Is it me or is henselt 200 years before his time?

[tompilk]

His piano concerto is amazing, yes, but what about his hair-do too? This is 200 years ago!

[jre58591]

he indeed was ahead of his time. he lived at the exact same time as chopin, but its so much more advanced and technically difficult. dont lose sight of the musicality though. it sounds a lot like something from the late 1800s rather than the early 1800s.

[opus10no2]

I disagree, Chopin was an incredibly innovative composer and alot more advanced than Henselt.

Listen to Chopin's op35 finale, or the 14th prelude op28, Harmonic innovations way ahead of their time.

Henselt wrote some great music, but his greatest innovations were pianistic, in the uniqueness of his piano writing. The demanding figurations show he must have had unusual hands.

[jre58591]

he did have unusual hands. he was described as having small, fleshy fingers, but he could reach an 11th (fullchords too) with both hands, he could reach something like B-E-A-C-E in his left, and he reflected that in his works.

here is an interesting tidbit of info: the theme from rachmaninoff's famous c sharp minor prelude comes from henselt's piano concerto. specifically, it comes from the descending octave grace notes in the entrance of the piano. its not just something i noticed and noted, but it is mentioned in hyperion's booklet for this concerto.

[tompilk]

he did have unusual hands. he was described as having small, fleshy fingers, but he could reach an 11th (fullchords too) with both hands, he could reach something like B-E-A-C-E in his left, and he reflected that in his works.

here is an interesting tidbit of info: the theme from rachmaninoff's famous c sharp minor prelude comes from henselt's piano concerto. specifically, it comes from the descending octave grace notes in the entrance of the piano. its not just something i noticed and noted, but it is mentioned in hyperion's booklet for this concerto.

ah yes! this is also mentioned in lewenthal's talk about the piece... very interesting...
tom