Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901)
Early Piano Works
Zwölf Charakterstücke für’s “neue” Clavier (1864)
Vier Fugen für Klavier (1862)
Was sich der Wald erzählt – Waldmärchen manuscript version (1854)
Jürg Hanselmann (piano)
rec. 2025, Vaduzer Saal, Liechtenstein
ARS Produktion ARS38657 [60]
Josef Rheinberger is perhaps not on the tip of everyone’s tongue but he has retained a foothold in the music world thanks to his large organ and choral output. What is not generally known nowadays is that he was an excellent pianist and a gifted composer for the instrument. His piano concerto in A flat (Hyperion CDA68225 review ~ review) amply demonstrates this and indeed he was professor of piano at the Munich conservatorium and long before that, aged just seven, he was organist at the parish church of the village in which he was born, Vaduz, capitol of Liechtenstein.
Jürg Hanselmann has already recorded ten discs covering the published works for piano solo, duet and two pianos (Carus 83365 review) and now turns his attention to some early unpublished works. The twelve character pieces that were completed in 1864 are inextricably linked to his love for his pupil Franziska von Hoffnaass. Fanny, as she was known, was married when she began taking lessons in harmony and composition with Rheinberger in 1857. Her own creative nature was inspired by this gifted 18 year old musician and their own diaries and letters display a hidden but mutual affection, an affection that led to their marriage in 1867, two years after Fanny’s husband died of tuberculosis. Fanny had started to take piano lessons with Rheinberger in 1864 and these twelve Character pieces in a handwritten book were Rheinberger’s Christmas gift to her. The opening duettino, relegating the praeludium to second place, is really a love song to Fanny and a rather lovely one at that; it would not sound out of place in a recital of romantic works alongside Schumann or Brahms. Though these works were not published Rheinberger none went to waste; all of the pieces were later issued either as written or revised. Thus Die Jagd, the exuberant hunt that is the seventh of the set was later published as the first of his three pieces op.5, unchanged but for a two bar opening fanfare while the étude that precedes it provided no more than the theme for the finale of his two piano duo op.15. The angular praeludium became impatience from his characteristic pieces while the lovely Duettino joined notturno as two of his 24 preludes in étude form, published just three years later. The impromptu, no.11 becomes a swaggering toccata as the second of the op.5 pieces with a central section more apt to its title. The piece is more broody in its earlier form and without a score to guide I cannot say if Hanselmann is playing it slower here because that is the marking that the younger Rheinberger suggested. The other five pieces, the pompous Rundgesang, the flowing arabesque-like Reigen, the sweetly mournful melancholie, nostalgic Ballade and delicate Glockenspiel (oder Mondschein…?) were re-used in the op.9 studies and op.11 Tonbilder, the latter becoming Wanderlied and Träumen respectively. The fact that Rheinberger was happy to bring these relatively youthful pieces into his published works, mostly unchanged, shows the affection he had for them and their association with his now wife. If firmly rooted in the romantic tradition of Schumann, Brahms and Mendelssohn they are individual enough to warrant release and for those who have the complete piano music they can now be heard in their original versions.
Rheinberger’s works are littered with fugues, canons and other contrapuntal movements, a compositional style that grew out of his love of Bach’s music and which took early form in his 24 Characteristic Fugues for piano completed in 1862. Like the character pieces they remained unpublished but were used as templates for later works. Three of the fugues recorded here remain unpublished while the fourth, in E flat major was transposed up a tone and assigned to the organ. This is most serious of the four and Rheinberger makes a lot out of the rather simple rising scale subject. Why the other three remained unpublished is a mystery as they are at least as accomplished as the first and generally have a happier demeanour, especially the frothy G major and the lilting and increasingly complex A major.
The disc closes with his Waldmärchen , What the wood tells itself in its manuscript version. The booklet note by Hanselmann himself suggests that this could be a response to Liszt’s étude Waldesrasuchen which may be the case though the two are very different and I find this sketch, as Rheinberger subtitled it, is more likely one of countless examples of that desire by composers to evoke and encapsulate nature in all its glory through music. The skipping first theme, with echoes of hunting music, leads to intricate fingerwork, the kind of thing that suggests wind among the leaves. The tranquil ending brings the end of Smetana’s Vltava to mind, if only briefly, and the various themes within are distinguished enough to bring any imaginary arboreal tale to mind. In his complete set Hanselmann plays the two printed versions, the first from 1867 and a revised edition with a different ending published thirty years later. Following the printed score I am not aware of any differences between this and the manuscript version played here; if there are any they are minor textural changes.
This is an interesting appendix to Hanselmann’s complete set offering a chance to hear the four fugues while placing the twelve character pieces in context. There are other unpublished piano pieces – Rheinberger was prolific from an early age – but perhaps this disc shows the proper foundations of his mature piano style. Hanselmann is a sympathetic player and this disc gives a good idea of Rheinberger’s attractive if rather conservative style. The cover painting is by Rheinberger’s near contemporary Adolf Obermüllner and depicts Vaduz castle overlooking Rheinberger’s birthplace.
Rob Challinor
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