Simona Coco & Maria Teresa Pizzulli - Brahms, Brüll, Stavenhagen, Schumann, Scholz, Reinecke: Brahms's Circle (19th Century Music for Two Pianos (2022)

Take two pianists. Let them seat side by side at the same keyboard. You will have a four-hand piano duet. The repertoire for this very special ensemble is extremely varied, and ranges from works of a very elementary difficulty, but whose overall aural result is rather satisfactory due to the availability of twenty fingers, up to virtuoso and brilliant works. Take the same two pianists, and let them seat at two pianos, and you will have a two-piano duet. Seemingly, there is little difference between the two ensembles. But, in fact, their two domains overlap only slightly. Whilst, as has been said, the four-hand piano repertoire does include some very virtuoso pieces, many works written for this ensemble, and which are mostly forgotten nowadays, allowed unskilled amateurs to play something pleasing to the ear. Some nineteenth-century piano duets for four hands practically divide into two parts what a professional pianist could almost play with his or her ten fingers. It is almost as with tennis doubles, which could be played by the greatest professional players, but also afford the pleasure of a game to those with limited athletic skills.
Four-hand duets were a typical pastime for the bourgeoisie, as typically households owned a piano, and it was more fun to play together than alone (and the result was generally more satisfying). By way of contrast, very few households owned two keyboard instruments, and those who had them were generally the homes of professional musicians. Thus, the “amateur” component of part of the four-hand piano duet repertoire is virtually missing from the two-pianos repertoire. Bluntly put, four-hand piano music includes works for both amateurs and professionals, whilst the music for two pianos generally is conceived for fully-fledged professionals. And this is widely demonstrated by the programme recorded in these two Da Vinci Classics albums.
The pivotal figure around which these albums revolve is that of Robert Schumann. As is well known, as a young man Schumann had dreamt of becoming a professional concert pianist, reproducing on the keyboard the personality and success Paganini was having at the violin. Then, over-practice and malpractice ruined forever his chances to achieve that goal, and – perhaps to our lasting fortune – he dedicated himself to composition. Still, after many chagrins, Schumann could achieve his other great dream, i.e. to get married to Clara Wieck. She was a very gifted musician: an outstanding pianist and a skilled composer, nine years Robert’s junior. She championed relentlessly his music, both during his lifetime and after his death, and, of course, they did play together. The unique atmosphere of the Schumanns’ household – where artists frequently gathered, where children abounded, and where musicians flocked – is evoked by the Andante and Variations op. 46. This beautiful composition (1843) was originally scored for a rather unique ensemble of two pianos, two horns, and two cellos. The overall sound has therefore some very special features: horns are, as always, suggestive of nature, open-air, but also of the supernatural, as Carl Maria von Weber had taught the Romantic generation. The combination with cellos imparted a dark colour to the ensemble, and the two pianos replaced an entire orchestral texture. However, if it was uncommon for German bourgeois household to have two pianos at disposal, still less common was the possibility of playing with two cellists and two hornists (!), so that the published version was for “just” two pianos. The piece’s atmosphere was described by Schumann himself as follows: “Their mood is very elegiac, and I think I must have been very melancholy when I wrote them”. And melancholic he was, affected as he was by the mental illness which would undermine his last years. Due to its multifaceted affective atmosphere, this work was perhaps the only one in the two-piano repertoire to achieve true popularity in the nineteenth century. Clara played it often with Johannes Brahms, Anton Rubinstein and Ignaz Moscheles.
Two years later, Schumann’s mental health was deteriorating, also in consequence of his short appointment at the Leipzig Conservatory, after which he moved with his family to Dresden. But, at the Conservatory, he had encountered an instrument – or rather a device for an instrument – which had fascinated him, i.e. the Pedalpiano. This consisted of an appendage which could be added to a normal piano, and was similar to an organ’s pedalboard; it could be used by organ students to perfect their pedalling skills. Schumann brought that pedalboard with him to Dresden, and set himself to the composition of several contrapuntal works. (This is touchingly significant: as he was losing control of his emotional states, he clung to the safety anchor of organized, methodic counterpoint). Among these were the Six Studies in the Canonic form, recorded here in Debussy’s transcription. Claude Debussy was a staunch advocate of the two-piano duo, having premiered Wagner’s Rheingold in France with Raoul Pugno, and having arranged a very heterogeneous collection of works including Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchman, and a Caprice by Saint-Saëns on melodies by Gluck.
