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A Starter Guide to Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto Series · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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This is Jed Disler, and welcome to the Piano
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Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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A listener recently suggested that I come up
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with a list of what I thought would be the best
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and the worst releases in the Hyperion labels,
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still very much in progress and quite extensive.
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Romantic Piano Concerto Edition. And I think
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that he meant that he wanted me to mention the
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best works as well as the worst works, meaning
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pieces that were not worth learning and recording
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and not worthy of the time and the talents of
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many of the participating pianists. But I'm usually
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hesitant to come up with lists of things like
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the least interesting compositions represented
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in a series. Because for starters, I never think
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that it's a good idea to devote time and effort
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to something negative, especially a lot of time
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and effort and research to something that's basically
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negative. But... What if I focus instead on,
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let's say, five releases in this series that
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feature worthwhile music and persuasive performances?
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I think that would be a much better way to guide
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listeners who are just getting started with the
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Hyperion Romantic Concerto series. Or for those
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collectors who are curious about the series yet
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don't know where to start. And I could see why
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it would be... kind of daunting to know where
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to start because there are so many volumes. Now,
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I'm going to avoid on this episode talking about
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better known repertoire that's in the series,
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such as the Tchaikovsky concertos or the Rachmaninoff
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concertos, because I think it's more valuable
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to focus on lesser known, yet still very interesting
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and worthwhile compositions. I'm also limiting
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myself to five releases. for this talk, for this
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episode, mainly so that I don't have to repeat
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any pianists. So we will talk about five pianists,
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as well as five releases, because... In this
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series, there are some pianists who crop up time
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and again. So we're going to start with my first
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suggestion, my first of five recommendations.
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And this is volume 42 in the series. It features
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two concertos, the piano concerto in D major
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by Ewald Alnes. and the piano concerto in D -flat
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major by Christian Sinding. And these are performed
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by Pierce Lane at the piano and Andrew Litton
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conducting the Bergen Symphony Orchestra. When
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it came to large forms, Christian Sinding was
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not... exactly a great, great master. And it
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probably says a lot that when you live into your
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80s and you compose prolifically, and the only
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piece of yours that has wound up staying in the
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repertoire is a little piano miniature called
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Russell of Spring. Well, if that's the case,
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then obviously there's something wrong. But I
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do have to say that in this concerto that Sinding
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wrote when he was very young, There are tons
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of lovely tunes, and yeah, it's true that the
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structure goes all over the place, but you know,
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we love George Gershon's Rhapsody in Blue, and
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that has kind of a loosey -goosey structure,
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but all of the tunes are unbelievably memorable.
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So, you know, in this sense, you gotta cut Christian
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Sinding some slack, because he's such a tunesmith,
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and his music falls so easily and delightfully
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on the ear. This is coupled with a piano concerto
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by Ewald Almeas, who lived from 1872 until 1932.
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He was a Norwegian composer, pianist, organist,
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and choir director, and a teacher, and administrator,
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and he had his hands in many pockets, and he
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didn't have time, obviously, to turn out tons
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of music. But his piano concerto, is kind of
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remarkable. On one hand, it has a lighthearted
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and extroverted quality that would make this
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work a worthy contender on any self -respecting
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Pops concert, maybe. But the problem, or maybe
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it isn't a problem, but the issue... is that
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the orchestra is immense. It's almost Wagnerian
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and Richard Straussian in its size and scope.
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The waltz finale of this concerto is pure Hollywood
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in an age before Hollywood. And if you can imagine
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the MGM Studio Orchestra with a full array of
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trombones and more brass instruments that can
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fit into the studio, it's kind of like that.
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This is delicious work. So, actually, I might
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as well recommend this disc as a good first choice
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if you want to take a deep dive into the Hyperion
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Romantic Piano Concerto series. Start with this
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disc, perhaps. For my second disc, I recommend
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Volume 55. This contains works for piano and
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orchestra by Charles -Marie Vidor. He lived from
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1844 to 1937, a nice long life. Of course...
