ΕΤΑΙΡΙΑ: Brilliant Classics
ΚΑΤΗΓΟΡΙΑ: CD

Κωδικός: 5028421939971

Εξαντλήθηκε

First recordings of these works.

Recording made in 2007.

Comprehensive booklet notes.

Gernsheim is an important figure in German music, and only now, 70 years after the end of World War II is he emerging from the shadow of the Nazi persecution and destruction of Jewish culture and society.

Friedrich Gernsheim emergence from total and undeserved obscurity is long overdue, and to be welcomed. Born in to an old Jewish family in the city of Worms in 1839, he quickly showed considerable skills on the violin. At the age of 7 he took lessons from Louis Liebe, a pupil of Louis Spohr, and at just 11 he was introduced to the public in a concert as a pianist, violinist and composer – an orchestral overture of his being premiered. A further period of study in Paris brought him into contact with Rossini, and younger composers of his own generation such as Wagner, Lalo and Saint-Saëns.

Gernsheim’s output includes four fine symphonies, concertos for violin and piano and a large body of chamber and piano music. He was a friend of both Brahms and Bruch, and he fits neatly between these two composers – both of them admired Gernsheim’s music, and his works display an extremely high level of craftsmanship, refinement and individuality with a gift for truly memorable tunes. It was the aspiring young composer Gustav Mahler who approached Gernsheim for assistance in getting performances for his own Second Symphony. In return Mahler championed Gernsheim’s Third Symphony ‘Mirjam’. The rise of the Nazis in the 1920s and 30s saw all trace of Gernsheim eradicated. This CD of his op.6 and op.47 Piano Quartets is a valuable addition to the growing list of recordings exploring the work of this influential minor master of 19th and early-20th century German music.