Schumann’s Andante and Variations had been played by Clara also with Carl Reinecke, a Danish-born composer of a younger generation, who nourished an intense admiration for Robert. At first, Schumann had disappointed his hopes and denied a review to some works Reinecke had sent to the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, but later the two musicians became close friends, and Schumann praised him warmly. Discussing an arrangement Reinecke had made of Schumann’s songs, the composer stated: “But under your hands, dear Mr Reinecke, I felt quite all right and this is because you understand me, like few others”. Later, Schumann would dedicate to him his Four Fugues op. 72, one of his latest works, and Reinecke reciprocated (posthumously) with his Piano Trio op. 38. Reinecke’s Andante and Variations clearly refer to Schumann’s model, whilst bearing the clear mark of their own composer’s personality. Expressiveness and a singing style are their most distinguishing features, though virtuoso and brilliant moments are not missing.
Clara Schumann did not limit herself, however, to championing her husband’s music. Like Robert, she was generous, particularly with younger musicians. Thus, one of the pieces she valiantly promoted was the Piano Concerto written by Bernhard E. Scholz, a conductor, composer, and teacher-to-be. His Contrapuntal Variations on a Gavotte by Handel pay a double homage: to the art of counterpoint as practised by the German composers of the previous generations, from Bach (and before him) to Schumann and his Canonic Studies; and to the Baroque era in general, as embodied by Handel in particular. This homage, in turn, cannot but suggest to us a reference to Johannes Brahms’ Handel Variations op. 24 for solo piano, written on an Air by Handel and crowned by a majestic Fugue.
Indeed, Johannes Brahms had been perhaps the most famous among the musicians Schumann brought to the fore, with a very celebrated article by the title of New Ways. On the other hand, Brahms and Scholz had signed together the manifesto against the “Music of the Future”, i.e. the Weimar School (in 1860). The friendship between Scholz and Brahms was a lasting one. Brahms’ own Variations on a Theme by Haydn for two pianos (existing also in an original orchestration by the composer) belong in the same line as his Handel Variations, although, in this case, both titles under which the theme was known to Brahms are wrong… Brahms was shown this theme by Carl Ferdinand Pohl, a musicologist, who indicated it as having been written by Haydn, and as bearing the indication “Chorale St. Anthoni”. But no such work was written by Haydn (the most likely, though by no means certain attribution is to Ignaz Pleyel), and no Chorale of St. Anthony with that melody exists. Still, paying homage to Haydn, Brahms does insert a quote from Haydn’s works, echoing a fragment from Haydn’s Clock Symphony in the finale’s coda. This absolute masterpiece by Brahms demonstrates his mastery of the Variation form and his sublime use of the Chaconne compositional style, which will also inspire his Fourth Symphony – many years later.
Ignaz Brüll befriended a good friend of Johannes Brahms, Eusebius Mandyczewski, and was considered during his lifetime as one of the greatest interpreters of the music by Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms himself. The fact that among his admirers could be counted Franz Liszt, Anton Rubinstein and Clara Schumann speaks volumes about his skill, and Brahms wanted his piano works to be premiered by Brüll. And this regarded not just Brahms’ piano pieces: many of his orchestral works were sight-read by the composer and by Brüll at the piano. As a composer, his style mirrors the influence of his friend Brahms; his Duo op. 64 includes a Theme with Variations which reflect the other examples of this genre included in this compilation. Exoticism is present in the third movement, “in the Arabic fashion”; in general, all of his works recorded here display the melodic gifts of the composer, his skill in the conception of piano scoring, and his mastery of form.
By way of contrast, Bernhard Stavenhagen belonged in the field against which Brahms and Scholz had signed their manifesto. Stavenhagen was a cherished pupil by Liszt, and even though many of Liszt’s students claimed to be the last heirs of their teacher’s secrets, in Stavenhagen’s case Liszt’s predilection is documented. In spite of the fierce opposition between the two fields, it will be observed that lyricism, mastery of the form, and virtuosity (the elements we observed in most pieces by the other composers) are equally characteristic of Stavenhagen’s music. Thus, it can be said that, after more than one and a half century, the battle between the two fields has reached a very musical peace and harmony. Indeed… something akin to a duet with two pianos!