Eileen Joyce plays Franz Liszt’s Gnomenreigen S145

Franz Liszt’s Gnomenreigen, Dance of the Gnomes, was the second of Zwei Konzertstudien published in 1863. Its companion piece is Walderauschen or the Forest Murmurs. The Liszt specialist Leslie Howard has suggested that both “are musical poems of great imagination whose technical application seems quite secondary.” That said, the briefest glance at the score will reveal some considerable difficulties for the pianist. 

The Studies were composed over a two-year period. They were dedicated to his pupil Dionys Pruckner (1834-96) and were first published in the Siegmund Lebert and Ludwig Stark piano method. The titles of these two studies were not indicated on the manuscript. 

It has been suggested that Gnomenreigen owes its inspiration to Mendelssohn, “the prince of fairy revels.” Certainly, there is much of the magic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in these pages. Its main technical challenge (apart from the notes) is creating a sense of charm and a fantastic light-footed step.

Formally, Gnomenreigen is composed as a modified rondo with two principal themes.  It has been analysed as being A B A B C A B coda. The first theme presents the gnomes and their frolics, whilst the second is a little more relaxed but equally fleet footed.

Eileen Joyce made two recordings of Liszt’s Gnomenreigen. The first was issued on a 78-rpm record, R1965. This was coupled with the beautiful arrangement of Richard Strauss’s Ständchen, op.17 no.2 made by Walter Gieseking. Both were recorded on 6 September 1934. Some 25 years later, Joyce made her second version of Gnomenreigen on Saga XID 5007. This was released on Eileen Joyce: My Favourite Encores in 1959. It has been repackaged several times.

The Gramophone magazine was impressed by both records. C.M.C. (December 1934, p.262) writes that “This excellent pianist gives us one of the very best records of one of Liszt 's most popular pieces. Perhaps it may be possible for me to compare this with the two or three best of the countless other records of Gnomenreigen.” He was equally generous to the Strauss song transcription. Reviewing the 1959 recording, Roger Fiske suggested that “It will be enough for Eileen Joyce's many admirers to read the contents list of her Favourite Encores… to make it a certain purchase for them. They will be rewarded, in particular, with charming performances of Beethoven's Fur Elise, Liszt's Gnomenreigen, Faure's Impromptu (best of all) and Dohnányi’s Rhapsody: and, no doubt, they will not bother with what a critic may have to say about the rest…” (The Gramophone, October 1959, p.182)

Eileen Joyce’s 1934 spell-binding performance can be heard on YouTube. The entire album of her Favourite Encores under a later repackaging can be  heard here. Scroll down.