.113: Piano quartet no.1 (1910)
#OP.116: Cello sonata no.4 (1910)
#Op.118: String sextet (1910)
#Op.121: String quartet no.5 (1911)
#Op.122: Violin sonata no.8 (1911)
Hrm. Things seem to start mellowing out relatively speaking and a little after this, maybe (harmonically, in speed of, etc.; his tendency of writing in rapid unisons is no longer as prominent - as much though he does open op.139 (Violin sonata no.9) with one - etc. etc.)
(The Joachim Quartet's nla disc of the 4th and 5th string quartets always seemed to me a good way to get into his music, even though the music there can be very busy- but also terrifically hymnic and soulful in the slow movements, and sympathetically desperate, angry/sad in the finale of the 5th (with the slow almost-coda preceding the fast final page). Eh. Apologies for digression.
Whooooooshhhh! Thank you so much for this, Eric. What a potentially illuminating piece. I'm no musicologist, and thus have to work hard to grasp all the details (and to test out my understanding by repeated visits to the CD player to listen bits of music - fortunately I have a metre or so of Reger, and especially the chamber music).
Early days yet (or rather hours), but the gist of what you're claiming makes a very great amount of sense. It explains, for one thing, why many Reger pieces don't admit of any easy or relatively straightforward 'access'. First time I listened to the Violin Concerto, for example, I was baffled, couldn't easily follow what was going on, and then after 50 minutes or so it all finished - and just why at that point? The same is true of the String Quartets (and especially the Op. 118 String Sextet surely?) All these works require you surrender your expectations (prejudices?), submit to the music a few times, and then once it has got under the skin, glory in the stuff. (And I do think 'glory' is exactly the right word here.)
I think you've helped a great deal in my understanding of these matters. The 'difficulty' in accessing or getting into many of Reger's works initially is to do with the absence of (in crude non-theoretical language) stops, rests, sections and so on. That's not his way of organising his material. Except in obvious counter-examples such as the Op. 100 Hiller Variations.
Analogy. There are some speakers / lecturers who are especially popular with first year students, and their success is due to the way they lay out material. Clear, easily identifiable paragraphs / sections, emphasisng or underlining of sub-conclusions, summing up, drawing deep breath, make sure audience has got the point, clear explanations of how those sub-conclusions then motivate the next section..... Maybe arrange all the key bullet points on an O/H projector (always hated doing that!). Crudely speaking, you can easily hear the analogue of that in a classical sonata form.
But not Reger. Your suggestion of the music being organised around different 'types of activity' immediately makes sense. When I read your preface to the Symphonic Prologue I was conscious of several light bulbs being illuminated in my otherwise dense head. My first guess is that you've thrown me a valuable key to unlocking Reger and enabling me to explain to myself why I find his music so powerful and compelling. Thank you!
Much more frivolously: do sometime explain the bathroom incident relating to the Op. 72 Violin Sonata - that's something I've never encountered before! (In the literature there are vast numbers of hilarious Reger stories, often at the edge of sheer vulgarity. One of my favourites was after the first Meiningen performance of his Bocklin Tone Poems Op. 128 when Princess Marie of Saxe-Meiningen asked him "Good heavens, Herr Hoffrat, did all the bassoons make those sounds with their mouths?" to which Reger replied - looking her straight in the eye - "I sincerely hope so, your Highness").
I suspect I've a week or so coming up of revisiting Reger chamber works now equipped with your potentially illuminating suggestions. Thank you! I think we're lucky and privileged to have you as an especially active member of this forum (no blushes!)
And with that extended digression over, let's return to the subject of this thread...
Of course, do please open a new thread if you wish to discuss Reger further.
Thank you, Eric for enlightening me as to the work involved in the "Bathroom Incident"! I had always been curious as to what work was being reviewed! Do you happen to know which critic it was? Peter - the "Bathroom Incident" was actually a note that Reger sent to a critic who panned this particular sonata after its premiere performance. The note goes like this: "Dear sir. I am sitting in the smallest room of my house (i.e. the bathroom). Your review is before me. Soon it will be behind me." Get it?
Ahem. Back to the topic, please. Do open a new thread if you want to digress further...
Today my copy arrived. Finally I heard Dreyschock's much praised Morceau de Concert. Well, I am not impressed. Dreyschock's other piece, Salut à Vienne, is hardly more exciting. And the Döhler, they come in dime a dozen.
However, it is not bad music at all, but entertainment without any depth. How different compared to the Dubois disc. I hasten to say that these comments are after my first hearing. And this does not mean that I am not grateful to Hyperion for the flow of more or less interesting piano concertos. On the contrary. Not every release is to everyones taste.
Yes, Peter, all three pieces are just well-crafted entertainment, and that's fine with me. Personally, I think that Dreyschock's Konzertstück has more substance than either the Salut à Vienne on this disk, or his Piano Concerto on an earlier one, but I'm not going to fall out with anyone over it.
The Dreyschock Konzerstuck is a step above the other two pieces on the disk in my opinion. It has more substance to it, lovely melodies and finger busting virtuosity. Saying that, I couldn't help but feel that the performance was a little lacking in fire.
As for the Dohler, it is a little tour de force. A frolic perhaps, a Moscheles on steriods and pure fun. It cannot be judged against some of its more famous contemporary works, as it is not cut from the same cloth.
Stuffy old Schumann would have hated all three pieces on this disk, which is probably one of the reasons why I love them.
Thal
After listening to this disc again, my opinion of the Döhler is somewhat milder. Although the thematic material and the developments are rather predictable, like so many of those kinds of contemporary piano concertos, it shows some dazzling pyrotechnics in all 3 movements. I agree with you, Thal. But then Schumann said '...at last I was forced to confess that he has no idea of the real worth of art.' Typical Schumann perhaps, but unlike Thal, I am still a Schumanniac.
Look at the wonderful drawing of Döhler's face. He has a fine, fragile looks. Could be a brother of Thalberg but with Mendelssohnian hairstyle. This elegant appearance must have had many female admirers while showing his piano virtuosity in salons. ::)
The Dreyschock still did not impress me after a second listening. It is not much to my ears, neither does his piano concerto op. 137. The Konzertstück has a promising opening but did not meet my expectations, although the piece certainly has more to offer than the Salut à Vienne. Definitely works of a piano virtuoso, but lacking interesting developments and memorability. However, I have a CD Romantische Klaviermusik filled with small piano pieces, and these are all quite charming.
I was given this disk for Xmas and have just listened to it for the first time. I find the Dohler PC utterly delightful; it is no masterpiece but as light music it is sheer joy. Delicious melody, sparkling bravura - it sets out with no other purpose than to please - and what's wrong with that? - and succeeds brilliantly. The Herz PCs are much in the same category and they have a special place in my collection. How exquisitely it is played too!
I will comment, if I may, on the Dreyschock works later.