The Romantics in Period Performances

[milk]

I've just downloaded this. Looks interesting!

[Karl Henning]

Thread duty

This recommendation from Edward is la Tabasco vrai

[asin]B004Z34N74[/asin]

[petrarch]

There's also this, that a friend gave me as a birthday gift. Almost a decade later, I probably listened to it only once. Although I generally like period instruments, I much rather listen to the piano repertoire with a modern instrument.

Elly Ney on Beethoven's last grand piano

[Mandryka]

IS Schubert a romantic? -- anyway if not move it.

The Fantasie here is very good. I have two tests for a Schubert fantasie. The first is that the opening theme is poignant without being sentimental. The second is that the fugue in the final movement is totally free and unchained. Bilson and Levin past the first test well and, in the fugue the textures are extremely clear and revealing. The other striking thing was the nobility and "depth" they found in the largo. This goes to the top of the pile -- with Osborne and Lewis.

[Opus106]

IS Schubert a romantic?

Do you think otherwise?

[Scion7]

Schubert is very much a Romantic.  Like Brahms, classic in "form" but the spirit is very different than Classicism.

[milk]

I wondering how essential the music on this CD is? Has anyone heard the Onslow Quintet? Or the Hummel?

[Leo K.]

I wondering how essential the music on this CD is? Has anyone heard the Onslow Quintet? Or the Hummel?

As a serious and avid collector of obscure composer's music, Onslow and Hummel are about as good as you can get, for me, their chamber works are definitely essential 

That is an excellant disk by the way, it's a great way to have an example of three different excellant obscure composers in one go.

[milk]

As a serious and avid collector of obscure composer's music, Onslow and Hummel are about as good as you can get, for me, their chamber works are definitely essential 

That is an excellant disk by the way, it's a great way to have an example of three different excellant obscure composers in one go.

Great! Thanks for the input. I guess I'll pull the trigger on this. A while back, I bought Atlantis's Schumann Quartet recording with a Thalberg piano quartet.
I never gave the Thalberg much of a listen. Do you put that work on par with this? I'm just wondering if I should also be giving Thalberg more of a chance as well.

[Leo K.]

Great! Thanks for the input. I guess I'll pull the trigger on this. A while back, I bought Atlantis's Schumann Quartet recording with a Thalberg piano quartet.
I never gave the Thalberg much of a listen. Do you put that work on par with this? I'm just wondering if I should also be giving Thalberg more of a chance as well.

I haven't heard Thalberg's chamber music yet, so thanks for the heads up on that recording! Based on what I've heard of his solo piano work, I would say yes, have a listen...at least to hear a contemporary of Schumann and Chopin. Very interesting stuff 

[milk]

I haven't heard Thalberg's chamber music yet, so thanks for the heads up on that recording! Based on what I've heard of his solo piano work, I would say yes, have a listen...at least to hear a contemporary of Schumann and Chopin. Very interesting stuff 

Yeah, it's on their last Schumann release. Well great. I'll look forward to the NFQ recording.

[kishnevi]

As a serious and avid collector of obscure composer's music, Onslow and Hummel are about as good as you can get, for me, their chamber works are definitely essential 

That is an excellant disk by the way, it's a great way to have an example of three different excellant obscure composers in one go.

I'm not sure I'd call Hummel obscure.  But that CD is a very good one.

CPO has produced a series of Onslow chamber music, all of which I enjoy very much, and there is a CD of Onslow quartets on Naive by Quatour Diotoma, which is also excellent.    There's also two CDs of Onslow symphonies on CPO, if you want to explore further (although none of these recordings qualify for this thread, since they're all MI.)

[milk]

I'm not sure I'd call Hummel obscure.  But that CD is a very good one.

CPO has produced a series of Onslow chamber music, all of which I enjoy very much, and there is a CD of Onslow quartets on Naive by Quatour Diotoma, which is also excellent.    There's also two CDs of Onslow symphonies on CPO, if you want to explore further (although none of these recordings qualify for this thread, since they're all MI.)

Thanks.

[Leo K.]

I'm not sure I'd call Hummel obscure.

