Karl Reinecke

[srappoport]

I happened to hear his first piano concerto this morning. I had never heard of him before, but he was an important conductor and teacher, as well as a prolific composer.

I want to hear the concerto again before reaching a judgment, but you can get a sense of when it was composed because there are passages that Mendelssohn (a pupil), Chopin, and Brahms could have written.

Here is a brief bio: http://www.karadar.it/Dictionary/reinecke.html

Are any of you familiar with him?

[PJME]

This early DGG LP (now on CD) may have been the first one my parents bought (late 1960-ies)

From DGG website:
Zabaleta Plays Concertos by Mozart, Reinecke and Rodrigo

The great Basque harpist Nicanor Zabaleta was born in San Sebastián on 7 January 1907. It was his artist-gilder father's lucky junk-shop find of an old single-action Erard that kindled the eight-year-old Nicanor's enthusiasm for the harp, the only instrument he ever played. After early lessons in San Sebastián and further studies in Madrid with Luisa Menárguez, he, like so many of his Spanish contemporaries, gravitated to Paris, where he studied with Marcel Tournier and made his European début in 1926. Following his New York début in 1934, Zabaleta embarked on what proved to be an extended period of solo recitals, mainly in Latin America, not returning to Europe on a permanent basis until 1952, when he settled in San Sebastián.

In the course of his career, which spanned an incredible 66 years, he gave some 3000 concerts (his last, at the age of 85, was in Madrid on 16 June 1992) and played with some 300 different orchestras. He died at his home in Puerto Rico on 1 April 1993.

Zabaleta's playing was characterized by an impeccable clarity and brilliance of sonority, technical poise, flawless control and economy of movement. He had an amazing, meticulous damping technique, further enhanced by the mechanical device, operated by an eighth pedal, that he persuaded the German maker Josef Obermayer to add to his harp. It is Obermayer's instruments which are heard on almost all his recordings for Deutsche Grammophon.

Zabaleta always remarked on the pleasure he derived from his long and fruitful collaboration with his record company, reckoning that there must be an intellectual affinity between Basques and Germans. The three concertos heard here were recorded early in Zabaleta's association with the label, all in Berlin under the baton of Ernst Märzendorfer: the Rodrigo with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1959, and, with the Berlin Philharmonic, the concertos by Mozart (with the orchestra's principal flautist Karlheinz Zoeller) and Reinecke in 1962.

It is extremely unlikely that Mozart ever heard a performance - either public or private - of his Concerto for Flute and Harp. He had arrived in Paris on 23 March 1778, making many contacts through Baron Grimm, and accepting as one of his first composition pupils Marie-Louise-Philippine, the harp-playing daughter of the flute-playing Duc de Guines.

The concerto Mozart wrote for them was already completed by the end of April, though he had still not been paid for it at the end of July, when Mademoiselle de Guines was about to marry the Duc de Castries. Mozart had serious doubts about her talent for composition, though he thought her harp playing "magnifique".

It appears likely that she was taught by the famous composer and virtuoso Jean-Baptiste Krumpholtz, and that her harp was made by Jean-Henri Naderman, harpmaker to Marie Antoinette. Lightly strung and aesthetically delightful, these instruments were limited by their single-action mechanism to eight major and five minor keys.

Zabaleta considered the Mozart to be the most difficult of all in his concerto repertoire, and, indeed, for the modern harpist obliged to play it on today's heavier-strung instruments, it is notoriously arduous. Zabaleta, using his Obermayer, succeeded in playing it with all the pellucid precision, speed and sheer brilliance of an ideal performance on an 18th-century harp.

The cadenzas he plays in the Mozart Concerto are by Carl Reinecke, whose Concerto in E minor, op. 182 he recorded during the same sessions. Zabaleta's preferences were for the 18th century and the neo-classical styles to which his technique was ideally suited; he abhorred the lushly romantic favourites of the harp repertoire. It therefore came as rather a surprise to find him recording this work.

Extroverted, impassioned and extravagantly Romantic, the composer's only harp concerto was written for Edmund Schuëcker, at the time principal harpist under Reinecke's direction in the orchestra of the Leipzig Gewandhaus, where it received its first performance in 1884. Meticulously orchestrated, it was written with the aural sensitivity and judgment for balances of a conductor who understood the harp and knew how to make it project through the orchestral texture. The result was a work that is not only exciting to listen to but also gratifying to play. It displays Zabaleta's musical personality in a different and unexpected light.

Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto Serenata was composed for Zabaleta in 1952, soon after his permanent return to Spain. There is a certain youthful freshness, elegance and sophistication in the work, and there are echoes, too, of the romance and vigour of Latin America, particularly in the opening "Estudiantina" (one meaning of which is a Colombian folk-instrument street ensemble), the sultry, languorous "Intermezzo con aria" and final "Sarao" (Fiesta), with its cross-rhythms in South American style. Zabaleta gave the first performance in Madrid with the Spanish National Orchestra on 9 November 1956, recording it for Deutsche Grammophon three years later. Rodrigo's neo-classical style accorded well with the approach of his near-contemporary, and their collaboration and friendship continued into later life, culminating in 1974 with the harp version of the Concierto de Aranjuez.
Ann Griffiths

[Ralph]

Here's a very good CPO release of Reinecki's piano concertos:

[srappoport]

I thank you both. I have a question, though. Was his first name Karl or Carl? I have seen it both ways, and I thought that since he was German, the name was supposed to start with a K.

[PJME]

It is always great to do some research..even if the internet is not a real Library...

http://www.carl-reinecke.de/Vita/biographieI.html is German only,alas, but has a wealth on information.

