PopMarket - Julius Rontgen - Toccata for solo piano - Multicolor

Julius Rontgen's Passacaglia and Fugue dates from 1911 but was not published until 2007 by Friedrich Hofmeisterverlag, Leipzig (FH3247). While studying and preparing the work for recording from the first edition, I discovered significant and numerous errors and decided that a second edition was necessary. The manuscripts for the Passacaglia and Fugue reside in the Rontgen Archives in the Netherlands Music Institute in The Hague. The catalogue numbers associated with this work are 107/027A (MS1), 107/027B (MS2) and 107/027C (MS3), each being a complete version. In preparing this edition, the latter version (107/027C) was used as the primary source as there is a clear progression of reworking and detail evident beginning with version A and ending with C. One obvious difference between the first edition (Hofmeister) and the present edition is the inclusion of four missing measures, m.217-220, that have been restored in this score. These measures are included in multiple versions of the manuscript, namely 107/027B and C. Editorial suggestions, such as metronome indications, are in brackets. Unless otherwise indicated, fingering and hand distribution suggestions are editorial. With some minor exceptions, pedal indications are by the composer. This is a major solo piano work from the early 20th Century that is a significant addition to the piano literature. This work demonstrates Rontgen's great artistry and expressive character and deserves a wider audience. I hope other pianists find this monumental piece important and feel compelled to perform it. © Mark Anderson

This edition marks the first publication of Rontgen's Sonata in C Minor (1911). This work was discovered while visiting the Rontgen Archives at the Netherlands Music Institute in The Hague in 2019. Being previously unpublished and unrecorded, I am grateful to Rik Hendriks at the Netherlands Music Institute for his assistance and unrestricted access to Rontgen's manuscripts. There is a single manuscript source for this work (NMI Catalogue No.107/017). It is neatly penned, and great care has been taken in it's detail. This manuscript contains no corrected notes, scratched-out errors, or pencilled-in changes. Clearly, Rontgen prepared this work for publication, but he never saw that realized. It is a single-movement sonata that should interest both pianists and musicologists. The textures, form and expressive qualities are well defined, and I believe it deserves a wider audience. I hope other pianists find the work intriguing and feel compelled to perform it. Fingering, metronome suggestions and hand re-distribution suggestions are editorial. All pedal indications are by the composer. © Mark Anderson

Among his many compositions, Kenneth V. Jones wrote a concerto for string orchestra (1956), a concerto for oboe and strings (1963), The Pollock, an orchestral prelude (1963), O Light Invisible, a cantata for soprano, mixed chorus and orchestra (1963), a sonata for solo violin (1967), Dialysis, for violin and harpsichord (1973), Quaquaverse, for saxophone quartet (1979), Paean for organ (1983), three Sinfonias for orchestra, as well as piano works, song cycles, film, play and television scores and church music, including hymns and anthems. The Piano Sonata, Op. 4 (1950) is a concise, sharply defined score, written while the composer was still a student at the Royal College of Music. The opening Allegro moderato begins without preamble, presenting the movement's principal, upward lyrising idea at the outset. Some of the sonata's main ideas are also exploited in the lively, dance-like 'Rondo Burlesca' that taps into a vein of extrovert eccentricity, not unlike Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice, or 'Uranus the Magician' from Holst's orchestral suite, The Planets. Near the end of this rumbustious finale, Jones broadens the tempo to reveal hitherto unsuspected lyrical qualities in the material before the exuberant, gawky dance prevails again.