He isn't obscure to specialists of this period, but to the general public, I have a feeling he is 

[rickardg]

He isn't obscure to specialists of this period, but to the general public, I have a feeling he is 

When I was a kid Haydn and Hummel, as opposed to Beethoven and Brahms, were the two big composers, but I was biased---I played the trumpet... :-)

I've been mulling a disc with Hummels piano sonatas, Alexander-Max on Chandos is tempting, but the samples of Hough on Hyperion sound gorgeous, even though it's on a modern piano.

[Leo K.]

When I was a kid Haydn and Hummel, as opposed to Beethoven and Brahms, were the two big composers, but I was biased---I played the trumpet... :-)

I've been mulling a disc with Hummels piano sonatas, Alexander-Max on Chandos is tempting, but the samples of Hough on Hyperion sound gorgeous, even though it's on a modern piano.

I have the Stephen Hough recording, and it is excellant! I haven't got a fortepiano recording of Hummel's solo sonatas yet, but it's on my radar.

[Florestan]

Speaking of Hummel I can safely recommend this recording



Mathilde von Guise

Kristine Gailite • Philippe Do • Pierre-Yves Pruvot • Hjördis Thébault
Choir Alea • Solamente Naturali
Conductor: Didier Talpain

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) was one of the greatest pianist composers of the early 19th century. Taught by Salieri, Albrechstberger and Mozart, he was a close friend of Beethoven from the late 1790s until the latter's death in 1827. Hummel replaced the elderly Haydn as Kappelmeister at Eisenstadt with Haydn's approval. His influence upon Schubert, Chopin and Liszt was profound, and his A minor and B minor piano concertos (1815/19) are fine examples of the early romantic concerto rivalled only by the masterworks of Beethoven. Today however, it is probably his early (1803) trumpet concerto that he is best known for. A pity, as he was a truly well rounded, sophisticated musician, who, at his best produced many fine works that are today beginning to re-appear in the repertoire. He composed 15 operas, and none have been recorded until this release of Mathilde von Guise. Dating from 1810, and revised in 1821.

Premiered in 1811 in Vienna the opera was met with great acclaim, and in 1821 Hummel revised it for a new production, providing a 'new' overture (the earlier version's overture is included at the end of CD2) which he had extracted from his ballet Sappho of Mitilene of 1812!. The work was performed in Weimar, Berlin and Riga, then fell from the repertoire until the performances that led to this recording in Laon, France in 2008.

Hummel's score is beautiful, and is a supreme example of post Mozartian grace, allied to the modern style of Cherubini, Weber and a hint of early Rossini. It is also possible to detect how a work such as Mathilde von Guise would have appealed to Mercadante and the young Verdi. The writing for the singers is demanding, and with the composer's gift for melody and orchestration this is an important operatic recording premier.

Further information:
- World premiere recording
- Comprehensive booklet note
- Period instrument performance

[Que]

I forgot who brought up Hummel, but did anyone realize that he is not a Romantic but a composer of the Classical era? Onslow is transitional, I guess.

Q

[kishnevi]

Hummel's status brings up the question, of course, of how one actually delimits Classical v Romantic.  To me, Hummel is a transitional  figure, and Onslow part of the earlier Romantic era.   It's pertinent to bring up Schubert's dates here, since most people would think of him as being Romantic--although he was really of the generation behind Beethoven and Hummel,  he died only two years or so after Beethoven and almost a decade before Hummel, and Onslow was only a few years younger than Hummel, and died some fifteen or sixteen years after him, so he might well count as being one of Hummel's generation.

Of course Beethoven himself, I tend to think of as a transitional figure between High Classical and Early Romantic--but qualified by the fact that Beethoven was in many ways not really classifiable at all.

Edit to clarify the point:  perhaps it's more the individual composer's approach that is important, and not the dates--Hummel being more obviously Classical but with enough variation towards the Romantic to justify the tage of transitional, whereas Onslow is more obviously Romantic.

[Que]

Edit to clarify the point:  perhaps it's more the individual composer's approach that is important, and not the dates--Hummel being more obviously Classical but with enough variation towards the Romantic to justify the tage of transitional, whereas Onslow is more obviously Romantic.

That is my impression of those composers as well - Hummel a Classicist, Onslow early-Romantic. And I agree with your point that in the end the composer's development is decisive and dates are merely indicative. Beethoven started out as a Classicist, but ended his career in the Romantic idiom. IMO Schubert started out as a Romantic right from the start.

Q