Cornelius Gurlitt - Mimoses, Op.113

This is set of 12 great pieces - if the quality stays like this, Gurlitt will be, next to Rebikov, my favourite discovery in this year! The compositions are borrowing a lot of techniques from Schumann, Liszt and Chopin. Sometimes I think I hear even citations or direct variations on pieces by them. I will make a short list of descriptions in the following. The pieces were released 1881.
0:00 Cascade
The set starts with an etude like piece where the melody lies in both thumbs, alternating. The rise at 1:27 can be found in Chopins music.
1:51 Babbling Brook - Rieselnder Bach
not much to say here - it is a beautiful piece with a common main figure.
4:15 Nocturne
I think the tempo written is too fast to be a nocturne... I played it slower. Starting at 6:10 is a typical falling Chopin figure, don't know right now where for example this can be found, but pretty sure it appears in a Nocturne also.
7:16 Love-Song - Liebeslied
10:56 Elegy
I think the inspiration from Chopins Nocturne op.9/2 here it very obvious. This is what I would call citation at several parts, without going into detail. Honestly, if you listen to that with your eyes closed, one could have difficulties to identify this as NOT Chopin, at least listening to certain passages. And 12:40 onwards is just well made :))
13:58 Valse Noble
This Valse also bears similarities to Chopin's style. Especially the wonderful B flat minor passage
16:45 Sleepless Night - Schlaflose Nächte
By FAR the most difficult piece in the set and more resembling Schumann I think. But it reminded me especially of Liszt Transcendental Etude "Wilde Jagd" near the end. 18:10 is just nasty. Really quite difficult.
19:38 Summer Hours - Im Sommer
What impresses me so much about this piece is, how fitting the description seems. When I think back about the long summer evenings, sitting around at the river and eating an ice, thinking a bit melancholic of the situations and just happy to be there, this fits wonderfully. The whole piece is just so warm.
23:07 Resignation
Chopin Wrong Note Etude, thats all I'm going to say :)
26:30 The Fountain - Die Fontaine
This is just fun to play. I really like Gurlitts arrangement here, which is not like "a a a a, b b b b, c c c c", all played by the thumbs, but leaves room for interpretations where the melodic line seems to continue just forever (realised by rubato for example) - like a real fountain which doesn't stop and has a lot of irregularities.
28:05 Funeral March - Trauermarsch
32:26 Barcarole
The side theme is really beautiful here I think :) Very elegant, with that sudden melancholic moment where it goes from the tonic to c minor, but immediately lightens up in F and B.
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By the way, I bought a new stand for my keyboard! It was really expensive but I think totally worth it, because I noticed that the cheap stand led to a lot of shaking around which reduced my dynamic possibilities, as my force of a ff was mainly swallowed by the stand. This was bad. Now I have a lot more control over the dynamics ; also I was able to decrease my latency to 13 ms, it feels now a LOT more realistic to play... why these changes after almost 400 videos though ughh.., well better than nothing.

[@kalospiano9470]

Gurlitt really has some hidden gems. His easiest works are excellent material for practicing sight reading and his more complex stuff is filled with wonderful melodies. I wish I could read this opus as easily as you :) Totally agree on the clear references to chopin btw, especially in the Elegy, and also Schumann sprinkled a bit everywhere

[@c.d.w.5075]

An extremely exciting and refreshing composer. It's a shame he's so unknown, he deserves to be played more and known to a wider audience. I only discovered him through you, thank you. I think it's great that you're bringing such treasures of music literature back to light and making them known👍👏👏👏

[@stefthepest]

Gorgeous tunes. I’m a sucker for Romantic piano but I’ve never played Gurlitt, definitely one to try.

[@mckernan603]

Who doesn’t love mimosas! 🥂

[@tainokreb5200]

Happiest elegy right here! Also, 13:25 is definitely inspired by Chopin Ballade no.1

[@efucosiche]

I downloaded the pdf and i’m enjoying so much this opera! It's magnificent. Nocturne summer hours and babbling Brook are my favorite. Thanks for share to the world this gem! Your way to play is sublime. Bravo!

[@philnewberry8072]

I truly appreciate your channel. Thank you for sharing these beautiful pieces.

[@didierbertrand5031]

What a delightful set of charming pieces, quite adequately played. Thank you so much.

[@nicholasstojanoff856]

So many wonderful composers for the salon piano that it was a highly productive cottage industry played on the best pianos.

[@dot8209]

Thank you for this wonderful video! Great to hear you have a new stand. A few years ago my flimsy one snapped- a sturdy stand is absolutely worth it! Especially when it comes to octaves. Enjoy 🙂

[@Tristan-zt8tw]

Well played, thanks!

[@empireentertainmentevents1353]

Cornelius Gurlitt? Who is this guy?? Wow....what an incredible composer he was. Thx GAMMA 1734 for uploading your beautiful playing here and showing us who he was. Your channel has got to be among the most amazing GEMS in KZbin!

