RPC Vol. 50

[Kriton]

"Thalbergmad"

Nomen est omen... 

[thalbergmad]

Much to my shame I had to look that up, but it would appear to be accurate.

I have infested other forums with my pathalogical hatred of Schumann, so I will remain silent and carry on enjoying some Herz.

Luv

Thal

[JimL]

Funny thing is I love Schumann's music.  It's some of his opinions that I find intolerable.  Of course, I could say the same of Wagner.

[Alan Howe]

Schumann is one of the all-time greats; Herz is......well, Herz.

[Peter1953]

I love to listen to the PC's of Herz, as well as those of Cramer, Hummel, Kalkbrenner, Moscheles, Ries, Tomášek, just to name a few of those piano virtuosos. Not much depth (except for Moscheles 3 and Hummel's opp. 85&89), but pleasant enough. Concertos which meet the taste of the audience of those days. Almost according to a marketing concept. What does the customer want? I'll make it for them. Just like businessmen. Some of them, if not all, were really commercial and made a lot of money.
Strangely enough I much more value the quality of their solo piano music, which seems to be much more sensible and have more individuality and depth. That goes certainly for Moscheles.

Schumann is of a totally other level. One of the Greatest ever, IMHO.

As for the RPC Vol. 50, to me it doesn't add something essential to which I already have. Is Stephen Hough in the PC's 2 and 3 much better or different than Elisabeth Leonskaja? I'm much more interested in Vol. 51.

[thalbergmad]

I'm much more interested in Vol. 51.

Me too. There will be a gap on my shelf where Vol. 50 would have been had i bought it.

Thal

[Kriton]

Does anybody have an idea why Hyperion made their 50th volume into a Tchaikovsky disc? Is it to draw new costumers to the series? Or because it has some "unsung" (and for a reason...) fillers? And why the hell didn't they make the splendid Rachmaninov-cd (with Hough) part of the collection, if it's not just "unsung" concertos?

Being a collector, I think I'd still want to have it, although almost everything speaks against this recording; the repertoire, the programme (I love the Taneyev reconstruction of the 3rd concerto!), the price... I haven't heard the recording yet, so perhaps I could still be convinced of its value, but I regard this jubilee cd as a missed opportunity.

As a Schumann devotee, I'd rather have seen the Schumann concerto & both pieces for piano & orchestra, as well as the Raff transcription of the Konzertstück for 4 horns & orchestra, much like on the ARTS cd. That'd constitute for a better "sung"/"unsung" recording... But, perhaps at no. 100 we will have a splendid cd of Grieg/Schumann concertos!

[thalbergmad]

But, perhaps at no. 100 we will have a splendid cd of Grieg/Schumann concertos!

Hopefully Hyperion would have completely exhausted the genre before vomiting another version of that obnoxious pairing upon the listening public.

Thal

[eschiss1]

But, perhaps at no. 100 we will have a splendid cd of Grieg/Schumann concertos!

Hopefully Hyperion would have completely exhausted the genre before vomiting another version of that obnoxious pairing upon the listening public.

Thal

The two Schumann concert pieces for piano and orchestra, though (hardly unknown, but as pointed out this is not "the Hyperion unknown piano concerto" series) as filler to some appropriate work, could be another matter...
At least RPC 50 does include the Concert Fantasy and a couple of other works besides the three piano concertos.
Eric

[thalbergmad]

As a Schumann devotee, I'd rather have seen the Schumann concerto & both pieces for piano & orchestra

You could probably fit them all on the same disk. Due to the repetitiveness of the last movement of the concerto, it can in fact be condensed to 8 seconds without losing any meaning.

Thal

[Kriton]

Due to the repetitiveness of the last movement of the concerto, it can in fact be condensed to 8 seconds without losing any meaning.

Thal

I take it you'd rather have 8 concertos by Herz than 8 seconds by Schumann? 

[eschiss1]

As a Schumann devotee, I'd rather have seen the Schumann concerto & both pieces for piano & orchestra

You could probably fit them all on the same disk. Due to the repetitiveness of the last movement of the concerto, it can in fact be condensed to 8 seconds without losing any meaning.

Thal

I've always thought of the first movement, with its overly sequential development - a weak point for Schumann (in this piece, not generally, I mean) - as repetitive, not the (fun, imhonesto) finale...
I wonder if someone has attempted a reconstruction of the original form of the first movement, if there are clues as to how it differed from its present form - if it did?
Anyhow, way off topic. Sorry.
Eric

[thalbergmad]

Due to the repetitiveness of the last movement of the concerto, it can in fact be condensed to 8 seconds without losing any meaning.

Thal

I take it you'd rather have 8 concertos by Herz than 8 seconds by Schumann? 

I would rather have something that has not been recorded than something that has been recorded a thousand times.

Thal

[eschiss1]

Due to the repetitiveness of the last movement of the concerto, it can in fact be condensed to 8 seconds without losing any meaning.

Thal

I take it you'd rather have 8 concertos by Herz than 8 seconds by Schumann? 

I would rather have something that has not been recorded than something that has been recorded a thousand times.

Thal

The BBC's attempt to broadcast everything by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky turned up works by the two that hadn't been recorded; whether there's unrecorded (Robert) Schumann out there I hesitate to guess, but it sounds like a false dichotomy. (And of some major works by Schumann we're still waiting for a first really good recording, I gather.  Genoveva, I gather, is one...)
Eric

[JimL]

The development of the 1st movement of the Schumann concerto is fine just as it is, and contains a most ingenious specimen of thematic transformation.  And the only fault of the finale is the literalness of the reprise.  This is surely a minor quibble, since many equally fine works "suffer" from much the same flaw!