Forthcoming from Toccata Classics:
Ferdinand Thieriot: Chamber Music, Volume Two
- String Quintet in G major
- Suite for Three Cellos
- Four Fantasy Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 28
- Larghetto for Viola and Organ
- 2 Adagios for Viola or Violoncello and Organ, Op. 41
The Hamburg Chamber Players
According to one works list the String Quintet dates from 1914. If so, it could be interesting to compare this with Gernsheim's equally late work (both are for string quartet plus second cello, as in Schubert's great work).
That's good news.
Yes, a very welcome release, and such an interesting and diverse selection of works. I wonder if there will be a Vol.3.
If I'm honest, I'd have preferred something more substantial to pair with the String Quintet but that's being really picky.
Anything in mind, Mark? I was thinking variety - spice of life, and all that!
Not particularly but, in addition to those already available commercially, there is another piano quartet, another piano quintet, four piano trios and a cello sonata for example.
Volume 3 will follow in 2036, funds - and customer patience - permitting. ;)
If it's really 2036 then customer life expectancy might be an issue too :-\
Or perhaps, and let us hope this will be the case, some enterprising company like CPO for example, will have recorded and released the works Mark mentions a little sooner.
Any word of planned recordings of his symphonies?
Not a dickie, I'm afraid.
Nor of his piano concertos since Covid put a stop to Hyperion's proposed recording.
Thieriot is one of the composers whose orchestral works most deserve to be recorded.
This is slated for release on 2nd February in the UK.
(https://media1.jpc.de/image/w2182/rear/0/5060113441010.jpg)
More Theriot is always good news. Thanks Alan.
First thing to say about this release: the booklet alone is worth the purchase price. It has a lengthy biography of the composer as well as the usual expert analysis of the music.
Then there's the late (1914) String Quintet in G major. It's a magnificent piece - more lyrical than Gernsheim's equally late work for the same forces (2 violins, viola, 2 cellos), but if anything plumbing greater depths, certainly in the opening movement.
Thieriot, along with Gernsheim, is one of the romantic era's most distinguished unsung composers - of that I'm more convinced than ever. What isn't clear is just how much of his music has survived; apparently, the Russians took boxes of his works to Leningrad/St Petersburg in 1946 where they were later discovered in a flooded cellar in 1983. They were returned to the Hamburg State and University Library in 1991 and catalogued in 2000 by Mathias Keitel.
This is a link to the first page of works held at Hamburg:
https://katalogplus.sub.uni-hamburg.de/vufind/Search/Results?lookfor=Thieriot&type=AllFields&searchbox=1&limit=20
Various of Thieriot's works have been published by AlbisMusic and Amadeus (Winterthur).
I don't recall anyone here ever reviewing that Gernsheim CD. I listened to the first movement of that E-flat quintet (so far) and was very impressed (though its close connection to late Brahms could be what you're referring to, for all I know...) That said, looking forward to giving the Thieriot work a try.
Hi Eric: here's a link to the (brief) thread about the Gernsheim works you mentioned:
https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,9196.msg94244.html#msg94244
A 3rd volume in 2036 :o That hardly capitalizes on any commercial success with the previous two - and some of us may not be in the land of the living by that date! :(
May I hope that's a typo for 2026, though your last statement is unfortunately still true :(
It wasn't a typo - just a projection forward from the gap between vols. 1 and 2. Put it down to the British sense of irony...
Quote from: eschiss1 on Monday 19 February 2024, 15:10I don't recall anyone here ever reviewing that Gernsheim CD. I listened to the first movement of that E-flat quintet (so far) and was very impressed (though its close connection to late Brahms could be what you're referring to, for all I know...) That said, looking forward to giving the Thieriot work a try.
Being impressed by Gernsheim (the four symphonies under Köhler to be precise) is what got me into the Unsung to begin with, and I've come across anything by him that I considered below-par. What I've heard from Thieriot elicits similar sentiments. It's be so great to have the symphonies in decent recordings.
I agree. I suspect, however, that Thieriot may turn out to be the more important composer, although at this stage that's only a guess.