Reubke - Piano Sonata in B-flat minor (Part 2/3)

Piano Sonata in B-flat minor (1857)

My apologies for the faded and low-quality edition of the score. Some pages are not very legible, but one can still follow without too much strain.

Julius Reubke (1834-1858), like Tausig, was a Liszt pupil with enormous potential who died too early to make a significant mark on music history. In his Liszt biography, Alan Walker mentions that Reubke was once Liszt's favorite pupil and that he was also considered a genius in the Liszt circle. Only a handful of his compositions have survived the ravages of time and almost none are played today.

One might get the impression that there were no other important large-scale monothematic sonatas written after Liszt's. Draeseke's and Lyapunov's come to mind, but I think Reubke's Piano Sonata, dedicated to Liszt himself, is the greater specimen. In Alan Walker's estimation, the Reubke sonata is "a work of formidable originality." William Newman, in his Sonata Since Beethoven volume, also gives a good evaluation of the work: "Reubke's greatest talent appears in his impressively sonorous use of the piano, especially his dramatic rhapsodic thrusts, his ingenious runs, and his stentorian chords." If I could make a list of the top ten piano sonatas of the latter half of the 19th-century, I would instantly name Reubke's. I can't understand why it is still on the fringe of the literature.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• reubke
• tausig
• d'albert
• sauer
• liszt
• chopin
• alkan
• henselt
• schumann
• piano
• sonata

[cerzule]

I can't believe how beautiful and intricate this piece is. It's a hidden treasure of the Romantic era.

[sshuck]

This pianist is pretty good. He really brings out the inner Liszt Sonata in the piece. :)

[Dante121892]

I CAN'T BELIEVE THERE'S A PART TWO TO THIS SONATA!!!!!!



[JPBerger71]

@googlekopfkind

No, Julius Reubke, but he learned from Liszt. Died really early.

[JPBerger71]

Is it Jean Guillou?

[cedricrlongreen]

3:38 reminds me so much of Liszt Sonata (slow secton)

[pyroprince78]

This is such an incredibly beautiful piece. Maybe it's not so popular, however, because it's repetitive in some ways. I wish Reubke had done some more editing.

[afertyus1000]

@sshuck yes pretty good? a lot of an understatement

[googlekopfkind]

liszt ?????

[yuehchopin]

danke