Walter Niemann: Matrosen (Norweger beim Ankerlichten), Op.107 No.5

‘Sailors (Norwegians weighing anchor)’, #5 from ‘Hamburg: ein Zyklus von 13 Charakterstücken’, Op.107 (1926)
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Phillip Sear plays a piece somewhat in the style of Grieg from a cycle of 13 character-pieces by the German composer Walter Niemann (1876–1953).
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Niemann, who studied composition with Humperdinck and Reinecke, is best known today for his many short piano pieces, although he also wrote larger scale works. He spent much of his life in Hamburg and Leipzig. In his many piano suites, Niemann often looked to antiquity and/or exotic locations (e.g., Bali, China, Japan and many others). However, much of this music, with a preponderance of sequences of sonorous parallel chords sounds doggedly Germanic (for example, compare the relative exoticism of Godowsky’s ‘Java Suite’ as opposed to Niemann’s ‘Bali’ suite), and one imagines Niemann looking through illustrated travel journals rather than visiting the locations evoked. Nevertheless, the suites contain some genuinely beautiful moments. Niemann was excellent at portraying country landscapes, often with echoing cow-calls or church bells.

Niemann prefaces ‘Hamburg’ with these words (published translation): “This work is not intended to appeal only to people born and bred in Hamburg, nor to those well acquainted with the place, but also to any others who can appreciate an attempt at a “Characteristic Picture” of a large City, such as Hamburg, through the medium of a musical composition. The term “Characteristic Picture” describes at once the design and form of the work, which consists of a series of pieces chosen with an eye to their suitability to express, as nearly as is possible in music, the character of Hamburg’s manifold beauties, its great historic and artistic past, and some of its local features, or as we use to say: with a view to topography, history and folklore. The Composer’s aim was to produce as homogeneous a musical portrayal of Hamburg life as possible, and he hopes that, since love for his native city largely guided his pen, he may to some extent have succeeded in his purpose.”

Thumbnail image created with Wombo Dream ( https://rb.gy/ekerq ).
#germanmusic #sailors #hamburg
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Played by Phillip Sear
http://www.psear.co.uk (Email: piano4@psear.33mail.com
WhatsApp: http://wa.me/441444483794 )