A CD is announced with the world premiere performance of Reinecke's Konzertstück for piano & orchestra.
Serenade g-Moll für Streichorchester op. 242
Zwölf Tonbilder für Streichorchester, Konzertstück B-Dur für Klavier und Orchester op. 33 (Ersteinspielung!)
Solistin: Sontraud Speidel, Klavier; Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim
Dirigent: Vladislav Czarnecki
Compact Disc, DDD, ebs records GmbH, 2005, Bestellnummer: ebs 6118.

(Bestellungen sind auch über das Internet möglich: www.EBSMusikproduktion.de, Preis: 18,00 €.)


Reinecke ca 1900

And at http://www.vornamenlexikon.de/you can read that Carl = Andere (other) Form von Karl
See also : http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl

[Febnyc]

MD&G have done a couple of Reinecke chamber music discs. Reinecke, among his multitude of opus numbers, is strongest, I feel, in his chamber works.

[Ralph]

I thank you both. I have a question, though. Was his first name Karl or Carl? I have seen it both ways, and I thought that since he was German, the name was supposed to start with a K.

*****

CD covers generally have his name as "Carl."

[aurora]

MD&G have done a couple of Reinecke chamber music discs. Reinecke, among his multitude of opus numbers, is strongest, I feel, in his chamber works.

I had come across some of Reinecke's pieces at a chamber music weekend I attend, but they all included winds (8tet, 6tet, trios...). Then few years ago I heard his piano quintet on the radio & I added it to my list of pieces to investigate.

I generally don't go for the "If you like composer X then you'll like composer Y" approach, but the opening of Reinecke's piano 5tet reminded me of Schumann's. I later read that Reinecke was friends with Schumann as well as Mendelssohn

The CD I found also included Reinecke's piano quartets and I will be looking into those as well.... plus I've seen mention of 2 string quartets by him.
I'm actually more interested in getting a hold of the sheet music for these pieces & that's proving to be more difficult, but next time I put in a CD order, I'll probably grab that CD.

[Febnyc]

That CPO is an excellent disc and it presents powerful, orchestral-like chamber works. You're right that a lot of Reinecke's chamber pieces were written for winds - but the String Trio is not and is worth hearing (on an MD&G disc along with a Robert Fuchs String Trio).

[Wallingford]

I'd always wanted to grow outsized muttonchops like him.

[PJME]

Quote :I'm actually more interested in getting a hold of the sheet music for these pieces & that's proving to be more difficult, but next time I put in a CD order, I'll probably grab that CD.

Hello, do give the Reinecke site a try. although it is only in german I'm sure you will be given information on scores. The website is owned by Reinecke's family:

Stefan Schönknecht
Violoncellist und Musikpädagoge.
Tätig als Leiter des Künstlerischen Betriebsbüros der
Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig
Mein Anliegen ist es, das Erbe meines Ur-Ur-Großvaters Carl Reinecke zusammenzutragen und allen Interessierten zur Verfügung zu stellen.
Mit großem Interesse nehme ich Ihre Anregungen und Informationen auf

Carl Reinecke is Mr. Schönknecht's great - grandfather . He is willing to give all possible information.
On the website I read that Carl also published music with his brother Franz.(Musikverlag Gebrüder Reinecke)
The house,all the printed materials and the printplates were destroyed during WW2, in 1943

[aurora]

Quote :I'm actually more interested in getting a hold of the sheet music for these pieces & that's proving to be more difficult, but next time I put in a CD order, I'll probably grab that CD.

Hello, do give the Reinecke site a try. although it is only in german I'm sure you will be given information on scores. The website is owned by Reinecke's family:

Stefan Schönknecht
Violoncellist und Musikpädagoge.
Tätig als Leiter des Künstlerischen Betriebsbüros der
Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig
Mein Anliegen ist es, das Erbe meines Ur-Ur-Großvaters Carl Reinecke zusammenzutragen und allen Interessierten zur Verfügung zu stellen.
Mit großem Interesse nehme ich Ihre Anregungen und Informationen auf

Carl Reinecke is Mr. Schönknecht's great - grandfather . He is willing to give all possible information.
On the website I read that Carl also published music with his brother Franz.(Musikverlag Gebrüder Reinecke)
The house,all the printed materials and the printplates were destroyed during WW2, in 1943

Thanks so much for the info. I did resume my search after my previous post & I managed to find a lending library in the US that has not only the piano quintet, but also a string trio & 3 string quartets. I've heard mention of this particular resource before from a chamber music acquaintance & I'll be seeing her at the workshop I'm attending next week, so I'll get more info about joining this library.

If I decide to also track down the piano quartets, your information will come in handy and my violist friend who just moved back to Germany can help me find what I need. Thanks again.

[david johnson]

Reinecke -

there is a prelude from 'king manfred' that i always thought was well known. perhaps it isn't...good tune, though.

dj

[Jack Kelso]

I thank you both. I have a question, though. Was his first name Karl or Carl? I have seen it both ways, and I thought that since he was German, the name was supposed to start with a K.

His name was "Carl" (born in Altona, near Hamburg). In north Germany this spelling is actually more common (remember Carl Maria von Weber, Carl Schuricht, etc.).

I have the suite from "König Manfred" and it's delightful. Also, Reinecke wrote several little tone-poems----"Aladin", one I taped from radio. His Symphony No. 1 in A Major is also enjoyable.

He possessed a fluently conservative melodic style. Ironically, he championed the music of Wagner.

Jack