Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s Potpourri op. 94 for Viola and Orchestra – for your kind attention!

Posted on September 3, 2018 by Norbert Gertsch

To my great joy, this year and last year the wonderful Antoine Tamestit has been heard several times in concert with a work that has long been completely unknown, even to connoisseurs of the viola repertoire: Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s Potpourri op. 94 for viola und orchestra. Continue reading →

Posted in Antoine Tamestit, Hummel, Johann Nepomuk, Potpourri op. 94 (Hummel), Tabea Zimmermann | Leave a comment

Summer, sun and holidays!

Posted on July 30, 2018 by publisher

It’s vacation time and so the Henle-Blog is taking a break for summer as well.

We’d like to thank all of our readers for their interest and are looking forward to our next blog entry on September 3rd 2018.

We wish you a nice summer!

Your Henle Blog Team

Posted in Monday Postings | Leave a comment

Debussy in Urtext – Part 4: Autograph corrections in chamber-music works

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Peter Jost

Claude Debussy (1862–1918)

It goes without saying that the focus would be on Debussy’s piano works from the outset of Henle editions of the French composer’s music. For one thing, because the publishing house’s self-image was based from the start on the core repertoire of piano music forming its catalogue; but also because of Debussy’s large multitude of pioneering and popular compositions in this genre – from the Arabesques to the Études. Continue reading →

Posted in Debussy, Claude, Monday Postings, variant reading | Tagged , | 1 Comment

More or less – Bartók’s well-regulated markings of his piano works

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Annette Oppermann

Dénes Várjon

To continue my last blog with an overview of our Urtext editions of Bartók’s piano works, I am devoting today’s posting to a small but very significant aspect of these editions: their fingering and performance markings. And I am very happy that this time not only the great Hungarian Bartók scholar László Somfai but also the great Hungarian pianist – and Bartók specialist! – Dénes Várjon shared their opinions with me. Continue reading →

Posted in Bartók, Béla, Dénes Várjon, Fingering, Monday Postings, piano solo | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The première of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata op. 36

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Dominik Rahmer

Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Saratov, Smolensk, Voronezh – what do these Russian cities have in common? No, these are not venues of the World Cup, just starting in Russia… Continue reading →

Posted in 2nd piano sonata op. 36 (Rachmaninoff), Monday Postings, piano solo, Rachmaninoff, Sergei | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The “Picardy” major third in Chopin’s incredibly sad c-sharp minor Nocturne

Posted on June 6, 2018 by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert

What a liberating, even redemptive impact that the unexpected major third closing a piece in the minor can have, is known above all to those of us who play and listen to Bach. To give just one example that everyone would know: The strictly and relentlessly advancing c-minor prelude from the first volume of the “Well-Tempered Clavier” bursts into bloom on the very last beat with a wonderful C-major triad. (Also, my favourite Bach prelude, the one in f-sharp minor, ending in F-sharp major, from the second volume.) “Picardy” is what Rousseau calls such a kind of replacement of the third at the end of a minor piece. Continue reading →

Posted in autograph, Chopin, Frédéric, copy, Monday Postings, piano solo | Tagged | 3 Comments

Debussy in Urtext – Part 3: Debussy’s recordings of his piano music

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Peter Jost

Debussy at the piano

Editors of Urtext editions have added a new medium as a possible source for the period from about 1890 onwards:  historical recordings, whether played by interpreters closely associated with the composer, or even by the composer himself. This is especially true of composers’ recordings of their own piano works, since most composers of the time were also good pianists who even performed in concerts. In conjunction with recordings by Debussy and Ravel of their own piano works, Peter Cossé has left us this beautiful bon mot, ‘acoustical view under the pianistic rock of music history’. Continue reading →

Posted in Debussy, Claude, Monday Postings, recording | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Confusion about Chopin’s Scherzi – episode 4

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Norbert Müllemann

F. Chopin (1810–1849)

At the beginning of the year I reported on my work on the two Scherzi nos. 2 & 3 by Frédéric Chopin. Even then I could announce that episode 4 would not be long in coming – and now I am keeping my promise! The revised E-major Scherzo op. 54 will soon be published, followed by a complete revised volume of all four of Frédéric Chopin’s Scherzi. Continue reading →

Posted in Chopin, Frédéric, Monday Postings, Scherzo op. 54, Sources, versions | Tagged , | 1 Comment

La Vega – The fertile plain: Isaac Albeniz’s homage to Granada and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Norbert Gertsch

Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909)

A few weeks ago my colleague Peter Jost reported here on our commitment to Spanish Romantic music. I recollect with pleasure my early years in the publishing house, when with the first volume of the Iberia Suite by Isaac Albéniz in 2002, we were heralding this new programme segment. But it was not only the well-known masterworks from his pen that were finding their way into our catalogue. Continue reading →

Posted in Albéniz, Isaac, Monday Postings | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

What?! Is it already Christmas now? New Bartók titles at Henle

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Annette Oppermann

Of course not, Christmas is out of the question only one week after Easter. But, the rich boon of meanwhile twelve Bartók Urtext editions already makes us think of a table loaded with gifts – especially with even amongst them, the most recently released Romanian Christmas Songs, is a veritable Christmas title. So, let’s just take a closer look…. Continue reading →

Posted in Bartók, Béla, Monday Postings, versions | Tagged , | Leave a comment