Gernsheim: Violin Sonatas [CD de audio] Stefan Kirpal and Friedrich Gernsheim

The music of the German composer, conductor, performer and music director Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916), unlike his more successful contemporaries, Camille Saint-Saëns and Max Bruch, has never achieved the popularity its quality deserves. Although his compositions display the intelligence, discipline, and complexity of his great friend and inspiration, Johannes Brahms, Gernsheim's music fell into disuse after his death, as avant-garde composers gave way to a new style that eclipsed his Romantic works. However, as this excellent new recording of music for violin and piano demonstrates, the decline in Gernsheim's popularity is even more surprising when his music is considered. Spanning his entire musical career, the 2-disc set encompasses youthful promise (the early Andante, composed when he was just 14), energetic virtuosity (Introduction and Allegro Appassionato), yearning beauty (Violin Sonata No. 1) and mature, masterful control of artistic means (Violin Sonata No. 4). Throughout, Gernsheim's skill as a virtuoso violinist and pianist can be felt, given apt expression by brother duo Stefan and Andreas Kirpal, whose perfectly matched techniques and timbres combine to create a recording of finesse and polish.