Unsung Composers

The Music => Composers & Music => Topic started by: Alan Howe on Tuesday 05 February 2019, 18:43

Title: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: Alan Howe on Tuesday 05 February 2019, 18:43
Information here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Goldenweiser_(composer) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Goldenweiser_(composer))

A selection of his piano music is available on Toccata Classics:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goldenweiser-Piano-Music-Vol-1/dp/B000P29AWM/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1549392132&sr=1-1&keywords=goldenweiser (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goldenweiser-Piano-Music-Vol-1/dp/B000P29AWM/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1549392132&sr=1-1&keywords=goldenweiser)
...reviewed here:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/Mar12/Goldenweiser_Piano1_TOCC0044.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/Mar12/Goldenweiser_Piano1_TOCC0044.htm)

His late (and gorgeous) Piano Trio in E minor, Op.31 (1950) is featured on this 2-CD set:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/m%C3%A9moire-dun-grand-artiste-Rachmaninoff/dp/B01L7G19BY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1549392643&sr=8-2&keywords=%C3%80+la+M%C3%A9moire+d%E2%80%99un+Grand+Artiste (https://www.amazon.co.uk/m%C3%A9moire-dun-grand-artiste-Rachmaninoff/dp/B01L7G19BY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1549392643&sr=8-2&keywords=%C3%80+la+M%C3%A9moire+d%E2%80%99un+Grand+Artiste)
...reviewed here:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Oct/Russian_trios_GEN16437.htm (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Oct/Russian_trios_GEN16437.htm)
Title: Re: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: adriano on Tuesday 05 February 2019, 19:13
Thanks, Alan!

IMSLP has various scores by Goldenweiser:
https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Goldenweiser,_Aleksandr

This CD could be recommendable:
https://www.allmusic.com/album/alexander-goldenweiser-piano-music-vol-1-mw0001428572
The article by Dave Lewis is highly informative

About that CD with Goldenweiser's Trio: Ilona is the daughter of the great pianist Erik Then-Bergh (with him there is a gorgeous recording of Furtwängler's Symphonic Piano Concerto). She and her husband Michael Schäfer are dear friends of mine; we were also in contact when they recorded Respighi's complete works for violin and piano (on 3 CDs). Michael has also recorded 3 CDs with piano solo music of Vincent d'Indy; now he is doing a series dedicated to Leonid Sabaneev (including his Trio). With Ilona he has also recorded Lazzari's and Volkmar Andreae's Violin Sonatas.... They like unsung repertoire very much!
See here:
http://www.genuin.de/de/03_k.php?k=81

The version of the Rachmaninov Trio recorded by Ilona and Michael is the original one with occasional harmonium passages in the second movement! Goldenweiser later premiered this work in its revised, today's known version.
Title: Re: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: Christopher on Tuesday 05 February 2019, 21:37
Russian-language wikipedia lists (some of) his orchestral works:

Operas: - "Feast during the Plague" (after Pushkin, 1942); "Singers" (after Turgenev, 1942-1943), "Spring Waters" (after Turgenev, 1946-1947).

Cantata:- "Light of October" (words by Y. Stremina, 1948).

For orchestra:- Overture (after Dante , 1895-97); 2 Russian suites (1946)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Гольденвейзер,_Александр_Борисович (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%80,_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80_%D0%91%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87)
Title: Re: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: eschiss1 on Wednesday 06 February 2019, 03:15
The overture may be a symphony- in any case, it's in manuscript. here (https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fimslp.org%2Fwiki%2FList_of_works_by_Aleksandr_Goldenweiser) for a needs-lots-and-lots-and-lots-of-work worklist.
Title: Re: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: Christopher on Wednesday 06 February 2019, 11:13
Why does it need lots of work?
Title: Re: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: eschiss1 on Wednesday 06 February 2019, 14:18
The IMSLP standards for Worklists generally, I think, prefer that they be mostly in English (except for some, but not all, piece titles) (with, admittedly, possibly alternates for other languages- sorry...), and conform to a certain worklist Manual of Style (https://imslp.org/wiki/Composer_Composition_Lists_Manual_of_Style), for example. None of that is true here. As it is, my link is of a Google-translated version, not the original...'

(Actually, I see that the Worklist manual of style says nothing about the basic language of the worklist. Interesting.)
Title: Re: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: semloh on Thursday 14 February 2019, 04:47
I see that YouTube provides a huge number of examples of Alexander Goldenweiser as a performer, but fewer as a composer. There's his Tale for Piano, Op.39, Sonata Fantasia, Op.37, and the Toccata Classics recording devoted to his piano works (at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UX7J7LCmt8&list=PLWRvOXgMJHdWysaljSzSAMegzXCrKsuS3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UX7J7LCmt8&list=PLWRvOXgMJHdWysaljSzSAMegzXCrKsuS3)).
Title: Re: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: Alan Howe on Friday 22 February 2019, 17:32
Goldenweiser's Piano Trio is an absolutely gorgeous lyrical outpouring; although dating from 1950, it could have been written 50 years earlier. I urge all lovers of full-blooded romantic chamber music to give it a go!
Title: Re: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: eschiss1 on Friday 22 February 2019, 18:52
It's dedicated to Rachmaninoff's memory, as noted at Gramophone (https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/%C3%A0-la-m%C3%A9moire-d%E2%80%99un-grand-artiste). (If anyone wonders, it seems to have been published in Moscow in 1956, and a copy of this is at the Herder Institut - See OCLC. (https://www.worldcat.org/title/trio-dlja-fortepiano-skripki-i-violonceli-soc-31/oclc/174231967&referer=brief_results)) SUNY Buffalo in New York, USA also has a copy.

Edit: Worldcat reveals a String Quartet (also) in E minor, Op.18 (parts @ U. Colorado Boulder) by Goldenweiser (Golʹdenveĭzer) published in 1940.
Title: Re: Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961)
Post by: Christopher on Monday 09 September 2019, 17:34
I did a sweep for other Goldenweiser works (non-commercially available) that are on youtube, and found a few:


Song without Words, Op.7 No.7 - https://youtu.be/P1smtNGwDsU (https://youtu.be/P1smtNGwDsU) (- there are a lot of recordings of this on youtube if you search in Russian - Гольденвейзер Песня без слов)

Petite Ballade, Op.4 No.3 - https://youtu.be/KGMvSS0eKto (https://youtu.be/KGMvSS0eKto)

Zimushka - https://youtu.be/tZcgGhXMXeg (https://youtu.be/tZcgGhXMXeg)

Ave Maria (for soprano and organ) - https://youtu.be/wVTqwZT6w7I (https://youtu.be/wVTqwZT6w7I)

Also, uploaded to another forum (if that's allowed...), there is - Ballade (solo piano) http://www.mediafire.com/download/ckcz775ww4jjebk/Goldenweiser_-_Ballade_op.35_no.2_(J_Powell%2C_piano%2C_live).mp3 (http://www.mediafire.com/download/ckcz775ww4jjebk/Goldenweiser_-_Ballade_op.35_no.2_(J_Powell%2C_piano%2C_live).mp3)