[@TheALIMARS]

In the Nocturne, that falling lick is from Chopin D flat major Nocturne

[@a.plekhanov]

You are incredible! Thank you!

[@PianoScoreVids]

enjoy:)

[@WowFan991]

I really like Babbling Brook and Nocturne. Im not very well versed in music, but Gurlitt sounds very modern to me.

[@magnus2047]

Most under rated composer. Absolutely sumptuous.

[@DottoreSM]

the nocturne is beautiful

[@BeautifulClassics]

Stunning music. I'm speechless.

[@armybirds]

wow the bass at 2:22 is beautiful, so strong yet not harsh

[@armybirds]

what kind of piano do you have?

[@PianoScoreVids]

@@armybirds this one I played on the Native Instruments The Giant virtual piano,

[@smb925]

These are really charming pieces and I wish mainstream pianists would perform them more ! And, you performed them very well, bravo 👏

[@antonhosinsky3090]

Absolutely! It is so sad that pianists always go for the same Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin etc., when there is so much wonderful music out there. I am training sight reading with tons of etudes I´ve found on the IMSLP website, and I´ve reached the conclusion that 90% of the pianists perform 10% of the piano repertorire that exists. Something of a Top 40 mentality, ouch.

[@WowFan991]

@@antonhosinsky3090 Wish I could sight read well enough to explore that repertoire :(

[@rainday6]

Great find! Some almost ragtime-like syncopations in the beat on some of these pieces.

[@Flickyflacky]

It Sounds like Schumann. Beautiful music ❤

[@DaNkOcCcC]

Ein Traum - Glückwunsch zu 10.000 Abos

[@PianoScoreVids]

danke :)

[@user-db2tp3xf8n]

グルリット 可愛らしい❤好き😆😊

[@antonhosinsky3090]

Sight reading has always been my achilles heel and as I lost my job due to Covid I now have more time for the piano so I have downloaded tons of etudes, and Gurlitt´s collections are between the nicest and most musical. After hearing this I certainly have something to look forwards too! Now, I do have one question: the little "+" symbol that appears over certain notes, what does that indicate? I´ve seen it in many different editions from the late 19th Century but never in modern ones. Do you know?

[@PianoScoreVids]

Hope you can use the time in a useful and nice way. It's a really good question, I have also never really figured out what it means.

[@weasel004]

Great question, I think it's an older fingering system "+1234" where the "+" symbol refers to thumb (notice there are no "5" in the score, so in order to transform the fingering into the modern "12345" notation, one has to always add 1... :)).

[@antonhosinsky3090]

@@weasel004 Oh thank you! Stupid of me to not realize there´s no 5 anywhere. I will try it out.

[@mairaleikarte43]

Yes, that's an old-school fingering. +1234=12345. Guitarists nowdays still use 1234 for the "normal long fingers" and "o" for thumb. If you get used to this, it's actually really comfortable for the eye to catch where the thumb goes.

[@eldiev2996]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@pianoforteyt]

Hi, You played this right? That was so awesome!! May i ask, what vst or sound software did you use? The tone of this piano is beautiful! :)

[@PianoScoreVids]

yes, i played that! It was the Native Instruments The Giant plugin

[@elizabethdelara6786]

So very beeautiful,where have you found these treasures,in old music books.if so could you share with us.I have lots of old books but I stick to the best known composers.Pardon my curiosity what instrument do you have.

[@smplxty]

Elegy sounds like Chopin's Nocturne 9/2 but with a bunch of decorations

[@andres890503]

In need this sheets music... 🤣😂🤣

[@nir1man]

What keyboard do you play on?

[@PianoScoreVids]

I think at that time I had a Yamaha P45, but maybe already the kawai es8. The first keyboard was a Dgx 550 or something which was worth 120 dollar and had almost no weighting. Itwas rough doing the videos back then.

[@TrebleWoofer1]

What VST piano are you using to record these with? The bass sounds a bit sharp in timbre

[@benzandpour]

I call this "Bootleg Chopin".

[@none5020]

The way you wrote the description makes it seem like you think this guy's only inspiration is Chopin and nothing else.

[@PianoScoreVids]

sorry i probably copy pasted it from Wikipedia. i don't remember what's written there but if it's as you describe then indeed disagree. happens sometimes but normally i read everything i post.

[@none5020]

@@PianoScoreVids Link please? I can't find it.

[@efraingarcia1969]

Gurlitt has a great influence of Schumann. I've been studing, analyzing and recording many of his pieces and I am sure he took many musical ideas from Schumann. Anyway, Cornelius Gurlitt was a great composer and wrote so many beautiful works for piano.

[@FrancoDiNitto]

Is this a digital piano?:)

[@PianoScoreVids]

yes, i play most videos on a digital piano