The Romantics in Period Performances

Started by Que, April 09, 2007, 07:07:54 AM

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milk

Quote from: Que on March 13, 2012, 09:49:24 PM
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
Yes I was almost going to ask whether or not I posted in the right place after I brought up Hummel. I brought him up in the context of the Nepomuk Fortepiano Quintet recordings, which contain Hummel, Onslow and Dussek. It was hard for me to know where to post. I also brought up Thalberg (on Atlantis's Schumann Quartet recording) as another lesser known composer, but he's unquestionably romantic. Anyway, I'm making my way through these composers but I keep going back to their more lauded contemporaries in an effort to evaluate what I'm listening to. So are all these lesser known composers roughly on par? Or do people here think one of them stands out as more interesting than the others? For that matter, how about Fanny's and Clara's Trios? I know these are somewhat subjective questions but I'm interested in people's opinions. I found myself enjoying Fanny's trio. And, after initially dismissing Thalberg, I find I'm able to enjoy it a bit more now.

rickardg

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on March 13, 2012, 08:03:05 PM
Hummel being more obviously Classical but with enough variation towards the Romantic to justify the tage of transitional, whereas Onslow is more obviously Romantic.

These things can be debated endlessly, but this is sums up my vague idea of it. Hummel being transitional Classicist-Romantic and thus fair game in both classical and romantic threads :-)

BTW, from the booklet in the thoroughly off-topic Hough recording

QuoteAmong his friends and acquaintances were Beethoven (the two later fell out), Cramer, Dussek, Moscheles, Weber, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin

Anyone friend with Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin is at least borderline in my book :-)

Bulldog

Quote from: milk on March 13, 2012, 10:48:03 PM
Yes I was almost going to ask whether or not I posted in the right place after I brought up Hummel. I brought him up in the context of the Nepomuk Fortepiano Quintet recordings, which contain Hummel, Onslow and Dussek. It was hard for me to know where to post. I also brought up Thalberg (on Atlantis's Schumann Quartet recording) as another lesser known composer, but he's unquestionably romantic. Anyway, I'm making my way through these composers but I keep going back to their more lauded contemporaries in an effort to evaluate what I'm listening to. So are all these lesser known composers roughly on par? Or do people here think one of them stands out as more interesting than the others?

They are on par concerning reputation, although I prefer Hummel as a melodist and think that his music flows more naturally.

Leo K.

#423

Release Date: 03/23/2010
Label:  Brilliant Classics   Catalog #: 94033   Spars Code: n/a 
Composer:  Charles Valentin Alkan
Performer:  Alan Weiss/Stanley Hoogland

Number of Discs: 3
Recorded in: Stereo
Length: 2 Hours 19 Mins.




Last night I heard disk 3 of this amazing recording of Alkan piano works, played by Stanley Hoogland on a Pleyel fortepiano from 1858 (only featured on disk 3). The haunting, mysterious quality of the music took me by surprise, as the lower registers of the fortepiano sounded so dark and bleak.

INcredible.

8)


Que

A novelty: a Brahms piano concerto on period instruments:) The added review from all music reflects other comments I've seen: the abilities of the orchestra fall short.

[asin]B005DZIMDO[/asin]

QuoteReview by Mike D. Brownell

As much a symphony as it is a concerto, Brahms' First Piano Concerto suffered an understandable identity crisis early in its creation. The work began its existence as a sonata for two pianos, then a symphony, and finally in its present guise as a piano concerto. Not surprisingly, the concerto features a densely orchestrated, powerful accompaniment that can present formidable balance issues. To give the solo line the best possible chance of being heard over the orchestra, this MDG Live disc, featuring pianist Hardy Rittner, employs an 1854 Erard piano, an instrument with which Brahms would have been familiar and even preferred on some occasions for its power and clarity of tone. The orchestra, l'arte del mondo, also uses period instruments to give listeners the best possible idea of what a performance during Brahms' lifetime might have been like. The result is indeed remarkably clear and well-balanced. Rittner's nimble playing on the Erard piano is muscular yet sensitive, and produces a bright but pleasing tone across its range. Likewise, the orchestra's sound is rich and assertive without drowning out the piano. What falls a bit short is cohesiveness within the orchestra. During the many extensive orchestral tuttis, attacks between sections are not always precisely unison, and there's a tendency for the orchestra as a whole to drag. At a mere 50 minutes of music, this is a very lean disc that could certainly have given listeners more exposure to the Erard with some additional solo works.

Q

Que

Another new Romantic HIPie I spotted:  :)

[asin]B006T27O70[/asin]

Q

milk

Quote from: Que on April 20, 2012, 11:12:09 PM
Another new Romantic HIPie I spotted:  :)

[asin]B006T27O70[/asin]

Q
This looks interesting. I want to check this out. I have the one by the Glasers - which I think uses a period piano and a modern cello.
I hadn't been able to find a fully HIP performance of these works. 

