Romantic Discoveries Recordings

Piano Music of Walter Niemann volume 10
Porcelain, op. 120 • Chaconne, op. 44 • Suite after pictures by Carl Spitzweg, op. 84 • Japan, op. 89 (includes first recordings)
John Kersey, piano
RDR CD120

Total time: 72 minutes 8 seconds

1. Porzellan – Figures from famous china manufactories, op.120 (23:46)
i. The Little Shepherdess (Meissen) ii. An English Rustic Couple Dancing (Old Chelsea) iii. Athenian Dance at a Sacrificial Festival (Vienna) iv. Danish Spring (Copenhagen) (Dedicated to the memory of Niels Gade) v. Rice-Birdie (Japan) vi. The Little Dutch Belfry (Delft) vii. Beppo, the Serenade-Singer (Naples) viii. Hunting-Piece (Rosenthal) ix. Madame la Marquise (Sevres) x. The Yellow-Porcelain Mandarin (China) xi. The Fountain at Sans-Souci (Old Berlin)

2. Chaconne, op. 44 (6:15)

3. Suite after pictures by Carl Spitzweg, op. 84 (19:56)
i. Serenade ii. Flute concerto iii. The Guards iv. Post in the forest v. Italian street-singer

4. Japan – A Cycle of Pieces for Piano, op. 89 (22:04)
i. The Tea House ii. Twilight at Sea iii. The Feast of Cherry Blossoms iv. Fudsiyama (The Holy Mount) v. Dance of the Geisha

Our thanks go to Nicolo Figowy and Steffen Herrmann for their generous loan of scores.

Walter Niemann was regarded in 1927 as “the most important living piano composer who knows how to make music from the piano in a subtle and colorful way, although he often enters the field of salon music” (H. Abert, Illustrated Music Lexicon). This most sensitive and introverted master of the piano devoted his life to composition and musical scholarship, also performing his music in concerts and radio broadcasts. Niemann’s vast output for the piano is only now starting to become more widely known. Although his style is generally unashamedly conservative, he was one of the very few German composers to explore Impressionism in music, and this also reflected a fascination with the Far East. Elsewhere, Niemann’s imagination takes us from much Baroque recreation to large-scale epic sonatas, Schumannesque miniatures and even the exploration of early jazz styles. His understanding of the capabilities of the piano was complete, and his works include both collections for young pianists and mature works that exploit the full range of pianistic effect and make significant demands on the performer.