Is anyone here familiar with the Dohnanyi Etudes? I have read that he was an ingenius and meticulous pedagogist and that his works are pre-eminently pianistic.

I thought that they might be of great pianistic value: are they?

The Op. 28 Etudes are descendents of the Chopin Etudes and the later 12 studies were meant to fill the gap betweem Gradus Ad Parnassum and the Chopin Etudes.

Regards,

Daniel

I'll give this a bit of a bump- is no one familiar with Dohnanyi?

I can't say I've heard of him, and in addition, have no access to his scores or any recordings; however, I'm quite interested, and would be glad to look into him.

He wrote serveral techinque studies that I enjoy playing through. Never heard of his etudes.
He has a concerto though...

The last of the op. 28 set is the famous Capriccio that many pianists have used as an encore showpiece; I think some people would recognize it if they heard it, without knowing what it was. It's probably the least etude-like of the group, in that there's not just one obvious technical issue being dealt with, but several (at least to my way of looking at it). The rest of the etudes in that set tackle some pianistic problems in a useful way, mostly one problem per etude, and there is some interesting music in it, too. I don't know the later set; I'll have to look into it.

wr

I heartily recommend the final three etudes of op. 28--Bb minor, E major, and F minor. The first three are quite interesting and, if they suit your musical tastes, well worth the technical work outs...but personally, I am not interested in them. I don't know how well they'd go over for an audience, either. But the Bb minor one is a particular gem--quite Rachmaninoffian and climatic.

Actually two concertos, Matt. E minor (Op. 5) and B minor (Op. 42).

I've read through (though never formally studied) the Op. 28 etudes. They're quite a challenge but beautifully written. I should think more pianists would want to play them.

He also wrote a fair amount of Brahmsian chamber music which I highly recommend. I have a cool CD of the Piano Quintets.

http://www.gamingforce.org/forums/musicians-library/1302-piano-etudes-preludes.html Sheet music to them is here. 1,2,4, and 5 look really, really, really, really difficult...Especially no.2.

Edit--Now that I have listened to them, all of them seem really, really difficult except for the staccato one (3 I think)

A while ago I posted an excerpt from one of his pieces, to see if anyone could identify it. Nobody did. I finally found the music for it, and was able confirm what it was.

He is a composer who went out of fashion, but it is worth knowing his music. His grandson is the well-known conductor, Christoph von Dohnanyi.

His Pastorale is amazing

I've performed the violin and piano sonata--difficult, a bit meandering, sort of a cross between Brahms and Franck in style, but certainly an interesting piece.

I've heard recordings of the Variations on a Nursery Tune (piano and orchestra)--simply one of the funniest pieces of "serious" classical music I've ever heard!

I've also spent some time hacking away at the finger exercises--tough but useful--I didn't know he wrote studies too, I'll have to look those up.

There are some recordings by Annetee Servadai on the Continuum label - they are well worth a listen. Naxos also started a Dohnanyi complete piano music set with Markus Pawlik playing volume 1 and it is amazing stuff and includes the Op.28 etudes. Volume 2 is less convincing as the sound quality is poor. I still await volume 3 which I have emailed Naxos about and had no reply as to a release date or even if it will be / has been recorded (much the same as with their Tchaikovsky piano music "complete" set)...

The six concert etudes are fabulously pianistic. I have the naxos cd but I would never attempt to play them.
Anyone who has the chops to play would probably not regret it. Firstly because they are underplayed and secondly because it's great music.

There is a lot of his music which is no more than intermediate in difficulty, and which fits well under the hand. It can be very rewarding to play.

I agree with Pootie, it's great music and underplayed. I bought op. 28 a few weeks ago, but haven't had time to study any of them yet. Planning to take on the E major etude during the christmas holidays. So far I've sight read through a few of them and they seem very pianistic and not quite as difficult as they sound.