Wittgenstein commissions / Left-Hand PCs

[ewk]

Dear all,
as was suggested in the Korngold PC thread, it might be worthy to dive into the Left-Hand Piano concertos commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein.
I didn't hear many of them until (none of them in concert, to be honest). Quite some of them might be out of this board's remit, but some are quite romantic. I remember listening to the Bortkiewicz and being most impressed.

First insights can be found here: https://interlude.hk/paul-wittgenstein-lefty-concertos (but this does not mention many of the works, but highlights the interesting differentiatino between scores emulating a two-hand piano (e.g. Korngold, Ravel) and those who understand the one-handed piano as a separate instrument (Schmidt, according to this article).
Wikipedia has a list of works associated with Wittgenstein, including the commissions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_associated_with_Paul_Wittgenstein (no idea how complete this is)
A more complete analysis may be found here (doctoral dissertation): http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/10040/ as brought up by eschiss1 in the Korngold thread.

To avoid mere listing, which of these works do you know and what do you recommend to listen to and why? And, were you able to hear anything of it in concert, apart from the obvious Ravel?

(and if someone is able to compile a complete list, I am happy to include it in this first post)

Best wishes! ewk

[ewk]

... by the way, here is a short video excerpt of Wittgenstein playing a bit of the Ravel concerto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zQteXqbYas

[eschiss1]

The only one I'm sure offhand I've heard in concert is one that we do regard outside this board's remit, though the slow movement probably touches on the spirit of Romanticism and the letter of Lisztian same - Prokofiev's 4th concerto, played at Tanglewood one summer around 1988 or so when I got to go to two concerts.
A review I read in Fanfare some while back comparing the original versions of Schmidt's G major and B-flat major quintets (for piano left hand and strings, for piano left-hand, clarinet and strings) with Wührer's arrangements (for 2-hand piano and etc. - which were almost all published earlier because Wittgenstein held the originals)  pointed out some of the differences, making it very clear that Schmidt treated the piano left hand as its very own kind of instrument, with its own weightings, etc. to consider. (That Schmidt's A major quintet has a movement devoted to piano left-hand solo that, in the recently-published original version of the complete score, looks to me like a solo piano -2-hand- piece, probably just says that the pianist has to be a serious virtuoso...)

[MartinH]

I think this is a good idea for one of those budget Brilliant boxes: the Wittenstein Commissions.

[alberto]

Apart from the Ravel, I heard in actual concerts (just once) Prokofiev's Fourth and Britten's Diversions.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Here is the link to the PDF of the complete thesis mentioned above: http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/10040/1/THESIS_CORRECTIONS%20COMPLETE.pdf
The full list of works written for Wittgenstein appears in Table 1.2, beginning on p. 63.

[Jonathan]

Years ago, while trawling through the Surrey Heath Arts Library in Dorking, I came across an album of transcriptions made for Wittgenstein (they may have been by him but I can't remember).  It included a horribly difficult transcription of Wagner's Liebestod, as transcribed by Liszt but arranged for left hand only.  I borrowed the book and played through a few of the transcriptions and was very impressed by how much detail was included using only 1 hand.

[jimsemadeni]

I would like to hear Josef Labor's contributions--he was recently mentioned on here, he wrote chamber music and at least 3 Konzertstucke for "linke" hand, and maybe more. Wittgenstein turned to Labor for his first commission (not sure what resulted), Labor having been a longtime family friend as well as one of his teachers.

[chriss]

The Concertante Variationen über ein Thema von Beethoven by Schmidt are a wonderful piece and perhaps not that unsung, there are a number of recordings. The work is somewhat a predecessor of Rachmaninoff's more famous Paganini Rhapsody.

A wonderful recording was done by Ragna Schirmer with the Hamburger Symphoniker conducted by Andrey Boreyko. But it's the later version for two hands.

[brendangcarroll]

It is an interesting point to differentiate between LH works that seek to emulate 2 hands playing with those that are supposed to be presenting the left hand as a virtue in its own right, in structure and composition.

However, from the background details and surviving correspondence, it is clear to me that Wittgenstein, at least, wished those composers that he commissioned, to create works that would give the illusion of two hands playing while at the same time, showcasing his own virtuosity with the left hand. He felt robbed of the major concert career that he believed would have been his, were it not for his tragic accident.

[sdtom]

The Bridge recording is set for 3/26/2021 release in the US. I received an early copy which I am listening to now.

[sdtom]

It appears one of my posts (image too large) is missing? It had info of CD# etc.

[eschiss1]

That's been moved to the topic Recordings & Broadcasts, of course, because it concerns a Recording or a Broadcast. I thought you were referring to a recording of the Schmidt variations, given context, but I see from the photo it's the same recording we've been discussing in the new thread, so that's where it was moved by the moderators...

[Alan Howe]

It appears one of my posts (image too large) is missing? It had info of CD# etc

.

Apologies, Tom - I should have told you. I moved your post to the thread where it really belongs, i.e. that on the Korngold PC itself:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,8145.msg85385.html#msg85385

[sdtom]

sorry for any confusion from my stroke brain. Sometimes.