ADOLF VON HENSELT (1814-1889)

PIANO WORKS

SERGIO GALLO

“Henselt's music is very elegant and always leaves me with a sense of gentle melancholy. I can find so many possibilities for harmonic color and counterpoint in his piano compositions. During his lifetime, he was very well regarded by celebrated musicians of his day such as Clara Schumann (with whom he performed duets with), Liszt and Balakirev.  Nowadays, we rarely hear his beautiful music, and I hope this recording will help create greater interest for this important romantic composer.” – Sergio Gallo

Listen to an extract from Wiegenlied
GP661

ADOLF VON HENSELT
(1814-1889)

About this Recording

Bavarian-born Adolf von Henselt was one of a galaxy of star pianist-composers of a similar age that included Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Thalberg. A student of Hummel, Henselt developed a breathtaking, idiosyncratic virtuoso technique but stage fright drew him away from performance and more towards composition and then teaching. Moving to St Petersburg in 1838, he established, with Anton Rubinstein, a truly Russian school of pianism. His piano works embrace ferocious technical studies as well as romantic salon pieces that led Schumann to dub Henselt ‘the Chopin of the North’.

1
WIEGENLIED (Lullaby), OP. 45 (04:08)
2
PETITE ROMANCE * (01:24)
3
10 PIÈCES, OP. 13:
No. 2. Étude ‘La Gondola’ (02:07)
4
2 NOCTURNES, OP. 6:
No. 1. ‘Schmerz im Glück’ (03:04)
12 ÉTUDES CARACTÉRISTIQUES, OP. 2 (Excerpts) (06:47)
5
No. 6 in F sharp major, ‘Si oiseau j’étais, à toi je volerais!’ (02:04)
6
No. 3 in B minor, ‘Exauce mes vœux!’ (03:11)
7
No. 4 in B flat major, ‘Repos d’amour’ (01:32)
8
VALSE MÉLANCOLIQUE, OP. 36 (05:28)
2 PETITES VALSES, OP. 28 (05:42)
9
No. 1 in F major (02:34)
10
No. 2 in C major * (03:08)
11
WALTZ (Johann Strauss I, transcr. by A. Henselt for Piano) (01:27)
12
ROMANCE RUSSE IN D MINOR, OP. 33B
‘YA VSYO YESHCHO YEGO LYUBLYO’
(Dargomizhsky, transcr. by A. Henselt for Piano) * (02:57)
12 ÉTUDES DE SALON, OP. 5 (Excerpts) (04:20)
13
No. 3 in A minor, ‘Hexentanz’ (01:52)
14
No. 9 in A major (02:28)
15
12 ÉTUDES CARACTÉRISTIQUES, OP. 2:
No. 2 in D flat major ‘Pensez un peu à moi, qui pense toujours à vous’ (02:57)
16
12 ÉTUDES DE SALON, OP. 5:
No. 6 in A flat major ‘Danklied nach Sturm’ (07:21)
17
RHAPSODIE, OP. 4, NO. 1
‘ERINNERUNG UND FREUNDSCHAFT’
(Remembrance and friendship) (02:20)
18
AUFFORDERUNG ZUM TANZ
(Invitation to the Dance), OP. 65, J. 260
(Carl Maria von Weber, transcr. by A. Henselt for Piano) * (09:05)
* WORLD PREMIÈRE RECORDINGS

TOTAL TIME: 59:07

SERGIO GALLO

A Steinway artist, Sergio Gallo specializes in the repertoire of the Romantic period, especially Liszt and his contemporaries, including Schumann, Henselt, Brahms, and Chopin. Gallo has made several acclaimed recordings for Eroica, and a recent release with Naxos of Liszt’s transcriptions of opera by Meyerbeer, which was critically acclaimed by BBC Magazine: “Gallo makes a good case for Liszt’s honouring of the operatic originals” (Naxos 8.573235). Gallo has performed with orchestras throughout the Americas and worldwide. He is the winner of concerto competitions of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and of the University Symphony in Santa Barbara. He holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara (1998) and is Associate Professor of Piano Performance at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

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