It's hard to believe I can still find composers that make me fall in love with older music, all over again. This is up there with my favorite piano sonatas, and concertos. A true master of his craft.
c'est beau,c'est très beau mais c'est creux,vide,sans mélodie, que du vent de notes sans raison . Veuillez écouter Scriabin op.9 (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-R7A7lgKI3x8.html&ab_channel=olla-vogala) par exemple
Pedants may argue [as they do, in some other comments] about whether Henselt was imitating or even plagiarizing Chopin, Glinka, Strauss, or some other composer. I could not care less about those possibilities. The only thing that really matters to me and many other people is that this is an extremely beautiful and "exciting" work by a very great (and much-overlooked) composer. I will be asking my local classical music station to play this and several other works by Henselt, so that other radio listeners will become acquainted with this "giant."
Chopin's influence is especially heard in Henselt's music, but what makes this unique is the thick texture. Rachmaninoff seems to have looked to Henselt in his preference for rich sonorities.
Thanks to a pianist on RU-vid called Claire Black and her recording of his Eros, I've been introduced to Bortkiewicz. This little gem of a sonata has played on repeat the last few days. I'm finding that it's typical of his quality. He really is an overlooked composer.
Also, some of these remind me of Czerny’s work, but these etudes are more refined and have more wit and finesse. The B-flat seems to suggest that Hummel has been playing Bach’s first Partita.
The missing commentary element here is what a significant link Hummel is between the Classical and Romantic eras. This has, traditionally, been shouldered by Beethoven, perhaps with the occasional participation of Schubert - as if virtually no one else played or composed for the piano at the time. So says the standard rep, and that is a load of nonsense. Listening to these, one can hear Mozart, Mendelssohn, a tinge of Chopin, even early Alkan. Go from these to the etudes of Hummel’s pupil, Henselt. Hummel is clearly a major “missing link.” So far exploring it, I actually prefer it to Beethoven.
Glorious Finale, wonderful Sonata and "Boo!" to the naysayers. I cannot recall a single performance by - take your pick - Cliburn, Horowitz, Gould, Wang, etc - that I've not read, "Well, they did miss the d sharp on measure 234" or "The accented notes should have been more pronounced" or even "Uninspired". It just burns me up knowing the effort and time entailed. OK, this is not a Lyaponov transcendental etude but so what? Bravo.
