Adolf von Henselt (1814-1889)
Complete Piano Études
12 Études caractéristiques Op.2 (1837-1838)
12 Études de Salon Op.5 (1838)
Étude in A minor (1876)
La Gondola, Étude Op.13 No.2 (1841)
Marcel Tadokoro (piano)
rec. 2024, Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK
Naxos 8.574704 [73]

Adolf von Henselt was a virtuoso pianist and also a composer, though his output was small, and he gave up composition altogether at the age of thirty. He had a prodigious technique which impressed even Liszt. He was particularly admired for his cantabile playing. For many years he was based in St Petersburg where he strongly influenced the Russian school of pianism.

His best known work is the Piano Concerto in F minor, and after that it is these two sets of études, Op. 2 and Op. 5. The two sets cover all twenty four major and minor keys, as do Chopin’s two sets Op. 10 and Op. 25, though not systematically, Like Chopin’s, these are technical studies which are also real compositions. Henselt gave most of them descriptive titles. He was clearly influenced by Chopin’s first set – not by the second, which was not published until 1837 – and I have noted a number of his being almost Chopinesque pastiche in their texture, such as Op. 2 No. 6 and Op. 5 Nos. 7 and 9.  I also fancied I heard the influence of Liszt, in, for example Op. 2 No. 2, or Op. 2 No. 11 ,which sound like the Suisse pieces in the Années de pèlerinage, but it can’t be influenced by that as even the first version, the Album d’un voyageur, was published after the Henselt études. Maybe Henselt heard Liszt play.

Some of these études are, as one would erxpect, studies in speed and strength, such as the stormy Op. 2 Nos 5 and 8, and some involve a great deal of finger dexterity in the right hand, such as Op. 2 Nos. 6 and 10 or Op. 5 No 8. But Henselt is particularly fond of a texture in which a long-limbed melody floats above elaborate accompanying figures, such as Op. 2 No. 3 or Op. 5 No. 6. Once, in Op. 5 No,. 2, he features fast repeated notes, and the immediately following study, Op.l 5 No. 3, has very rapid chording. However, these textures are exceptional for him.

In addition we have the single Étude in A minor, published in 1876 but, I suspect, written years earlier. This is fast, complex and light, in a rather Mendelssohnian way.

Finally we have La Gondola, a rather Lisztian barcarolle. This would appear to be the only piece actually called an étude from Henselt’s Ten pieces Op 13.

About the musical value of these Études I find it hard to be sure. Some, such as Rachmaninov, have thought that they were equal to that of the better known studies by Chopin and Liszt. Certainly the best of them are, and they are all worth hearing.

Marcel Tadokoro is a Japanese pianist who has won prizes and has a flourishing career. This would appear to be his debut recording and it is an auspicious one: he has the technique to make these demanding works real pieces of music and he commands the attractive cantabile which is very necessary in many of them. The recording is good and sleevenote packs in a great deal in a small space.

However, he has rivals: the standard version of these studies is probably still the 2004 one by Piers Lane on Hyperion (review). More recent is that by Daniel Greenwood on Edition Peters, who prefaces each étude with Henselt’s Préambule or prelude. This has not been reviewed on MWI but has been warmly received elsewhere. I have not heard either of these, but I can say that if you choose Tadokoro youi will not be disappointed.

Stephen Barber

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