Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss Husum 2024
rec. live, 17-24 August 2024, Schloss Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Danacord DACOCD989 [79]

Once again it is time to review a selection from the latest Festival of Piano Music held at the Schloss Husum. The advertising information explains that this anthology of Rarities contains a “large number of short pieces by fourteen different composers”. The producers have assembled these excerpts from the week’s concerts into a satisfying exploration of the vast and varied repertoire.

The recital gets off to an imaginative start with Ilmari Hannikainen’s Conversation, the third movement of his Impressions, op.11b, played by Severin von Eckardstein. The piece is tonal, suitably pianistic, and quite simply delightful. Hannikainen was a Finnish composer and pianist. After study in Vienna and St. Petersburg, he taught at the Sibelius Academy. His catalogue includes chamber music, a piano concerto and film scores. Stylistically, he sits on the cusp between Romanticism and Impressionism.

Nikolai Medtner’s Romantic Sketches, op.54 are subtitled “For the Young”, but there is nothing here that the tyro can approach with any ease. Eckardstein performs the final two sketches, Hymn and The Beggar. The former is a serene (but not easy) exposition of a charming tune, suggesting a gentle shower. The latter provides a constantly changing pattern of rhythms that portrays the mendicant’s troubled life on the streets.

Alfonso Soldano, Italian concert pianist and professor of music, plays two Nocturnes by two forgotten composers, at least in the United Kingdom.Albert Bertelin’s Nocturne in F sharp minor is the third of a set of three pieces, including a Ballade and a Barcarolle. The Nocturne is more rhapsodic and dramatic than the genre would normally suggest. Although it opens and closes quietly, there are several sections including a considerable peroration.

Ukrainian Viktor Kosenko’s Nocturne in F sharp minor, op.9 No.3 is more traditional in scope. This romantic piece unfolds with a gentle melancholy, sometimes reflective, occasionally yearning in mood. Listeners will detect the influence of Scriabin, alongside a small infusion of local folk music. This is one of the comeliest tracks on this album.

Edvard Grieg needs no introduction, but his Improvisations on two Norwegian Folk-Songs, op.29 are not among his more popular works. The liner notes explain that these were mined from a collection of traditional melodies compiled by the organist Ludwig Lindeman (1812-1887). Grieg has redrafted these tunes through the prism of Romanticism. The character is one of strong unpredictable contrasts – from the playful to the deeply brooding and from lyrical to stormy drama. The Norwegian pianist Christian Grøvlen gives a satisfying performance of this striking work. It deserves to be better known.

The liner notes explain that Rued Langgaard’s Stambogsblad (Album Leaf) BVN 38 was completed when the Dane was only sixteen years old. He dedicated it to his patron Louise Augustinus as a birthday gift in 1909. Langgaard must have been listening to Richard Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll when he knocked out this piece. This miniature is gets a commanding performance by Dresden-born Matthias Kirschnereit.

The legendary pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky is nowadays recalled for his reworking of Chopin’s Études, which souped them up into even more difficult contortions. One of his original works, the Java Suite, is a massive twelve-movement piano cycle inspired by his travels through Indonesia whilst on a tour of East Asia. Patrick Hemmerlé gave a couple of extracts from the Java Suite an airing at the festival. Three Dances (No.7), according to Godowsky, reflect the languor, the charm and the poetry of the region. He has “translated [this] into an Occidental idiom”. The Gardens of Buitenzorg (No.8) paints a vivid musical picture of the Dutch colonial Governor-General’s summer residence.

Clare Hammond confronts Cécile Chaminade’s Étude romantique in G flat major, op.132 with a stunning performance that balances the toccata-like opening with the lyrical middle section. The conclusion is spectacular. This Étude belies the notion that Chaminade was “merely” a salon music composer.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 24 Negro Melodies, op.59 are surely an unacknowledged triumph of British piano composition. Coleridge-Taylor wrote: “What Brahms has done for the Hungarian folk-music, Dvořák for the Bohemian, and Grieg for the Norwegian, I have tried to do for these Negro Melodies.” The collection, which plays for more than one and half hours, successfully integrates African-American music into mainstream European Romanticism. Deep River, the tenth in the cycle, is a beautiful spiritual which expresses a longing for freedom and peace. It can also be interpreted as a metaphor for death and the journey to heaven. Clare Hammond gives a moving account of this piece.

