Romantic PCs from Brilliant Classics

[Alan Howe]

Friends will be interested to hear that Brilliant Classics have gathered together many of the classic 60s/70s recordings of unsung PCs in a 20-CD box retailing at only just over £1-50 per CD.

The PCs concerned are by:

D'Albert, Alkan, Balakirev, Barber, Beach, Berwald, Bronsart, Cramer, Czerny, Chopin, Clementi, Field, Gershwin, Glazunov, Goetz, Henselt, Hiller, Hummel, Kalkbrenner, Lalo, Liszt, Litolff, Lyapunov, MacDowell, Mayr, Medtner, Mendelssohn, Moscheles, Mosonyi, Moskowski, Pierne, Raff, Reinecke, Rheinberger, Ries, Roussel, Rubinstein, Scharwenka, Schumann, Sinding, Stavenhagen,Tchaikovsky, Thalberg, Volkmann and Weber

...and the soloists include:

Felicja Blumental; Michael Ponti; Jerome Rose; Marylène Dosse and Eugene List

Details here...
http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product/NR_December09/9021.htm

[JimL]

Sounds like all them ol' Vox releases have been given another lease on life.  Too bad so many of them are merely sizable chunks of the actual works involved.

[thalbergmad]

Splendid news and surely a must buy.

Letter to Santa in the post.

Thal

[Alan Howe]

Since I never had any of these older recordings - and in the light of the Hyperion series (and many other issues on other labels) - is this set actually worth buying, even at super, super bargain price? If so, which are the essential performances it contains and in what way(s) aren't they bettered elsewhere?

[Mark Thomas]

Others will put me right, I'm sure, but the major works here which aren't available in other performances are Hiller's Konzertstuck and Bronsart's Concerto. I can't say that the former has ever been a favourite of mine, but the latter is a joy of a work - almost a a text book example of all that a mid-19th. century piano concerto should be. I'm not a huge fan of Ponti either (apologies to his adherents, we'll just have to disagree) but in the Bronsart he is on top form and the recording is a joy. In most other cases where repertoire on these CDs has been duplicated by later issues, I prefer those later performances.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Sadly, no sign of the Pixis double concerto.

[chill319]

Needless to say, quality varies. For those who may not remember Vox in its heydey, Candide was the label's premium line.
Only auditioned some of the recordings. Here are personal reactions,  in alphabetical order by composer.
Beach: personal favorite -- performance VG (Boehm) [corrected] G (orchestra)
Chopin: One of several orchestrations of the Allegro de Concert, op. 46. Orchestration OK (unidiomatic); piano performance G; orchestra unrehearsed (abysmal -- partly due to the risky orchestration)
Gershwin: Assuming this is List, a long-time Gershwin specialist, and always excellent.
Henselt: A winner, and Ponti at his best. A pity Richter recorded the Liszt concertos but not this.
Hiller: in the Konzertstueck, not otherwise available to my knowledge. Jerome Rose shines, and the concerto itself is hard to forget.
Hummel: "Les Adieux," attractively played by Hans Kann.
Kalkbrenner: Impossible to hear this without identifying the paragraphs in Chopin's e-minor that are variants of the Kalkbrenner. Well performed by Hans Kann.
MacDowell: List and Carlos Chavez(!) give us one of the better recordings, much more idiomatic than the Hyperion outing.
Weber: haven't heard it, but can't imagine anyone bettering Demidenko's stunning performances on Hyperion.

[edurban]

chill319, the Beach concerto pianist isn't Blumenthal, it's Mary Louise Boehm.  And since the rights to that recording (like those for the Pixis) were bought back from George Mendelssohn by MLB some years ago, Kees Kooper is going to be annoyed.  The masters sit on a shelf in his apartment, btw, so no remastering is involved.

Mark, I also remember the Volkmann Konzertstuck as a fine piece.  As far as I know it hasn't been available in any other performance.

David

[chill319]

Thanks for the correction, edurban. And my apologies to the memory of the late, courageous Ms. Boehm.

