Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916)
Piano Concerto in C minor, Op.16 (1868)
Zu einem Drama, Op.82 (1902)
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.78 (ca 1903?)
Alexander Hülshoff (cello), Oliver Triendl (piano), Philharmonisches Straatsorcherster Mainz / Hermann Bäumer.
rec. 2017, Kurfürstliches Schloss, Mainz, Germany
cpo 555 152-2 [65]
I’ve been a fan of the music of Gernsheim for years; my first exposure to his music came when I borrowed a double CD of his four symphonies from my then local library over 20 years ago. Since then, I have collected as many of his works on CD as I could. Fortunately, the enterprising CPO label has now released this one to add to my collection. This disc includes what I believe is the first recording of the Piano Concerto. The tone poem Zu einem Drama appeared on a Sterling disc in 2012 (CDS1096), while the Cello Concerto was included on Hyperion’s delightful disc “The Romantic Cello Concerto, Vol. 2” (review).
The present disc opens with the Piano Concerto in C minor, dating from 1868; this was Gernsheim’s largest work at that time. The first movement starts quietly in the strings before the piano enters and thereafter takes central stage. The piano part itself is challenging; however, the excellent and always reliable Oliver Triendl has no difficulties. This first movement, a rather splendidly constructed Allegro, is full of memorable themes and is cleverly put together. It also seems to remain cheerful in nature, despite the minor key. There is plenty of interest here and, despite the piano being central stage, the orchestra has plenty of skilfully written music to support the solo instrument. The music itself is, as I said, memorable as the themes are dexterously woven together and developed. There are similarities here to both Schumann and Brahms; however, Gernsheim does his own thing. Particularly interesting is the point towards the end of the movement where the orchestra and soloist interlink a powerful march-like theme and play it back to one another in preparation for a suitably virtuosic and dark conclusion.
The following Larghetto again begins with the strings and a rather questing theme which hints at underlying tension but slowly grows more relaxed. The piano does not enter until over two minutes into the movement and does so with a rather attractive theme that the notes describe as ‘Barcarolle’ like. There is some excellent playing by the strings here, accompanying the pianist as he negotiates the attractive main theme. Gernsheim clearly knew very well how to write for piano and orchestra as this movement is perfect. It’s almost a shame that it’s not longer as the themes will linger in your head long after the disc has ended. The movement doesn’t remain peaceful throughout though; there are surges of power which make for a good contrast to the quieter interludes. After the last of these, leading to the ending, there is some very delicate and gorgeous pianissimo playing from Triendl. The finale is a boisterous Rondo Allegro. The opening, which reminds me again of Brahms at his most energetic, is a striving and powerful theme that reoccurs throughout the movement. The orchestral part is no less powerful and provides an excellent foil for the piano. The soloist again has plenty to do; there are lots of runs, leaps, trills and assorted virtuoso passages. Things calm down after about a minute and a half with a more restrained theme which bounces along cheerfully; here, the strings take the lead, supported by the piano. The battle between these themes continues for a couple of minutes, with the piano winding sinuously between the orchestra and cleverly reconnecting with the opening theme in a very Brahmsian way. Around half way through the movement, we have a further development of the opening theme which leads to a blazing statement for full orchestra and a quasi cadenza-like passage which leads to another statement of the main theme and then, unexpectedly, an actual cadenza. The ending, when it arrives shortly after, is very powerful and virtuosic. Whatever the likenesses to Brahms’ (or Schumann’s) writing, particularly in this movement, it is a superb, interesting and clever conclusion to a magnificent and entirely neglected piano concerto. I am unable to fathom why this piece is not better known and not performed in public – it’s packed with great tunes and is certainly a concerto that I will be listening to often.
