Do you like Brahms? Around the "Master" gravitated admirers, friends, sometimes labeled as "imitators", and among them we find Herzogenberg and Gernsheim. But where the first appears complex, tormented, cerebral, applied almost too conscientious, second proves skillful, much lighter, thanks to a clear sense of melody. Gernsheim therefore best illustrates this classic German school, attached to traditional forms and chamber music, and the two piano quartets are genuine nuggets. The bilingual leaflet (English-German) is richly documented, and seeks to rehabilitate a composer victim of his friendship with Brahms First, which left him in the dark, and his ostracism from the world of music by the Nazis (for Gernsheim was Jewish). This little-known composer, contemporary of Max Bruch, is therefore a proponent of the tradition that rises from Wagner operas: not join any school can sometimes interfere with posterity. The sound offers a more pleasant listening, in the heart of the quartet, without an instrument crushes others.
Here you will hear a very cleverly composed music, with a successful dialogue between the instruments, and an obvious sense of melody. It is colorful, warm, causing too; slow movements, placed third, are poetic and elegant, and the interpretation adopted, subtle, nuanced, them justice. The balance between an early work and a work of maturity sufficient to illustrate the qualities of Gernsheim, also inspired, melodic and elegant in both cases. This great music, offered for the first time on CD, why hide his pleasure? This disc also invited to explore the repertoire of this composer: it is a faultless!