Presents
Carl Reinecke
Piano Quartet in No.1 in A Major, Op.34
“Carl Reinecke’s Piano Quartet No.1 in E flat Major dates from 1853 and even now (1937), because of its overall excellence, its appealing melodies and ease of performance, still deserves to be heard in the concert hall, not to mention the fact that it will be warmly welcomed by amateur players. The outer movements in particular are especially pleasing. The opening movement, Allegro molto e con brio is fresh and by virtue of its rhythm quite effective. It is followed by a warmer and more lyrical second subject. Next comes an impressive Andante, full of excellent touches, it paints poignant, atmospheric pictures. Next comes a very charming and piquant Intermezzo, Allegretto grazioso. The finale, Molto vivace, is also quite appealing, with its original sycopated episodes.”——Wilhelm Altmann, the famed chamber music critic, writing in his Handbook for Piano Quartet Players.
Carl Reinecke (1810-1924)was born near Hamburg in the town of Altona, then in the possession of Denmark. Most of his musical training was obtained from his father, a respected teacher and author. Mendelssohn, Schumann and Liszt all were favorably impressed by him. Unlike many of his contemporaries, or even some of those composers who were younger such as Bruch, Reinecke was able to move beyond the music of Mendelssohn and Schumann, the musical idols of the mid 19 Century. Nowadays, Reinecke has been all but forgotten, an unjust fate for a man who excelled in virtually every musical field with which he was involved. Widely considered one of the finest concert pianists before the public for more than 30 years, his contemporaries also held him high regard as a composer. If this were not enough, he was a stellar conductor, who turned the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra into the leading orchestra of its day. Director of the famed Leipzig Conservatory, as a teacher of composition and of piano, he was considered to have few if any equals. Among his many students were Grieg, Bruch, Janacek, Albeniz, Sinding, Svendsen, Reznicek, Delius, Arthur Sullivan, George Chadwick, Ethel Smyth, Felix Weingartner, Karl Muck and Hugo Riemann. In his time, Reinecke and his music were unquestionably regarded as first rate.
This fine work belongs in the concert hall and also on the stands of home music makers. Long out of print, we are very pleased to be able to make this fine work available again.
Parts: $34.95
