Samuil Feinberg the composer

[fnork]

While Feinberg remains rather well-known as an interpreter, leaving behind himself wonderful recordings of Bach, Schumann, Beethoven, Scriabin, Chopin etc, his own compositions remain litte-known. Anyone who is more or less familiar with his works - wouldn´t you agree that his music deserves more than to be the obscurity few know of...? I´ve just begun studying the 2nd piano sonata which is one of his more "accessible" pieces (both for the listener and the performer - memorizing and learning all the patterns does take some time but not nearly as much as some of the later sonatas) - if time allows I will try to learn more works of his. His sound-world might seem very cold and dark at first, but once you start hearing more of his music, you´ll find it endlessly fascinating.

Thoughts?

[fnork]

Well, the lack of response so far clearly demonstrates how obscure Feinberg´s music seems to be and how little appreciated it is. No comments whatsoever on his original works...?

[p2u_]

Samuil Feinberg the composer

Very impressive, Scriabin-like. "Underrated" composer is an understatement. I think I may try my hands on some of those. Thanks!

Paul

[j_menz]

I actually have his complete piano output in my "to be printed out and had a look out" file (amazingly large).  Sounds like a bit of Scriabin first may be a good idea.

[49410enrique]

I actually have his complete piano output in my "to be printed out and had a look out" file (amazingly large).  Sounds like a bit of Scriabin first may be a good idea.

i'd never heard of Feinberg but will now be exploring. it's funny you have a 'to be printed pile' lol sounds a lot like my Roy Agnew pile, btw if you like scriabin you should MOST DEFINATELY explore him, he was heavily influenced by Scriabin

sadly this is one of the only recordings i can find over here, (he 's australian so most likely it is far easier to find over there than in the US).

[j_menz]

Thanks enrique.  I now have a few more pieces in my "to print" file.  Must say I would have thought everyone had one these days.

I looked for his printed music , and yes it can be bought here reasonably easily, but its BLOODY EXPENSIVE!!!  Sadly, so much Australian music is, and IMSLP is pretty useless as most of it is still copyright. Got a sample from pianorarescores cheap though.  At one piece a week off the list, I'll get to him in about March 2052. 

[49410enrique]

Thanks enrique.  I now have a few more pieces in my "to print" file.  Must say I would have thought everyone had one these days.

I looked for his printed music , and yes it can be bought here reasonably easily, but its BLOODY EXPENSIVE!!!  Sadly, so much Australian music is, and IMSLP is pretty useless as most of it is still copyright. Got a sample from pianorarescores cheap though.  At one piece a week off the list, I'll get to him in about March 2052.  

send me a pm with an email or let me know if you just want a link to my mediafire and i'll send you a bunch from my stash, should push you back till around 2073.

nm check your pm, try that out for preview that way if there's something there you like you can decide to buy later. sadly i do not have many of the large scale works (inlduding the sonata above) but the smaller pieces are still fabulous!

still looking into feinberg, pretty cool...

[marik1]

I believe, Feinberg was one of the greatest minds and personalities in the 20th century music. Although not nearly as famous as he deserves, this extremely modest man (to whom any sense of self promotion was completely foreign) for me is one of the finest examples of the personal and artistic integrity.

As a pianist for me he stands in the same league as Rachmaninov and Hoffmann. His thinking about music (and life) was monumental and global--he never learned "pieces", but entire volumes of pianistic literature--he had in his repertoire entire clavier Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Schumann, Scriabin, Shostakowitch... His musical intellect was simply formidable--in one concert season he could toss a few series of concerts including Beethoven 32 Sonatas, Bach entire WTK, and Scriabin all 10 Sonatas.

As a publicist besides many others he wrote a monumental work "Pianism as an Art", which in my view so far is the best essay on the topic, ever written.

In 1927 in one of Dutch magazines there was published an article "Feinberg or Stravinsky?" discussing who would pioneer new ways of music development.

While there can be seen influences and some similarities with Scriabin, I believe Feinberg's style is completely unique in many ways, and in his work he went quite a bit further than Scriabin. 

Best, M

[fnork]

Well, I´m in agreement with everything said by Marik - not only do I often go back to his own compositions but also to his marvellous recordings of the standard repertoire as well as his writings about it. I have come across several texts which have been translated, but as far as I know, the book "pianism as art" is only in the process of being translated to english - is that so...? Perhaps you know more on this topic, marik.
I wish I had something like Feinberg´s monstruous learning abilities - but in any case, he sets a good example and writes very intelligently on how to go about learning new pieces, practicing and so on...

[f flat minor]

He's one of the greatest composers, his early sonatas typically sound like Scriabin and late sonatas like Beethoven, also speaking of him, can someone please answer this question? sorry to bother: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=68576.0