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Vidor was best known as a virtuoso organist in
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the French Romantic tradition, and also for composing
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numerous virtuoso organ works. He has all those
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great organ symphonies. But he also wrote very
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effectively for the piano. His Piano Concerto
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No. 1 in F minor, Op. 39, has a propulsive quality
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in the first movement that sometimes reminds
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me of Schumann. I'm thinking about those. Those
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short, obsessively yearning phrases and those
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rising sequences, they're very Schumann -esque
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in a way. The central adagio religioso movement
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exchanges unison orchestral lines with... chordal
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passages from the piano. This is very much in
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the manner of the slow movement of Beethoven's
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Fourth Concerto. But, you know, imitation is
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the best form of flattery. And, you know, if
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you need a role model, you might as well use
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Beethoven's Fourth. And the finale's main theme
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actually is quite similar to the last movement
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of Schumann's Carnival. Vidor's piano writing
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is more glittery on the surface than Schumann's
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piano writing and more symmetrical. So in this
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case, it's actually closer to Saint -Saëns. Now,
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Vidor's fantasy for piano and orchestra on this
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disc, it's a work in one movement, and it's unabashedly
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romantic in its extroverted sweep. I think Tchaikovsky
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would have really identified with this piece.
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But the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op.
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77, is kind of like what César Franck might have
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been composing had he lived an extra 20 years,
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and that's a compliment. This is a work that's
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harmonically dense, but it's not sludgy, and
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the orchestration is lush without being overloaded,
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and there's a lot of cool woodwind writing throughout.
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The pianist on this disc, Marcus Becker, doesn't
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fluff off this music at all. He really takes
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Vidor's keyboard writing very seriously, and
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he leaves no detail to chance. He plays this
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music with so much command and authority. It
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really impresses me. Also, I'm impressed with
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the superb conducting of Thierry Fischer, who
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leads the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. And
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this orchestra turns up in many of the Hyperion
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Romantic Concerto volumes. Now for my third recommendation.
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Volume 18 has at least one work that is sort
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of familiar. This is the Concerto for Piano Left
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Hand and Orchestra by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
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He wrote this around 1922 or 1923 for Paul Wittgenstein.
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You know, he was that pianist who lost his right
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arm during World War I, and he commissioned all
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of these composers. Prokofiev. He commissioned
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the fourth concerto. He commissioned the Ravel
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concerto for left hand. Now, because Wittgenstein
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owned the performing rights for this piece, no
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one else could touch it until after he died.
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I mean, after Wittgenstein died in 1961. This
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is a work in one continuous movement, and it
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abounds with... all kinds of lavish harmonies
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and interesting orchestral passages and first
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-desk soloists. There have been some very fine
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recordings of this work. There was a really good
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recent one with Matthias Halverson recently.
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Howard Shelley's recording on Chandos is also
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excellent. The late Steven de Groot. did a recording
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that came out on CPO, which I have not heard,
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but I hear that it's not the greatest one. But
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it's too bad that Gary Grafman did not make a
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commercial recording of the Korngold because
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he did play it in public. There is a wonderful
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live performance with him from 1985 with Zubin
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Mehta conducting, and that's floating around
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YouTube, and I've posted a link to that. However,
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with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra again,
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this time under Osmo Vanska, the piano soloist
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is the great Mark Andre Hamelin, and his left
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hand is as good as the best two right hands.
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in the world combined. And this recording is
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a real reference. It's just fantastic on every
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level. And also the coupling is a reference recording,
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and it's a marvelous work. The Romantic Piano
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Concerto by the Austrian composer Joseph Marx,
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who lived from 1882 until 1964. I remember reading
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somewhere that Simon Rattle called Messiaen's
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Tarangalila Symphony a Mars bar of a piece. Well,
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if that's the case, then the positively seductive
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early 20th century romantic idioms that... Joseph
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Marx combines in his concerto fuse the sensual
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landscapes of Delius, the swirling piano writing
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of Rachmaninoff, Erich Korngold's amazing facility,
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and also the fast -changing colors of Respighi's
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orchestration. They're all blended into the biggest,
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most humongous dessert. you'll ever find. Forget
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a Mars bar. I mean, this is a kind of a sweet
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that even Willy Wonka never could have concocted
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had he had all the chocolate machines in the
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world cranking out product 24 hours a day. And
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this first commercial recording of the Romantic
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Piano Concerto of Marx on volume 18 in the Hyperion
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series, I think is still the best one out there.
