Romantic Discoveries Recordings

Piano Music of Walter Niemann volume 2
Pompeii, op. 48 • Suite after words by Hermann Hesse, op. 71 • The Magic Book, op. 92 (includes first recordings)
John Kersey, piano
RDR CD112

Total time: 68 minutes 36 seconds

1. Pompeji – ten piano pieces, op 48 (25:11)
i. Bright Summer Morning – Prelude ii. The Egyptian Priests go to the Temple of Isis – Solemn March iii. Cupid and the Butterfly – Scherzino iv. Roses for the Beloved – Romanze v. A Sicilian tells the Fishermen Fairy Tales – Intermezzo vi. Pastoral Poem – Eclogue vii. The Saga (Witch) of Vesuvius – Ballade viii. Evening on the Campanian Sea – Barcarolle ix. Dance of the Nereids x. Before the Statue of the Sphinx – Nocturne

2. Suite after words by Hermann Hesse, op 71 (new, revised edition) (16:52)
i. Präludium – Un poco vivace ii. Scherzino – Vivacissimo iii. Arietta – Poco Adagio iv. In moto perpetuo – Vivo, ma non troppo
“From the lighted windows of the garden house came piano music. It flowed weakly, muffled, through the red curtains of the open windows, together with the warm glow of the lights, and flew joyfully and lightly over the wide stone steps of the park entrance, over roses and jasmine. Becoming very light and quiet, the graceful music flew sideways through the twilight roundabout and over the park paths into the deeper darkness of the beech thicket. There the yellowest bars with the fluttering last waves of the floral scent scattered gently and swaying apart, lost themselves in the blackness of the massive foliage, in the mildly transparent blue moon of the sky, in the loose, undisturbed, swaying calm of the warm night.” Hermann Hesse, June Night.

3. Das Magische Buch; six phantasmagoria, op. 92 (26:28)
i. Kolibri – Hummingbird ii. The Coral Tree iii. On the banks of the Sacred Ganges iv. Caravan in the Desert v. Sacred Dance in Elysium vi. The Silver Cascade

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.