Zu einem Drama is a tone poem dating from much later in Gernsheim’s life (roughly contemporaneously with the cello concerto that rounds off this disc). The piece opens with a tune that acts as a sort of introduction to the work, almost like a “once upon a time” motif. This doesn’t persist for long and the music weaves its way along elegantly. There isn’t a specific programme to the work, the notes suggest this is up to the listener to decide. This opening movement is set partly in C minor (for the more aggressive and dramatic passages) but interleaved with more melodious and peaceful music. The overall feeling is one of striving, as if trying to perform some great feat. It is written in freely constructed sonata form so you can follow the themes as they reoccur. There are instances of very Brahmsian writing throughout the work although perhaps tending more towards later Brahms, for example, as heard in the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, Op.102. This movement slowly winds down to a rather wonderful passage in the woodwinds (around 6:30) which provides one last chance for the sinister opening theme to occur. This part of the work ends quietly. The following Andante amoroso e molto sostenuto quasi Adagio is beautifully orchestrated and full of sumptuous writing for the whole orchestra. There are some pretty themes here; I’m slightly reminded of early Richard Strauss although this piece dates from far later than that. The woodwinds again play a major part in this section of the work, Gernsheim obviously liked writing for them. There isn’t a specific structure to this movement either, it just meanders along and merges into the finale – an Allegro moderato that starts innocuously enough before going ballistic! There are loud fanfares from the brass, surging strings and some brilliant writing for all concerned. Brahms is again the main influence and some of the string writing is similar to that from his First symphony. This movement rounds off the piece neatly by repeating themes from the first movement but interleaved with quotes from the middle movement and developing this material further. After this development section, a more lyrical section appears but it is soon interrupted and the work concludes noisily and rambunctiously. If you like powerful orchestral music (which I do), this is perfect. Throughout, the orchestra play with commitment and power and make you wonder why such a super work has been so neglected for so long.
The last piece on the disc is the short and rather splendid Cello Concerto. The first movement is an Allegro non troppo that is to split into two sections; the opening that starts with a slightly mysterious theme before settling into something more cheerful and, from then on, the whole atmosphere of the work is one of joy. This opening theme reminds me more of Schumann; however, later on, the writing is once again reminiscent of Brahms. It’s a compact first movement, more of a free fantasy than a traditionally structured concerto and there are some lovely tunes along the way. The writing for both the cello and the orchestra is perfect and the integration of the solo instrument into the orchestral texture is extremely well handled. The second movement is a rather wistful Larghetto, I particularly like the main singing theme that begins this short movement. This movement weaves along beautifully and, as before, the cello has an interesting dialogue with the whole orchestra. This movement proceeds nicely along with few outbursts before leading into the finale. This is marked Vivo e con fuoco and, after the short orchestral opening, turns into a real virtuoso showpiece for Hülshoff. This frantic music doesn’t last long before a really truly marvellous melody (less than a minute in) grows out of the opening scurrying theme. There are some impressive pyrotechnics from the cello in the form of more scurrying themes, occurring at various points through the movement but the overall atmosphere is one of happiness. The cadenza in the middle of the movement is interesting and you can almost feel the music trying to get to the next theme. After the cadenza, the full forces join together for a mostly merry couple of minutes which serve as the conclusion to the piece. There is outstanding interplay between the cello and orchestra throughout the whole concerto and an overall cheery mood pervades the whole work. Interestingly, the Hyperion recording I mentioned earlier (with the marvellous Alban Gerhardt as soloist) take less than 14 minutes to play the concerto; however here, Hülshoff takes a statelier 17:31’. The differences in playing time are spread across all three movements but I feel that the work could be interpreted either way, both sets of speeds are valid and work as well as each other.
Overall, this is a wonderful disc, with lots of unjustly neglected music, superbly played by all concerned – Triendl in the Piano Concerto is especially worthy of mention. The recording quality is well up to the usual cpo standards and the music is well captured with a nice acoustic. The cover notes are well written and interesting and provide some very useful information about this obscure composer. This is a brilliant disc containing much music of interest and I wholeheartedly recommend it to those with an interest in obscure 19th century music.
Jonathan Welsh
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