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Now, if you go on YouTube, you'll find a live
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1982 performance with George Bolette, and again,
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Zubin Mehta is the conductor. And I attended
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this performance, at least one of the performances
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in the run of concerts that they did. And it
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was really quite a discovery when Bolette brought
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this piece to light. I don't think it had ever
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been played in New York before he played it,
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so far as I know. And I hope that the live Bolette
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broadcast will eventually be issued commercially
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and officially, but from my mouth to God's ear.
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But anyway, this Korngold and Marx Volume 18
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is a keeper. And this is the third recommendation
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on my Hyperion Romantic Concerto list. Now, for
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my fourth recommendation, we go back to France,
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and we have a really unusual project here. These
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are all works of Charles Gounod for orchestra
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and pedal piano. These are all disc premieres,
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by the way. This is volume 62 I'm talking about.
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And the piano soloist... is my good friend Roberto
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Proceda. He's one of the most enterprising pianists
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around. You have to check out his complete Mozart
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and Mendelssohn solo piano cycles on Decca. They
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are reference versions for sure. Anyway, these
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Guno recordings on Hyperion, Roberto Proceda
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did not have an authentic period instrument pedal
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piano on hand. So what he did for this recording
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was to use an Italian -made pedal gadget to stack
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up two Steinway Grands with one atop the other
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so that the pedal mechanism would be relegated
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to the bottom keyboard. So consequently, Roberto
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had to develop a whole new technique in order
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to master this behemoth of a... instrument, a
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real wild beast to be sure. For example, you
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cannot use the sustain pedal when your feet are
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otherwise engaged playing notes on the, you know,
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organ -like pedal, you know, the thing for the
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pedal piano. However, it sounds as if he has
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been playing this contraption forever. And I
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think the results were totally worth it because
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the music is just wonderful. You have this sweet
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concertante in four movements, which really could
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be a ballet score. And then the piano concerto
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in four brief and succinct movements. I love
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this piece. And there's the fantasy on the Russian
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national anthem. And here, of course, you'll
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recognize the main tune because you've heard
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it all the time in Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
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and March Slav. And Howard Shelley is the conductor
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on this disc. the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana,
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and they just play like crazy for him. My fifth
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recommendation to help you get started in the
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Hyperion Romantic piano concerto series. Now,
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there had been previous recordings for the two
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piano concertos by the Swedish composer Wilhelm
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Stenhammer. But the performances on volume 49
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in the Hyperion series with pianist Seta Tanyal,
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I think are the best ones of the Stenhammer concertos
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that we have in the catalog. Stenhammer lived
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from... 1871 to 1927 and he was an active conductor
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as well as pianist and he wrote some truly idiomatic
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and very engaging works for piano including his
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two concertos. As a pianist Stenhammer made his
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debut playing the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
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in D minor when he was just 22, and he wrote
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his own first concerto a year later, performing
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it under such distinctive conductors like Hans
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Richter and Richard Strauss. And Brahms' influence,
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I think, really informs Stenhammer's formal ambitions.
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as well as his love for big chords and octave
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passages that are not show -offy, if you know
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what I mean. But the second movement, Vivacissimo,
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in the first concerto, owes more than just a
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little bit of champagne -like effervescence to
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Saint -Saëns. And you can say the same for the
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second concerto, Scherzo movement, which is very
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much... like an effervescent sassan movement.
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This concerto is fantastic as well. And... I
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can say that Seta Tanyal's naturally singing
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tone and big and flexible technique do both of
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these concertos total justice. And this pianist
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has wonderful support from Andrew Mainz conducting
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the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. And he balances
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the woodwinds forward as he should in this music.
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And the strings really resonate and speak much
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more than in the other recordings of these pieces.
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Also, Andrew Manzi's informative booklet notes
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are written in a style that's both erudite and
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entertaining at the same time, and these are
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really wonderful to have. So, that's a wrap.
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Five CD releases in Hyperion's Romantic Piano
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Concerto series that I think will help you get
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started in this series if you have not yet explored
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it. Now, there are so many other discs in the
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series that I could have picked that I love equally
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as much, but I figured let's focus on a nice
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variety of relatively unfamiliar works and five
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different pianists. Just to get you started,
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I'm sure that I can pick five more equally compelling
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and recommendable contenders for another episode
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of The Piano Maven, your friendly guide to piano
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recordings, but that will have to wait until
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another episode. So, thank you for tuning in,
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and I look forward to being with you next time.