The tragically short-lived Hermann Goetz (1840-1876) made a modest comeback on disc back in the early 1990s when CPO brought out his complete orchestral works, concertos, and piano chamber music. Twenty years later pianist and scholar Christof Keymer offers the most comprehensive possible collection of the composer’s piano music. A 1970s release by Adrian Ruiz on the Genesis label purported to encompass Goetz’s complete piano music, and it was, insofar as it covers the works with opus numbers. Here, however, Keymer unearths nearly another hour’s worth of material, including short youthful pieces, several fragmentary works (tastefully completed by Keymer himself), and the composer’s own piano reduction of the Act 2 Prelude for his comic opera Der Wilderspenstigen Zähmung.
The pianist also includes Waldmärschen-ein Klavierstücke, an overly long, vaguely Schumann-esque rhapsody. Another youthful tome, the four-themed Alwinen-Polka resembles what jaded, half-asleep ballet class pianists usually improvise. On the other hand, the 1861 D minor Fantasie evokes the young Brahms’ ambitious keyboard grasp and pent-up volatility. By contrast, the attractively tuneful three-movement Sonatines and small-piece cycles Genrebilder Op. 13 and Lose Blätter Op. 7 follow the tradition of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, although the latter opus’ Ihr Flüchtigen Winde, Wohin, Wohin? could be mistaken for a less harmonically edgy excerpt from Schumann’s Fantasiestücke. Keymer may not be the most scintillating pianist among Goetz’s few champions on disc, yet there’s no questioning his clean technique, full-bodied sonority, and musical integrity, together with CPO’s informative annotations and fine sonics.
