Reinecke Complete Works for 2 Pianos

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from cpo:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/carl-heinrich-reinecke-saemtliche-werke-fuer-2-klaviere/hnum/11063794

[John Boyer]

Good news indeed. 

[Alan Howe]

Audio samples are now available at jpc (see link, above). They sound absolutely lovely.

[John Boyer]

My copy is already on the order. Does this perchance include the music for piano four-hands? The existing Ars recording on a HIP piano just doesn't cut it.

[Alan Howe]

I don't think so. I believe this is the music for two pianos only.

[Jonathan]

That's annoying, I placed an order with JPC last week!

[Alan Howe]

The front cover makes the contents perfectly clear.

[John Boyer]

It's here.  I've only just begun to sample it.  The sound is beautiful, but their performance of "La Belle Griselidis" is very much lacking in energy.  It drags.  Hitzlberger & Schutz, on CPO 999 106, are much better.

More than 40 minutes of the discs is devoted to two-piano arrangements of the composer's orchestral music.  This leaves a bit less than 150 minutes devoted to pure two-piano works.  The exclusion of the arrangements would have left more than enough room for the composer's music for piano 4-hands to fill out the three discs, which I think would be a more logical coupling.  Nonetheless, we have what we have.

The album does include music for piano four hands, just not all of it.  So we get all the music for two pianos, filled out by works piano duo and the aforementioned orchestral reductions.  The Op. 148 Festival Overture works quite well in this guise.  I suppose if it had been titled "Introduction and Allegro for Two Pianos" I would feel less like I am missing something. 

[John Boyer]

Having listened to the whole thing at least once and much of it twice, I can attest that it's a nice set.  Rich sound, interesting repertory, and I've even grown accustomed to the slower take on "La Belle Griselidis", though I still prefer Hitzlberger and Schutz.  In the two selections that duplicate the Ars recording (the Bach and Gluck variations) the new recording is much superior. 

[Mark Thomas]

I'm primarily interested in the three sonatas. What do you think of them, John?

[John Boyer]

I'm primarily interested in the three sonatas. What do you think of them, John?

I don't think that you will find the three sonatas to be the primary interest of the album. I will have to listen to them again, but on the first two hearings they struck me as closer to hausmusik than grand 19th century concert sonatas — or, as I must remind myself, early 20th century concert sonatas.

They are not so simple in execution as to be labeled "easy", as Reinecke does with some of his works intended solely for home consumption, but even by Reinecke's standards all three works are conceived on a modest scale, both in terms of length and difficulty of execution.

Don't let this scare you away. 

[Mark Thomas]

That's very helpful, John, thanks.