The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 61

[FBerwald]

Even before the release the much anticipated Vol. 60 of the RPC series - Dubois. Hyperion has announced the release of

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67950&vw=dc

vol. 61 - Theodor Döhler - Piano Concerto in A major, Op. 7
              &
              Alexander Dreyschock - Morceau de concert in C minor, Op. 27,
                                                    Salut à Vienne 'Rondo brillante, Op. 32

Good news for Dreyschock fans!!!!

[thalbergmad]

Good news for Dohler fans as well. This could be one of the best of the series.

The Dohler is one of those works that you can really let yourself go and under the right fingers could be a display to match even the Dreyschock.

Not one for the Schumannites.

Thal

[izdawiz]

Woot WOot!!!    yay more Dreyschock!!! I'll receive it !! oh yeah!

[Alan Howe]

A mandatory purchase, of course. But I'm not greatly excited...

[Mark Thomas]

Well, I'm looking forward to this one myself. The Dreyschock Konzertstuck is a really attractive piece, as we have discussed here before, but I know nothing of the Dohler. Can you add some flesh to the bones of your post, please, Thal?

[Gareth Vaughan]

I knew this release was imminent, but I did not know it would be announced so soon. It is, for me at least, very exciting.

[Peter1953]

A new Hyperion RPC Volume is always exciting. I will certainly buy this Vol. 61 for Dreyschock's Konzertstück. But the Döhler, well, it's one of those 'dime a dozen' PC's I'm afraid. The audio samples didn't result in clapping my hands and stamping my feet. However, it's better to hear the whole PC before making any comments.

[Mark Thomas]

Whilst I'm certainly looking forward to this issue, I must say that it's a miserly one at only 56 minutes duration.

[Gareth Vaughan]

But they have given us some very well filled disks. A lot of their releases are over 70 minutes. I don't think we should complain too loudly when we consider the repertoire chosen, a great deal of which has to have orchestral parts made up from a full score, frequently in MS - no small additional expense.

[Mark Thomas]

I agree Gareth, and it's only a minnow of a carp, really.

[Gareth Vaughan]

"minnow of a carp" - I love it.

[chill319]

I do hope the Hiller Konzerst⌂ck is on Hyperion's radar. It deserves another recording.

[Mark Thomas]

This volume is now published, and it's another winner. The main work is by the obscure-even-by-UC's-standards Theodor Döhler. I had expected one of those vapid, tinkly "brillante" creations, all technique and no heart, so prevalent from composer-virtuosi in the 1820s and 30s, but Hyperion have chosen well and there is much more to the Döhler than that. As Jeremy Nicholas' insert notes suggest, you'd need to look elsewhere for nobility or profundity, but at the more modest level of entertainment this concerto is no slouch. The orchestra pays a full part (there's a very forthright opening tutti, echoed elsewhere), there is plenty of good quality lyrical melody and quite a bit of drama, particaularly in the lengthy opening Maestoso. The short slow movement isn't "pretty pretty" at all and, after some spectacular passage work, segues straight into an effective, dancing finale which is, perhaps, nearest in character to the sort of "brilliant" style which I'd feared the whole work would prove to be in, but even then it has more substance to it, although the technical demands placed on the soloist are prodigious. Not a master work, but an enjoyable one with more to it than just surface glitter. Well worth recording.

Of the two Dreyschock works, the dramatic Konzertstück has been a favourite of mine since I bought Genesis' LP of Frank Cooper's scintillating performance (downloadable from UC here), coupled with the Raff concerto, way back in 1972.  The Tasmanian Symphony are a much better orchestra than Zsolt Deáky's Nuremberg Symphony and the extensive tutti have real power but, maybe because I am just so familiar with Cooper's reading, I was a little disappointed by Howard Shelley's interpretation. Anyone not knowing the Genesis recording will, I'm willing to bet, be bowled over by the Konzertstück in this recording, but Cooper somehow manages to squeeze out of it just a little more drama and excitement than Shelley does.

The other Dreyschock piece, the jolly Salut à Vienne, is not as strong a piece as the Konzertstück, but Shelley plays it for all, if not more than, it's worth. A lot of pianistic fireworks dress it up, but it's a good natured, tuneful romp and, at that level, very enjoyable. 

I must commend Nicholas for two, unknown to me, wonderful examples of musical invective in the booklet, both aimed at poor Döhler. As an exercise in damning with faint praise, Heinrcih Heine's sly review of a recital is priceless. Schumann dispenses with the faint praise and just gets straight on with the damning. What fun.

[Alan Howe]

I hadn't expected to like this issue a great deal, but Mark is right - and it's largely down to the quality of Shelley's championship of this music which, in other less convinced (and less convincing) hands, might seem trivial or second-rate. Schumann might have been right about Döhler in particular, but that hardly matters nearly two hundred years later when we can enjoy this music for its own sake.

[LateRomantic75]

I admire what Shelley et al. are doing to champion these obscure composers, but I'll admit I was thoroughly disappointed with the quality of the music on Vol. 61. Compare the Dohler PC with, say, the magnificent Hummel PCs (which Shelley also championed) written around the same time, and you'll see what I'm coming from. To me, there are no redeeming qualities to the Dohler whatsoever, expect if you need music to accompany a dinner party. At least the Dreyschock was a little more exciting, but deep it most certainly is not. I don't want to sound harsh; I'm just being honest. I've heard much praise regarding Pixis here, so I'm expecting his concertos to be of a higher caliber than the Dohler and Dreyschock. They better be!