Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss Husum 2024
rec. live, 17-24 August 2024, Schloss Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Danacord DACOCD989 [79]
My favourite selection box arrives though that is as far as I will take the analogy. The festival does contain its fair share of confectionery and I for one am grateful for that but as always there is meatier fare and I think everyone could find something here to enjoy.
Many familiar names appear in the festival’s programmes even if seldom in familiar music but pianist and composer Ilmari Hannikainen is the kind of composer that the festival is all about, a gifted and imaginative talent who has for whatever reason remained hidden in the nooks and crannies of musical history. Pianist Terri Dostal has already brought some of his music to light and I see that a disc of his piano concerto and quintet is due for release on Hänssler Classics. It is good to hear his conversation, the third of his Impressions op.11b with its surging syncopated accompaniment making this soprano/tenor dialogue a gloriously impassioned affair with hints of early Fauré. Its sweeping gestures evidently appeal to Eckardstein’s grandiose style of playing. On the other hand he brings an admirable simplicity to two of Medtner’s late Romantic Sketches, the beautiful Hymn and the Beggar, the last of his 38 Skazki, tales. Medtner’s complex writing often disguises wonderful melodies and the haunting melody of Hymn is no exception. The Romantic Sketches for the Young were written after a plea by his publisher for some music of ‘moderate difficulty’. I am not convinced that Medtner filled that brief as, though these are undoubtedly not as taxing as many of his works they still require a solid technique to carry them off as Eckardstein ably demonstrates in his characterful performances.
Alfonso Soldano rescues two rare nocturnes from obscurity starting with Albert Bertelin’s Nocturne in F sharp minor. Bertelin studied with Widor and Massenet and while hints of Fauré are evident its rich texture and grand climaxes also point toward Rachmaninov to my ears. Apparently Soldano learned this work especially for the festival; I hope he explores more of this composer including the nocturne’s two companions, a ballade and barcarolle. Several of Viktor Kosenko’s many piano works have at least appeared on disc and Violina Petrychenko has recorded the nocturne on Ars Produktion ARS38195 review). The writing is thoroughly luxuriant, from the melancholic outer sections to the turbulent heart and if there are plenty of echoes of early Scriabin it is still individual enough to warrant attention. Grieg is a name familiar to all but I for one had not heard his Improvisation on Two Norwegian Folk-Songs. The two melodies are from the over 3000 melodies that Norwegian organist and composer Ludwig Lindeman collected on several trips across all parts of Norway. The first is sad and has a discordant note harmony; two vigorous variations lead to a grandly impassioned setting. The second is more nostalgic and Grieg just provides one variation, dazzling and scherzo-like based on the opening shape of the melody. Norwegian pianist Christian Grøvlen makes the most of the sharp contrasts of mood and tempo and if I find the speed of the first melody a little too slow for andantino there is no denying its grandeur when it returns at the end. Matthias Kirschnereit’s offering is Rued Langgaard’s Stambogsblad – family album leaf – taken from his upcoming CD Wagner Liaisons though curiously it is the only piece on that album not mentioned in the accompanying notes. It is a simple and soulful song without words that is reminiscent of the mood of Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and reaches similar heights of passion in its short span.
Patrick Hemmerlé played the complete Java Suite by Leopold Godowsky alongside Medtner and Novák and two selections from part 3 are included here. Godowsky writes that the three dances represent the languor and melancholy of the Far East…the grace and charm of the Oriental dancers and their poetry and tenderness, translated into an Occidental idiom respectively. Like much of Godowsky’s music the rhythms are complex though in this instance he is trying to emulate the Javanese music that he heard on his travels in the far east. One journey took him to the fabulous gardens of the Governor-General’s palace and in the Gardens of Buitenzorg he aims to capture the stunning fragrances of this paradise of blossoms; he certainly manages that feat in this intoxicating impressionist and wonderfully chromatic piece, a favourite encore of long time visitor to the festival Marc-André Hamelin. After this heady music Clare Hammond breezes in with Cécile Chaminade’s sparkling étude romantique, a worthy successor to Liszt Waldesrauschen. The richness of Coleridge-Taylor’s setting of the spiritual Deep River is an antidote to this frothiness for those who need it. It is from his 1905 set of 24 Negro Spirituals and of this rhapsodic treatment he wrote it is the most beautiful and touching melody of the whole series, an opinion I won’t argue with.
Ronald Stevenson’s Threepenny Sonatina is a rarity that I hadn’t previously come across. It was sketched out in 1987 as a Weilliana Fantasy but then abandoned until Douglas Finch produced this performing version with Stevenson’s approval. It is an entertaining whistle-stop tour of Weill’s Threepenny opera including Mack the Knife and Pirate Jenny and a fugue based on Ship with eight sails. Chiyan Wong continues with two selections from Walter Niemann’s Modern dance Suite, the Boston waltz and Tango. Niemann was a prolific composer as might be guessed both from the high opus number and the fact that many of his opuses contain multiple pieces. He was aware of modern trends and would bring some occasional piquancy to his harmony but he was a romantic through and through. Wong really enjoys these two pieces and, in homage to their somewhat lounge style he elaborates on both, mostly ignoring Niemann’s dynamics and adding little extra touches of his own. This is more evident in the Boston waltz that opens with a little introductory ripple before the waltz proper; among the other touches is a verse of Feed the birds, tuppence a bag from the 1964 film Mary Poppins fitting beautifully with Niemann’s harmony. It must be added that Wong also perfectly observes Niemann’s instruction on the waltz, with a graceful and weary elegance. Gottlieb Wallisch treated the audience to extracts from his seven CD series 20th Century Foxtrots (to be found on Grand Piano Records), Leo Kok’s Intermezzo en forme de Tango and Reynaldo Hahn’s tango-habanera Los Enamorados, the lovers. Dutch composer, opera coach and footballer (among other things) Leo Kok wrote his tango for the Asociasión Wagneriana in Buenos Aires and/or an Italian-Brazilian dance duo depending which booklet you read. It is more energetic and angular than Niemann’s rather languid dance and one can see why Kok was so successful as a dance accompanist. Reynaldo Hahn’s los Enamorados completes this trio of tangos. It is the only instrumental piece from his grand stage work Une Revue…(1830-1930) which explored a century of Parisian affairs and is as beguiling as its companions here. I was startled to hear that Saskia Giorgini’s Husum programme had been the complete Harmonies poétiques et réligieuses by Liszt considering her encore, Poulenc’s les Chemins de l’amour. Not that I have anything a problem with the piece, this little waltz song that is one of my delicious indulgences – it just seems an odd choice after the Liszt but perhaps it acted as a lightweight cleanser after the drama and intensity of Liszt’s collection. It is a fabulous encore in this collection and played charmingly by Giorgini.
When I first heard of this festival – I think I came in around 1997 – the pessimist in me thought that it would be short-lived, swamped by the seeming clamour for ever more Beethoven cycles and the like. I am very happy to have proved wrong and long may it and Danacord’s association with it continue.
Rob Challinor
Previous review: John France (September 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)
