This German/Dutch composer has a website www.juliusrontgen.nl (http://www.juliusrontgen.nl) which is unfortunately (not for me...) in Dutch. If you go to 'Discografie' (Discography), and then to the red horizontal bar 'Soloconcerten' (Solo Concertos), you will see that 3 (out of 7) Piano Concertos are available on CD. No. 2 in D major, op. 18 and 'Two Piano Concertos (1929-1930)'. These could be No. 5 in E major (1929) or No. 6 in E minor (1929) and No. 7 in C major (1930) and are performed by Folke Nauta at the piano and the Orchestra of the East (het Orkest van het Oosten) under Jurjen Hempel. This CD (or these CD's) is (are) obtainable per e-mail through the Family Society Julius Röntgen. Obviously it's not a commercial recording. I don't have it yet, but will try to get a copy.
Another disc with Röntgen's Piano Concertos No. 2 (op. 18) and No. 4 (in F major, 1906) is (or will be) released by cpo, see here (http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/J-Rontgen-Piano-Concertos-No-2-4/hnum/4986076)
Does anybody aleady have any of these CD's? If so, what is your opinion?
Any comments on the CD with the 3 Cello Concertos? And the only recorded Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor by Rachin Wenk-Wolff?
All Röntgen's concertos make for rewarding listening. My own favourites are the Violin Concerto, which is a fine example of the heroic romantic violin concerto and the three Cello Concertos, which are very tuneful pieces, written on a rather smaller scale. I find that I have to work harder with the three Piano Concertos, they don't seem to me to be as lyrical or melodically memorable as the other four we presently have available but, like all Röntgen's music, they are very well put together.
Good news about the cop release.
The CD of the three PCs was a commercial recording - on the Donemus/Composer's Voice label. It appears now to be out of print, unfortunately.
I have heard these works archived online on concertzender.nl . They are very good, I think, and I look forward to the cpo recording (they have done very well by Röntgen so far.)
Eric
I have the CD of the 3 piano concertos, bought when it was released under the Donemus label. They are D major (Op. 18) and the 2 concerti of 1929-30 in E minor and C major respectively. I find them very rewarding. The last 2 in particular are quite contrapuntal and there is an almost Bachian feel about some of the music.
I am very much looking forward to the CPO release.
I believe the early (1873 G minor) PC may be lost and one of the other PCs exists only in a two-piano score - the E major, I think. Perhaps someone could confirm, or deny, my understanding here. I know there is some reason why only 5 of the 7 concerti can be performed. I believe the 2 being recorded by CPO are 1887 (D minor) and 1906 (F major), so 3 & 4 actually. If anyone knows differently, please correct me.
cpo are apparently releasing PCs 2 & 4 (see New Recordings).
There is something strange with the numbering of his Piano Concertos.
Looking at the family website www.juliusrontgen.nl and Wikipedia (in Dutch) we find:
Year juliusrontgen.nl / Wikipedia.nl
1873 Konzert g-moll [G minor] / No. 1 in G minor
1879 Konzert D-dur [D major] op 18 / No. 2 in D major, op. 18
1887 Konzert d-moll [D minor] / No. 3 in D minor
1906 Konzert F-dur [F major] / No. 4 in F major
1929 Konzert E-dur [E major] / No. 5 in E major
1929/30 Zwei Konzerte Nr. 1 e-moll [E minor] und Nr. 2 C-dur [C major] / No. 6 in E minor (1929) and No. 7 in C major (1930)
I see that Amazon advertises one CD with Röntgen's PCs, but it comes at $22 for a used copy.
cpo are apparently releasing PCs 2 & 4 (see New Recordings).
I know what the site says, but, as Peter points out, the numbering may be misleading. Rontgen himself did not give numbers to his PCs, so until we know the keys it's not absolutely certain. In the projected survey of Rontgen's orchestral music by CPO (is that still going on, I wonder?) Kirschnereit and David Porcelijn were scheduled to record PCs "3 & 4".
Donemus used to have a Rontgen page with a link to a PDF with a very lengthy (43 pages) and detailed worklist, which seemed to be, if not better (how can I tell?), certainly longer and more filled with unpublished works etc. :) than anything I had found on other sites. It is now gone from the revised donemus.nl site, and I don't know if they've moved it or if it's just gone (searches of various kinds turn up nothing). I'll go see if I have a copy on my hard drive (or if it was wiped the last time my hard drive was- er... erg.) - ah yes, I still have it...
the piano concertos listed on the PDF rescued from the Donemus page are :
1873 concerto in G minor (no.1)
1879 concerto in D major op.18 (no.2)
1887 concerto in D minor (no.3)
1906 concerto in F major (no.4)
1929 concerto in E major (no.5)
1929-1930 concertos in E minor and C major dedicated to Donald Francis Tovey (nos. 6 and 7)
(the ones I've heard are nos. 2, 6 and 7.)
