Unsung Rachmaninoffian Piano Concertos

[Ser Amantio di Nicolao]

I...er, listened to it this weekend, and I'm afraid I don't remember it, sorry.

Oh dear. Stenhammar 2 has one of the most memorable openings of any unsung symphony and is written in a nordic idiom of a highly individual cast. Here are some insightful reviews:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/oct03/STENHAMMAR2swedishsocjwoolf.htm

http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/April%201980/85/807778/STENHAMMAR.+Symphony+No.2+in+G+minor%2C+Op.+34.+Stockholm+Philharmonic+Orchestra+con+ducted+by+Stig+Westerberg.+Caprice+CAP1151+%28479%29+Notes+included.+UK+distributor%3A+Conifer+Records.

Thanks very much - I shall peruse them this evening when I have a chance.

I wish I could suggest some other concertos for this thread, to pull it back on topic.  But all of the other Romantic things I can think of tend to be not very Rachmaninovian.

[Alan Howe]

It's not a problem. Threads have to end somewhere!

[Steve B]

Gosh, I like lists! ; what about lists with 2 reasons why they are Rachmaninovian, as a compromise, to narrow it down a bit; but the moderation is getting a little too prescriptive Alan,for me anyway, especially as I have already been moderated TWICE over Siegfried Wagner( with a significant concession, i admit and for which i am thankful:) in having his seperate thread),where it was twice indicated that the thread "move on"; both comments where re Siegfriend's (homo)sexuality, which u will no doubt say is irrelevant to the music, though "Sehnsucht" is documentedly autobiographical,to an extent anyway. I am thinking of leaving this forum because of this, which is sad, because i like it generally and have been here since about 1994 on the old Raff and Unsung forum :-[Steve Benson

[kyjo]

Sorry if we're scraping the bottom of the barrel, Alan. Perhaps we could discuss concertos that are precursors to Rach (I mentioned Martucci 2; Rubinstein 5 and the Henselt were also mentioned). Or should I open up another thread? What do think the destiny of this thread should be, Alan? I really enjoyed other member's comments and I really don't want it to end .

[Fronder]

Oh, I almost forgot. There is also a D minor PC by japanese singer\actor Yūzō Kayama that sounds as rachmaninovian as A. Mathieu's works.

[Alan Howe]

I have no problems at all with folk starting new threads. It's just that the moderators have a clear responsibility to keep existing threads within reasonable bounds.

As for Siegfried Wagner, I don't intend to repeat the reasons behind my moderator's comments here save to say that any exploration of his music on its own terms fell beyond the remit of a thread which was specifically about the relationship of his music to his father's. Any other perceived reasons for my actions are entirely without foundation, as any perusal of what I actually wrote will prove.

[jerfilm]

As precursors, I think someone already mentioned Scharwenka 4 and I would also nominate Scharwenka 3.

Jerry

[JimL]

It was Scharwenka 1.  Scharwenka 4 is roughly contemporaneous with Rach 3 (1908-9).

[jerfilm]

Actually all four of his Scharwenka's PCs are on my desert island list.......

J

[kyjo]

Fronder, where can Yuzo Kayama's PC be accessed? Thank you !

[Alan Howe]

You can buy Yuzo Kayama's PC at Amazon.jp here (note that he also goes by the name of Dan Kohsaku):
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%BC%BE%E5%8E%9A%E4%BD%9C-%E7%88%B6%E3%81%AB%E6%8D%A7%E3%81%92%E3%82%8B%E3%83%94%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8E%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%81%E3%82%A7%E3%83%AB%E3%83%88-%E5%8A%A0%E5%B1%B1%E9%9B%84%E4%B8%89/dp/B00005V4DN/ref=sr_1_23?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1344443431&sr=1-23

[kyjo]

Thank you very much, Alan!

[chill319]

In 1975 I heard the premier of Richard Faith's Piano Concerto 2. It includes a couple of Big Tunes that I thought were memorable and reminiscent of pre-WWI Rachmaninov.

[kyjo]

Oh yes, I've heard of Richard Faith. How lucky you were to have attended the premiere! Anywhere where any of Faith's music can be accessed? And I'm very glad to see this thread isn't losing steam . I have two more Japanese examples and one Chinese (you can probably guess which one this is!)
Fumio Hayasaka PC: The moody first movement, especially, has lost of Rachian gestures. The second, and final movement, though, is a quick-witted, infectiously bright romp. Kind of like the Poulenc PC, eh? It's available on a Naxos CD with two other pieces by Hayasaka.
Sadao Bekku PC: Surprisingly Rachmaninoffian for when it was written. You can find it on a Camerata CD with his Symphony 5 and Two Prieres for Orchestra. BTW, his first and second symphonies are available on a Naxos CD which is, strangely, only available on Japanese Amazon. Hopefully Naxos will make this recording available in the US, like they did the Hashimoto Symphony 2 disc.
Yep, you guessed it! Xian Xinghai's Yellow River PC: Don't be put off by the inclusion of Chinese instruments here. They are not overused at all an give the work a nice Oriental flavor to add to the Rachy proceedings. There's quite a lot of recordings available if it: one on Naxos, one by Lang Lang (!) on DG, and one coupled to his Yellow River CANTATA. Wikipedia lists two symphonies by him. Hopefully Naxos' small Chinese Series, still in its infancy, will take flight by recording these (that is, if the Wikipedia article is accurate ).

[Alan Howe]

The Kohsaku/Kayama PC1 is really a piece of fake classical music - very Rachmaninovian at the outset, but suddenly lurching into faux-Gershwin before returning to the opening material - which is repeated fff ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Absolutely gorgeous, but far too full-on - and the coda to first movement is a piece of grand larceny! The slow movement starts with woodwind phrases against a background of shimmering strings; it's not really like Rachmaninov at all even when the piano enters and includes an absolutely mad sudden accelerando before again returning to more dreamy and then more ecstatic-sounding material. It's really just a series of unconnected episodes, beautifully orchestrated, but unconvincing when compared to 'proper music'. The finale starts and continues throughout in rather jolly early 19thC Germanic-sounding fashion, almost as if Beeethoven had decided to put in an appearance - an idiom totally at odds with what has come so far, but actually rather more integrated in feel.

So, all in all, not a piece to be taken seriously at all. But great fun? Yes, indeed!