More Ries from Naxos

[Peter1953]

Recently Vol. 4 of Ries' PCs has been released by Naxos. See Piano Concertos

Also Vol. 3 of Ries' Piano Sonatas by Susan Kagan is available on Naxos since some time, see Piano Sonatas

[Delicious Manager]

I'm sincerely hoping these releases might form some kind of revival of Ries's music. He seems like the natural link between Beethoven and Chopin to my ears. Here's hoping...

[eschiss1]

I'm sincerely hoping these releases might form some kind of revival of Ries's music. He seems like the natural link between Beethoven and Chopin to my ears. Here's hoping...

Agreed, have been enjoying a good deal of his music lately and hearing a lot more of it than I could have guessed when I first started seeing and skimming his scores. (Saw the Garland Publishing edition of his syms. 1, 2, and 7 - misnumbered- a couple of decades ago; thanks to cpo and Howard Griffiths etc. have now heard them and most of the others, most recently, no. 7 in A minor on TV (!).

The Telefunken LP of the A major/minor cello sonata (op.21?) gave it a good deal of conviction and enjoyability- I kept being put in mind of Beethoven op.69 though in only the best ways; I hope more recent recordings (in general where appropriate but of that work in particular, I mean) have some of that conviction, for it did sound like a great piece under those performers.
Eric

[Alan Howe]

Ries'symphonies are very obviously indebted to Beethoven - but are no less enjoyable for that. The piano concertos are more varied, I find: there is the same influence, but, as with Hummel, there is definitely the feeling of Chopin lurking somewhere in the near future. Ries is certainly a major unsung and cpo and Naxos are doing him proud at the moment.

[Alan Howe]

As a  postscript, I would say that the Concerto Pastoral on the latest Naxos CD is one Ries' grandest and most consistent inspirations; there is, for example, some wonderfully evocative - and also exciting - writing for horns and the piano part is by turns scintillating and gently reflective. This could easily enter the regular repertoire...

[JimL]

I find his solo/tutti writing to be miles behind Beethoven, and his themes far less memorable than Hummel, or even Herz.  But I'll probably pick this one up, too.

[TerraEpon]

Well, considering he was Beethoven's assistant and student, is it REALLY that surprising?

[Alan Howe]

All of Ries' PCs are choc full of memorable material - I'm listening to the PC in C sharp minor, Op.55 (Naxos again) from 1812 and, while it isn't Beethoven, its themes stay obstinately in the memory. And perhaps it's not so far behind Beethoven after all....

[chill319]

Ries had the great good fortune -- or perhaps misfortune -- to be close to Beethoven during precisely those years when Beethoven found his own inimitable voice, the years between the first symphony and the third. That Ries "got" Beethoven's achievement from the get-go was irksome to the older composer, himself still up and coming, and who, as we all know, complained about Ries's borrowing from the still developing stylebook.

There can be no doubt that Beethoven's noble and tuneful idealism left a deep imprint on Ries's creations. Yet I find it hard to justify the extent to which this complaint has weighed on Reis over the past two centuries. (Was there ever a composer who did not begin with [from the Renaissance perspective] a healthy imitatio?) As Alan says, Ries at his best writes at not so great a distance from Beethoven.

A side word about Susan Kagan: I had the luck to work with her on an edition of Archduke Rudolph, which she also recorded for Koch, accompanying the estimable Josef Suk. Rudolph's work is hardly pastiche, but like Ries, Czerny, and others, clearly born in the shadow of Beethoven's achievement. Ms. Kagan has a particular affinity for the very gifted composers who have been measured almost exclusively against their Olympian mentor, and I would recommend her Ries sonatas to all.

[eschiss1]

Ries had the great good fortune -- or perhaps misfortune -- to be close to Beethoven during precisely those years when Beethoven found his own inimitable voice, the years between the first symphony and the third. That Ries "got" Beethoven's achievement from the get-go was irksome to the older composer, himself still up and coming, and who, as we all know, complained about Ries's borrowing from the still developing stylebook.

There can be no doubt that Beethoven's noble and tuneful idealism left a deep imprint on Ries's creations. Yet I find it hard to justify the extent to which this complaint has weighed on Reis over the past two centuries. (Was there ever a composer who did not begin with [from the Renaissance perspective] a healthy imitatio?) As Alan says, Ries at his best writes at not so great a distance from Beethoven.

A side word about Susan Kagan: I had the luck to work with her on an edition of Archduke Rudolph, which she also recorded for Koch, accompanying the estimable Josef Suk. Rudolph's work is hardly pastiche, but like Ries, Czerny, and others, clearly born in the shadow of Beethoven's achievement. Ms. Kagan has a particular affinity for the very gifted composers who have been measured almost exclusively against their Olympian mentor, and I would recommend her Ries sonatas to all.

There's a preface by Kagan to an English translation to the Franz Wegeler/Ferdinand Ries "Beethoven remembered : the biographical notes of Franz Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries" (the translation pub. by Great Ocean Publishers in 1987. For such an important Beethoven resource, it has very little circulation- as Kagan writes in her preface, if one didn't know German one had to get a translation of this excellent pair of personal reminiscences by two close friends of the composers commissioned.  The Ries section especially is filled with some interesting historical detail and is probably the origin of such stories- whether ultimately accurate or not, they've entered Beethoven myth since then- as that of Ries' ears being boxed when he pointed out the early horn entry in the Eroica. But less famous too, like the time he asked Ries to stop presses on the Hammerklavier, because he wanted to insert two bars - the two bars right at the opening of the slow movement, not finalized or inserted until the work was actually at the publisher's. )
Eric

[Peter1953]

BTW, the Violin Concerto and Double Horn Concerto on cpo are also delightful works. I think even Jim will like it 

[jonfrohnen]

I can't get enough of the Ries variations on Rules Britannia

[Peter1953]

Vol. 4 of the Piano Sonatas played by Susan Kagan is announced, please view here . I think a must-buy, because the other three volumes are most delightful.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Indeed! I received my copy last week. Truly delightful, well played (and recorded) music. None of those charming sonatinas this time, but two quite extended sonatas - Op 9/1 in D major, and right at the end of Ries' life Op 141 in A flat major. Hats off to Naxos for this wonderful series, eh?

Peter

[edurban]

Got my copy of Vol. 4 yesterday, and what a delight.  Even if there are no traits in these pieces that inspire you to cries of "unmistakably Ries, I'd know his stuff anywhere," the evidence of an cultured and often inspired musical mind is everywhere.  Really one of the most interesting minor Romantics I can think of.  Hope there's more on the way.

David