[Mark Thomas]

David, you're quite right, I'd forgotten the Volkmann. He's still a curiously forgotten figure even amongst us cognoscenti, considering how highly he was regarded in his lifetime.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I do wish Kees Kooper would allow some company to issue Boehm's performance of the truly delicious double concerto by Pixis. It's a great shame that the public are denied this gorgeous music.
On Volkmann, I was very disappointed to find that the Concertstiuck was omitted from CPO's so-called "Complete Orchestral Works" box (I believe an overture was also left out). It is a very fine work, and certainly worthy of a good modern recording.

[JimL]

I do feel constrained to point out that many of these releases have less than optimal production values, and, as I mentioned previously, there are cuts taken in many of these works (Kalkbrenner 1, Hummel Op. 110, Goetz, Litolff 3, etc.) that make the subsequent Chandos and Hyperion recordings more desirable in terms of completeness, as well as sound quality.  Some of the cuts were made by the inimitable Carl Reinecke.

[Amphissa]

I have most of these on LP. Have never really liked the CD transfers compared to the LP. Did pick up a couple of the Vox boxes for convenience.

Cuts were normal back then. Horowitz never once played the complete Rachmaninoff 3rd, and his friend Rachmaninoff was perfectly happy with that. In fact, so far as I know, neither did Rachmaninoff before he gave it to Horowitz. And as with the Rachmaninoff 3rd, sometimes those were not cuts at all. Sometimes composers wrote passages after the fact that could be inserted by soloists or orchestra, which is what occurred with the cadenza to Rachmaninoff's 3rd.

Of course, there frequently were cuts made in recording to accommodate the playing time of vinyl, some of which were sanctioned or made by the composer himself. But some conductors just took a lot of liberties with scores. Stokowski hacked out half of Gliere's 3rd symphony for performance and for recording, and not to accommodate the limits of vinyl -- he just liked it better without half the music. Unconscionable!

The issue to me is not whether there are cuts, or omitted additions, or repeats that are commonly optional in the score, but whether the experience of listening to the recording is enjoyable. I do not listen as analytically as Jim, so the cuts do not usually bother me.

[Peter1953]

I'm very much in doubt whether to buy the set or not. If I do, it's only for Hiller's Konzertstück and especially Bronsart's PC. On the other hand, only this year I've bought over 150 CDs already, so why not add this box to the collection as well...?

Can anybody tell me something about Bronsart's PC? Is it in the style of Henselt (utterly majestic and brilliant) or (late) romantic? Or just a concerto without individuality or depth?

[Steve B]

Peter, the Bronsart is VERY good;listen to the beautiful slow theme in the first movement;lovely slow movement; and the piece de resistance, a camp but well-co-ordinated combining of the lovely slow(Wagnerian) theme from movement one withe a tarantella . It works!

Ok, we all know the orchestras, and sometimes the reordings, in these Vox recordings, often leave much to be desired; and I think all of the Hyperion roster are 100% technically assured and brilliant and thoughtful pianists, with excellent recordings and consistently good orchestras. But, to hear Ponti, Blumenthal et all "sing" their hearts out with joy, passion, and nervile excitement, and thus bring these lovely, exciting, moving concerti ALIVE is more significant to me.

I know the forum divides into two camps on this, but never mind. I think this is a startling bargain, an essential historical (alive)document, and I wish i could afford it(though I have nearly all of these recordings on vinyl, except for the Beach Piano Concerto, which, even, I, in all my Vox zealotry, didnt know Boehm had recorded for them.) Some of Blumenthal's recordings may be missing cos Brana(her daughter's company) seem to have the rights to at least some of her Vox recordings.

I'm all for differing and different renditions too; there ARE cuts, but, to me, the joie de vivre(and passion and sadness where needed) outweigh all this. EG. I can enjoy Susanne Lautenbacher's cut Goldmark Violin Concerto but also the newer(uncut) Naxos one; both valid.

But its all agree to disagree; or politely disagree, i hope!

Steve