Antoine Marchand

Quote from: Que on April 20, 2012, 11:12:09 PM
Another new Romantic HIPie I spotted:  :)

[asin]B006T27O70[/asin]

Q

It looks very promising, indeed:

http://www.youtube.com/v/4SUy-n0bvts


milk

I find it curious that there seems to be many period performances of Schumann's first and third piano trios but none of the second. Why is this?

Sammy

Quote from: milk on June 22, 2012, 02:53:10 AM
I find it curious that there seems to be many period performances of Schumann's first and third piano trios but none of the second. Why is this?

Are you sure?  I don't recall many period recordings of any of the piano trios.

milk

#430
Quote from: Sammy on June 22, 2012, 12:15:10 PM
Are you sure?  I don't recall many period recordings of any of the piano trios.


I don't have the Voces Intimae. I wonder why number two is avoided. Is it inferior?

milk


I don't have many Dvorak recordings. Here Mr. Braley used a period Steinway. This is my first contact with Dvorak's Bagatelles. So far I find them (scored for Two violins, cello and harmonium) to be a real unexpected joy.

Sammy

Quote from: milk on September 21, 2012, 03:02:54 AM

I don't have many Dvorak recordings. Here Mr. Braley used a period Steinway. This is my first contact with Dvorak's Bagatelles. So far I find them (scored for Two violins, cello and harmonium) to be a real unexpected joy.

That's a very fine disc.  Lately, I've been loving Harmonia Mundi releases.

DavidRoss

I've a question for the music historians on our site:

When did playing with constant vibrato become standard practice?

"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

DavidRoss

Quote from: Sammy on September 21, 2012, 08:07:11 AM
Lately, I've been loving Harmonia Mundi releases.
Gives me the warm fuzzies all over!
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Opus106

Quote from: DavidRoss on September 21, 2012, 09:24:01 AM
I've a question for the music historians on our site:

When did playing with constant vibrato become standard practice?

It's been a while since this thread topped the charts, so it's high time that it comes back up. 8)
Regards,
Navneeth

Wakefield

This afternoon I recalled this excellent CD:


Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946
Valses Nobles, D.969
Moments Musicaux, D. 780

http://www.divine-art.com/CD/athcd7info.htm

I think these words of Peter Katin (from the booklet) have some interest, as he was 65 years old when documented in 1995 his then recent attraction for period pianos:

QuoteOne of the most interesting things I have done is to perform certain works, that I have previously associated with a modern piano, on an instrument originating from nearer the lifetime of the composer. Preparing the recording of five Clementi sonatas (ATH CD4) brought few surprises, simply because I had never performed any Clementi. The real surprise was in finding that what I thought of as not very effective when played on a modern grand, took on a totally different character when I selected them by playing through several on a Clementi square piano of 1832. Working on the Schubert Impromptus (ATH CD5) involved me in the business of forgetting that I had played them for years on a modern piano, because the phrasing, pedaling, and even to an extent the fingering, had to be re-thought if it was to be effective on a perio instrument. I also proved to me that the square piano is not an outmoded version of what we are used to these days; it is an instrument in its own right, not "developed" by anything modern, but replaced by the upright piano as we know it, mainly for the consideration of design, which made the extension of the basic six-octave square piano impractical. We must be grateful that there are restorers who can bring these instruments back to (as near as we can judge) their original sound.

The restorer of the instrument used in this recording was Andrew Lancaster, who also writes in the booklet:

QuoteThe square piano used on this disc was made by the firm Clementi & Coo. C. 1832 and is a highly developed, sophisticated instrument of six octaves... The modern piano is very much a more standardized instrument. While there is some variation in tonal character between pianos such as Steinway, Bössendorfer and Bechstein, the difference is considerably less than that found between the "rival makers" of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

:)
"One of the greatest misfortunes of honest people is that they are cowards. They complain, keep quiet, dine and forget."
-- Voltaire

Que

New! :)



http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Franz-Liszt-1811-1886-Prometheus/hnum/2782774

And what's even more interesting: this is already volume 5 !! :o

Information about the rest of the series HERE

Q

Brian

Ronald Brautigam brings us Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words on a McNulty replica of an 1830 Pleyel. Listen to clips from Volume 1 or gaze on the cover art:


milk

Quote from: Brian on November 03, 2012, 12:14:21 PM
Ronald Brautigam brings us Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words on a McNulty replica of an 1830 Pleyel. Listen to clips from Volume 1 or gaze on the cover art:


Thanks. I think I will pre-order it.