Presumable "First recording" of J.L.Nicodés (1853-1919) Pianosonata op.19

[Steffen Fahl]

I would like to share with you the knowledge of an quite intresting late romantic Pianosonata by Jean Louis Nicodé. He is most famous for his enormous  "Gloria-Symphony" op.34 which lasts more than two hours and is even larger instrumentated than Mahlers 8. Symphony already some years before Mahler even startet with his "Symphony of the thousands".

This Pianosonata is not that bombastic, but it shows a master of romantic contrapunct. Therefore it is in my opinion a musical quite interesting and nearly never heard piece. Here you can listen the complete recording:
Jean Louis Nicodé Sonata in f-minor op.19
I hope you like it.
best
Steffen

P.S.: If someone is interested in the score i might perhaps mail him a copy.

[stevebob]

That’s interesting.

I was only aware of Nicodé in connection with his arrangement of Chopin’s Allegro de Concert Op. 46 for piano and orchestra.  (I’ve seen the score, though I’ve never heard a recording of it—and always felt skeptical about its augmentation with a significant amount of Nicodé’s own material.)

Anyway, thanks for posting this.

[thalbergmad]

P.S.: If someone is interested in the score i might perhaps mail him a copy.

No need as the score was scanned by me old mate Malc and posted on Pianophilia.

I will give your recording a listen to later.

Thal

[Steffen Fahl]

Hi Stevebob,
Yes I forgot that Chopin allegro is even more probable that pianists may have heard about. I myself am not such a friend of late romantic orchestrations of earlier Works, meanwhile I've got the impression, there is still some instristing original music from that time to discover.
I myself always looked for anything comparable to the phenomen Mahler, who ingeniusly knew to combine the "modern" aproach of Liszt with the traditional skills of Brahms etc. Of course I would hesitate to call Nicodé a Mahler of the piano. But this Interest encouraged me to give Nicodé a try. An nevertheless, his counterpoint at least is quite ambitious.

Hi Thalbergmad,
Great this copy is even better than mine. Did you know if there is anyone who has recorded this piece at all. At least I cant find any hint at all about any recording.
best
Steffen

[thalbergmad]

Only listened to the first movement and this is really very appealing indeed. Hits you with an instantly memorable melody and does not let you go.

Very fine playing as well in my opinion.

It warms my heart when someone digs up something like this. So much more interesting than a 9 billionth Moonlight.

Well done Sir.

Thal

[retrouvailles]

I, too, am glad someone dug this one up. I downloaded the score ages ago on Pianophilia and was waiting for a recording. I will definitely report back with some comments later.

[retrouvailles]

I liked the piece, but I was extremely disappointed that this is a synthesized version (which obviously fooled Thal, nevertheless). Is there any chance that you might actually perform this piece on a live piano in a concert hall? A piece like this could really use that. I feel that I could perhaps comment further on it in those circumstances, for it sounds very dull and lifeless right now, in terms of performance (which is the case with pretty much all synth versions).

[thalbergmad]

which obviously fooled Thal, nevertheless.

HAHA, it did fool me, but I comfort myself slightly that i was 3 sheets to the wind at the time.

Thal

[Steffen Fahl]

 
Oh, my goodness!
fahl5