Romantic Piano Concertos Series Hyperion

[kyjo]

After so much generic music, it's nice to turn to the really distinctive concerto by Alnaes, which I've known since checking this CD out of my college campus library 15 years ago. It's quite an eccentric concerto. The melodies have unusual shapes - Nordic, we could say? - and the first movement has a triumphant ebullience that is usually reserved for finales. There is a cyclical element in that a particularly memorable (if somewhat sentimental) tune from the first movement returns in the slow movement, and there is certainly an element of early Hollywood to some passages. (Alnaes died before Hollywood scores took off; the booklet does not say when the piano concerto was written, except that it was after 1900.)

This piece is so distinctive and so much tremendous fun that even the less successful bits are forgiveable. And I haven't even mentioned the delightful waltz finale. In a weird way, I feel like Alnaes concerto fans and George Lloyd symphony fans should be a mostly overlapping circle. The big tunes, splashy orchestration, overall optimistic worldview, and vague feeling that maybe this should be a guilty pleasure, like eating a rich dessert instead of your vegetables...

To the bolded text - that's an entirely fair assumption, at least in my case! Glad you enjoyed the Alnaes concerto, which, as I've mentioned before, is one of my most treasured PCs in the whole repertoire. I love how the life-affirming, ebullient nature of the outer movements is perfectly balanced by the somber, even tragic tone of the slow movement. Not to mention the plethora of memorable tunes that the work contains, especially in the waltz-like finale. Don't hesitate to check out Alnaes' two symphonies which are just as tuneful and enjoyable. They've both been recorded on Sterling Records, and the 1st exists in a marginally preferable recording on LAWO Classics (coupled with the PC).

[Brian]

Oops! It had to happen sometime! I listened to these, wrote a review post here, saved the draft to my drafts folder, and then forgot about it and the draft auto-deleted. So my notes are gone. But I think these were memorable enough I can describe them again without listening a second time.

The Bowen concertos are exactly why this series exists. They were vivid, colorful, and in the case of the 18-minute one-movement No. 3 "Fantasia," very energetic and full of tunes. No. 4 is more "legendary," in the sense that it has the mysterious medieval vibe of some Bax tone poems or impressionist Vaughan Williams. It's mostly slower and quieter, thus not a piece likely to be in concert halls often/ever, so it's great to have this disc. Danny Driver does exceptional work.

The Jadassohn pieces are both short and the First especially is like a konzertstuck - very very short fast intro, slow movement, "Ballade" finale. Darn it, I know I wrote something interesting about the "Ballade" and about the Second Concerto, but I don't remember them at all. Ugh! I do remember the Draeseke concerto was very post-Brahmsish and satisfyingly hefty. Guess this wasn't as memorable but I do have a positive feeling about it.



Julius Benedict was a German who studied with Hummel, settled in London, and frequently performed his own concertos. (The E flat was expanded from a concertino, and you can kind of tell because it has a 17-minute first movement.) His first concerto, in C minor, has Hummel's easy lyricism and gentle demeanor (the minor key is not very threatening), and there are some nice touches, like the surprising early entry of the piano and the piano-cello duet that forms the second theme. The second concerto, the one expanded, did not really need expansion. That huge first movement is rather sleepy except for the big central cadenza. And, honestly, so is the rest.

Walter Macfarren was a Brit inspired by Mendelssohn, and his brief Concertstuck is at its most interesting at the beginning, when the E minor key gives it unusual flavor.

Hyperion's PR material for this disc says that it's proof that the UK was not as barren a musical wasteland as its reputation suggests in the pre-Elgar era. I'm not so sure.



Both of Wilhelm Stenhammar's concertos are big (45 and 30 minutes), bold (in B flat minor and D minor), and symphonic (in four movements). The First starts with a simple two-chord interval motto, and then the piano soloist takes off. The first movement is mostly moderate in tempo and temperature, but has some cool moments. There's a quick scherzo and then a slow nocturne that has some really magical muted-violin romantic moments at the end. The finale seems a little too stuck in the shadow of Brahms' First Concerto, except for a moonlit Nordic andante in the center and a surprising quiet ending. Ultimately the piece feels overlong and overbaked, and I think you could salvage a great 30-minute concerto from it with some editing. Not bad for an Op. 1, however!

No. 2 has a strange structure; it starts quietly with the piano soloist, and then the orchestra tries to change the key. Throughout what the booklet calls an "improvisatory" structure, the piano and orchestra fight over what key the piece should be in, with the pianist of course winning in the end and opting for a victorious D Major finale with a tremendous Big Tune. There are all sorts of twists and turns. It's a truly bizarre piece, but I say that as a compliment: it's unpredictable, ear-catching, and super entertaining. I might try the rival Naxos recording.



Well, of course, we all know at least one of these. Stephen Hough's complete cycle is excellent, and it's also super-complete: the Second is recorded with the original uncut slow movement, then supplemented with the heavily cut version that was recorded 50+ years ago, and also a version edited by Hough himself to, he thinks, improve the balance between the three soloists in this movement. He gives a justification in the booklet but my ears are too familiar with the original (No. 2 is my favorite of the concertos) to give it a fair hearing.

Tempos are fast across the board, and this approach comes off much better than in Hough's Saint-Saens cycle. There are a couple of solo song transcriptions for encores, too. I suspect that everyone already has their own cycles of this music and there's not much purpose to a detailed review here. I like this one.

EDIT: Looks like I am on pace to finish this listening project around mid-March