Hermann Berens: School of Velocity, Op. 61 No. 6

Hermann Berens (1826-1880) was a Swedish Romantic pianist, composer, and teacher. He was born in Germany, but spent most of his life in Sweden, where he taught at the Royal Academy of Stockholm and the Stockholm Conservatory. Although Berens composed a wide range of music, including an opera and three operettas, he is mostly remembered today for his large amount of piano pieces and technical studies, including this set of etudes. A very gifted pianist, Berens was the student of Carl Gottlieb Reissiger and Carl Czerny, and many of his etudes, including this one, are very much in the same style of Czerny. Although this etude does uses some scales, it focuses mostly on evenness of 5-finger position playing. Again seeming to complement or complete Czerny's more famous School of Velocity, Op. 299, this etude seems to mirror Czerny's Op. 299 No. 7, which features ascending left hand 5-finger patters. Here Berens inverts the procedure, and uses mostly right hand descending 5-finger patterns. Grade: 10 Grade levels for this project are taken from Jane Magrath’s “Piano Literature for Teaching and Performance: A Graded Guide and Annotated Bibliography” Recorded March 2025 Dr. Sean Cavanaugh, piano --------------------------------------------------- This score can be found on IMSLP here: https://imslp.org/wiki/Neueste_Schule...) --------------------------------------------------- Other sets of etudes recorded on this channel: --------------------------------------------------- Level 2 - 3 Czerny: 24 5-Finger Exercises, Op. 777    • Czerny: Op. 777 No. 1   --------------------------------------------------- Level 4 – 5 Streabbog: 12 Very Easy Melodious Studies, Op. 63    • Streabbog: 12 Very Easy Melodious Stu...   Streabbog: 12 Easy Melodious Studies, Op. 64    • Streabbog: 12 Easy Melodious Studies,...   Duvernoy: 25 Elementary Studies, Op. 176    • Duvernoy: Etude Op. 176 No. 1   Concone: 25 Melodic Studies, Op. 24    • Giuseppe Concone: 25 Melodic Studies,...   --------------------------------------------------- Level 6 – 7 Le Couppey: L'Agilité (25 Etudes), Op. 20    • Le Couppey: L'Agilité Etude Op. 20 No. 1   Bertini: 25 Easy and Progressive Studies, Op. 100    • Bertini: Etude Op. 100 No. 1   Köhler: Short School of Velocity (20 etudes), Op. 242    • Köhler: Etude Op. 242 No. 1   --------------------------------------------------- Level 8 – 9 Wollenhaupt: 5 Etudes, Op. 22    • Hermann A. Wollenhaupt: Etude in A-fl...   --------------------------------------------------- Level 10+ Czerny: 25 Left Hand Studies, Op. 718    • Czerny: Left Hand Etude, Op. 718 No. 1   Berens: School of Velocity, Op. 61    • Hermann Berens: School of Velocity, O...