Ronald Stevenson’s Threepenny Sonatina explores themes from Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera (1928), mostly Mac the Knife with hints at Pirate Jenny and Shadow March. It is a subtle blend of jazz harmonies and rhythms, mocking marches and 1930s German dance band music. It is difficult to decide if the effect of this short work is sarcastic, satirical or humorous. The Hong-Kong pianist Chiyan Wong’s playing is imaginative.

Walter Niemann was a German composer, pianist, teacher and critic now recalled for his many piano miniatures. Influenced by Impressionism and Exoticism, his music often evokes travel, history and fantasy, blending salon charm with a refined artisanry. Mr Wong played the Niemann’s five movement Moderne Tanzsuite, op.115 at his recital. Two movements are heard on this disc. The Valse Boston is an elegant and languid slow tempo version of its Viennese model, whilst the Tango is sultry and quite dramatic. (The other movements are Blues, Tempo di Charleston, and a Negro Dance.)

The Dutch composer Leo Kok’s name is new to me. The liner notes say that he was a “polymath” and a “renaissance man”: not only a writer of music, but a political activist, a vocal coach and a bibliophile. He must be one of only a few in his profession to have been a footballer who played for his national team. The Intermezzo en forme de Tango was offered to La Asociación Wagneriana de Buenos Aires. Typically moody, it is a good example of a fusion between classical and Latin-American dance hall repertoire. It is played by the Austrian pianist Gottlieb Wallisch, who is due to release an album of Kok’s works soon. Wallisch also plays Venezuelan composer Reynaldo Hahn’s “bewitching” Los Enamorados, Tango-Habanera, originally a number in a Parisian revue.

The final offering is also my favourite piece on this disc. Les chemins de l’amour is Francis Poulenc’s wistful valse chantée or Café waltz. It was originally a part of the incidental music for Jean Anouilh’s play Léocadia. Reimagined for piano solo, it typifies Poulenc’s individual style, which could blend popular salon elegance with a classical refinement. The Italian-Dutch pianist Saskia Giorgini gives a gorgeous performance.

The recording is excellent for live events. The occasional “noises off” enhance the effect. Peter Grove contributed extensive liner notes.

The disc presents a wide range of moods and styles. There are threads of nationalism, exoticism, salon charm and much late Romantic endeavour. The anthology rewards curiosity, invites repeated listening and creates a continued demand for rediscovery of forgotten and neglected music.

John France

Other review: Rob Challinor (December 2025)

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Contents
Ilmari Hannikainen (1892-1955)
From Impressions, op.11b (1915/1916): No.3 – Conversation
Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951)
From Romantic Sketches, op.54 (1933): No.7 – Prélude (Hymne); No.8 – Märchen (Der Bettler)
Severin von Eckardstein (piano)

Albert Bertelin (1872-1951)
Nocturne in F sharp minor (1911)
Viktor Kosenko (1896-1938)
Nocturne in F sharp minor, op.9 No.3 (1921)
Alfonso Soldano (piano)

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Improvisations on two Norwegian Folk-Songs, op.29 (1878)
Christian Grøvlen (piano)

Rued Langgaard (1893-1952)
Stambogsblad, BVN 38 (1909)
Matthias Kirschnereit (piano)

Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938)
From Java Suite, Part 3 (1924/1925): No.7 – Three Dances; No.8 – The Gardens of Buitenzorg
Patrick Hemmerlé (piano)

Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
Étude romantique in G flat major, op.132 (1909)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
From 24 Negro Melodies, op.59 (1905): No.10 – Deep River
Clare Hammond (piano)

Kurt Weill (1900-1950), arr. Ronald Stevenson (1928-2015)
Threepenny Sonatina (1987/1988)
Walter Niemann (1876-1953)
From Moderne Tanzsuite, op.115 (1929): No.2 – Valse Boston; No.4 – Tango
Chiyan Wong (piano)

Leo Kok (1893-1992)
Intermezzo en forme de Tango (1923)
Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947)
Los Enamorados, Tango-Habanera (1926)
Gottlieb Wallisch (piano)

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Les chemins de l’amour (1940)
Saskia Giorgini (piano)