Eric
You are right, Gareth. The coupling now announced by cpo is certainly not as originally planned (the couplings were to have been: (a) 2 & 6/7; (b) 3 & 4.) Curious.
What I do know is that cpo had no plans to record PC1 (it's a juvenile work) and that PC5 was never orchestrated.
Thank you for that clarification, Alan. I thought it was the E major (No. 5) which existed only in 2-piano score. The date of No. 1 would indicate it's being a student work. Given that the Donemus CD contains 2, 6 & 7, it would make sense for CPO to record 3 & 4. However, we shall just have to wait and see, I suppose.
I'm assuming from the information I received a few years back from a member of the team involved in the cpo Röntgen series that five PCs will be released, i.e. 2,3,4,6 and 7. So the question is: does the CD announced at jpc actually contain PCs 2 and 4? I assume that it does and that thereby cpo will avoid replicating the Donemus coupling.
In 2000 the grandson of Julius Röntgen, also named Julius (b. 1945), gave a lecture in the WTC in Rotterdam, which is published (in English) on the internet. See here (http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xWkV5N8XxqsJ:home.wirehub.nl/~jrontgen/ronten02.htm+cpo+rontgen+piano+concertos&cd=1&hl=nl&ct=clnk&gl=nl)
The two short Piano Concertos [of 1929-30] are mentioned:
Two years before his death in September 1932 he received a honorary doctorate at Edinburgh University. The British musicologist Donald F. Tovey invited him on this occasion to come to Scotland. Especially for this occasion Röntgen composed two short piano-concertos, which have been recently [1997] published on CD on the occasion of the fiftieth jubilee of the Society for Dutch music "Donemus".
PCs 2, 6 and 7 were indeed published on Donemus CV64.
I have acquired the Donemus CD (1997) with the D major concerto, op. 18. What a delightful, grandiose piano concerto. It's just astonishing. The piano is in complete balance with the orchestra. The 32 minutes lasting three movement concerto features beautiful, subtle dialogues between the piano and orchestra. What an amazing work, really. The whole atmosphere is very reminiscent of Brahms's PC2. But... Brahms's 2nd dates from 1881 and Röntgens masterpiece from 1879.
Now I understand more about the Zwei Konzerte für Klavier und Orchester (1929-30). Konzert I (16:10) is a one movement concerto, followed by Konzert II in three movements (6:13, 5:13 and 7:05). It is as if you listen to a beautiful concerto in four complementary movements. The opening bars could have been written by Franck.
I can very warmly recommend this CD, which is maybe more difficult to acquire, but the searching and money is absolutely worth while!
Julius Röntgen has impressed me again. My find of last year was his PC op. 18, a few months ago I got overwhelmed by 3 of his beautiful VCs (on cpo) and recently his Complete Cello Concertos (on Etcetera). Just beautiful, especially the First. There are a few very Brahmsian passages. The usage of wind instruments in the second movement reminds me of Raff.
What is it that makes Röntgen so special to me? His well-crafted compositions? The (late) romantic atmosphere he creates? I suppose it must be the melody of his works.
I have his symphonies (that is to say the few which are released so far), but nothing of his chamber music yet. Who knows what a hidden treasures there are.
Röntgen can be considered as a Dutch composer, although he was German. His music is seriously neglected by the Dutch classical radio station Radio4.
I have promoted Röntgen to my favorite unsung composers. The family names of the other three also start with an R.
Just an addition. It concerns the PCs 6&7. Röntgen said that these two concertos are a unit: Das Erste – mehr eine Phantasie – bereitet das Zweite vor. (Gaudeamus, p.270).
Yet the 6th and 7th concertos are different in style and there are no thematic connections between them. They work well as two self-contained works. ( I reviewed the disc on Amazon.co.uk a while ago.) I wonder if Rontgen thought there was more a chance of performance of these two short concertos (which together last as long as the average concerto) if he suggested they belong together.
That's a very interesting assumption, Revilod. Röntgen was in March 1930 still in Edinburgh when he received a message from Dr Curt Rudolf Mengelberg, director of the Concertgebouw Orchestra and a second cousin of conductor Willem Mengelberg. Röntgen was offered a celebration in honour of his 75th birthday (9 May) and honorary degree at Edinburgh (27 March), to be held in the Concertgebouw on 10 April.
Willem Mengelberg wanted to conduct a piano concerto composed by Röntgen, but then Röntgen should send Mengelberg immediately a complete score. Mengelberg wanted a beautiful, grand concert. And now it comes, Revilod. Röntgen send his two short PCs 6&7, one and a half week earlier premiered at Edinburgh. Mengelberg wanted another work, but Röntgen made a firm stand because he said that the two concertos form a unit (see my earlier post and quote). Mengelberg agreed...
(Gaudeamus, p.269-270).
Are these the two dedicated to Tovey?
Yes indeed, Eric.