Hyperion Classical Piano Concerto series

[Alan Howe]

Hyperion are apparently launching a series dedicated to classical-period PCs. This could be relevant to UC in investigating the genre as it developed from, say, the 1790s onwards. Apparently Dussek is to be the focus of the first release and two of the concertos featured fall within this fascinating period:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/inthestudio/1017/Hyperion-launch-The-Classical-Piano-Concerto-series

[thalbergmad]

I was aware of Hyperions interest in this, but it is nice to know it is now going to happen. Dussek is highly appropriate for us as he hints at various levels towards romanticism.

One looks forward to some Steibeltian proto romanticism.

Thal

[Christianv12]

Great news! I love this forum!

[Alan Howe]

It's to be an August release:
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68027&vw=dc

[Balapoel]

Thanks for letting me know about it! I have been avidly following releases / and other recordings of Dussek's work.

The first disc will be No. 3 in G, Op. 1/3; No. 11 in C, Op. 29; No. 17 in Eb, Op. 70.

Missing concerti (on disk):
No. 1, Craw 1 (1779)
Nos 2-3, Op. 1 (1782)
No. 5, Op. 3 (1787)
No. 12 in C, Op. 30 (1795)
No. 14 in F Craw 158 (1798)

[FBerwald]

The numbering of many of these concertos are a problem e.g. Op. 29 in C in referred to as No. 11 here; yet in wiki it's called No. 9 and No. 3 in imslp!!!! Is there a Dussek expert amongst us?  A chronological listing would be nice

[eschiss1]

Chronological how? Date of composition? Date of first publication?
Date of composition may have to be "where known", if I recall (Lindeman's book on structure in the early Romantic concerto, an, erm... imperfect and tendentious (at best) work, gives some information about the Dussek concertos and the state of our knowledge, iirc) - "date of first publication" is more sure in more cases but not, I think, in all.

[FBerwald]

Well lets try "date of first publication" if it can bring some sort of order. The catalog is almost as messy as Holbrooke's

[Gareth Vaughan]

And what if the work was not published? Sometimes (infuriatingly) there is no date on the autograph MS, or it exists only in a copyist's hand, similarly without date. But perhaps we are in the happy position that ALL Dussek's PCs were published.

[eschiss1]

I no longer have my interloaned copy of Lindeman, but as I recall, we're not in a uniformly happy situation w.r.t. all his piano/sometimes piano-or-harp concertos, no. (As I recall, he gives a structural analysis of the first movements of many of Dussek's concertos- that is kind of interesting. This can be Google-previewed in part, if one has that access.)

For the works I can see via Google preview (hence a very incomplete list...- I should have considered writing this down. Or seeing if Cornell has a copy and going up there sometime soon- it's a close busride to me to their library- and doing so there... as I live in that general area...)), I see him quoting Craw so:

Op.15 (C.53/265) in B-flat for harp or piano "The Plough Boy": estimated by Craw to have been composed before op.14, probably in 1787 while Craw gives op.14 a date of 1791. An autograph fragment of the first movement exists in a private collection. Also published as op.26, and w/o opus no.
Op.14 (C77) - 1791. Published in ca.1809 by Breitkopf & Härtel (that's his source) (this may be the first edition; I think it's the one we have on IMSLP.) (He also says "print in the North Carolina Collection"- that refers to a London publisher's print of the solo parts of all or almost all Dussek's piano/keyboard concertos, including the piano 1 part of the double concerto, which has been digitized by North Carolina Chapel Hill and made available at archive.org. I recommend downloading that if the idea at all interests- yes, it's just the solo parts, but... otoh- it may be more than you have of the works- if you can read music sufficiently, I mean; they're older prints.)

Continuing...
Op.17 in F, C.78/266 (?). Composed ca.1792. Published by London: Clementi, ca.1809.
Op.22 in B-flat, C.97. Composed ??, published 1793. Referred to as op.22 by Jacques Maho, Paris' publication (5e Concerto par Dussek, Op. (? not Oeuv.?) 22)

Note: Op.66: amalgam (if you like...) of the 2nd movement of C.97 with the 1st and 3rd movements of the concerto in F major, Op.27/C.104.

Op.29 in C (Craw 125) - pub. 1795. (If that's so, how is it that his source was published "ca.1789"? I suspect a little typot somewheres, a typot shrot and stuot.)

Op.30 in C (Craw 130) - pub. 1795. (?...) (does he mean to write composed, or does he mean published? something is odd here.) Also(?) published by eg Chappell of London in the late 1820s or so.

Concerto woO "The Favorite", Craw 158, for piano or harp, in F major. Published in 1798.

Op.49 or 50: Concerto in G minor, Craw 197. Published in 1801.

Op.63: 2-piano concerto in B-flat, Craw 206. Published ca.1805-1806. Initial published title was "Grand Symphony Concertante for Two Piano fortes"- a title that appeared on several editions later on as well.

**(Which is why the page on IMSLP is tagged sinfonias concertantes ; we almost always tag there by original published title (of 1st editions/revised editions auth. by composer (to best knowledge)/manuscripts (autographs, preferably) etc. etc.  rather than by accumulated modern preferred titles unless it's known that the composer authorized the latter also )

Op.70. Concerto in E-flat, Craw 238. Published in 1810 ca. (by London: Gianchettini & Sperati). Followed among Dussek's concertos apparently only by a harp concerto published posthumously in 1813 and now lost.

tempted to interloan a copy of Craw's book (or one of them) and just get the info horse's-mouth-from... though at the moment I have 3 out-of-system interloans that should be keeping me a little busy *

*2 symphonies, one by Furtwängler and one by Moeran, in pocket-ish score; and one rather interesting-looking very late-Romantic piano quintet (score & parts) published 1910 and composed by a fellow named Mraczek I should get back to scanning (the parts, at least) this evening, though Syracuse is really good about giving long interloan due date-periods and it's not due back until early Autumn...

[eschiss1]

"e.g. Op. 29 in C in referred to as No. 11 here; yet in wiki it's called No. 9 and No. 3 in imslp!!!! Is there a Dussek expert amongst us?  A chronological listing would be nice"

Lindeman notes how Dussek's concertos were numbered very differently by his various different publishers (Gianchettini & Sperati, Broderip, Breitkopf, Maho/Hamelle, &c &c &c &c &c ...) -

another partial explanation is-

which to include, and which not? Some concertos were composed for "harp or piano", and some are - I'm guessing; I am not! the Dussek expert here... - probably harp concertos with piano alternatives for greater flexibility (after all, husband and wife were a piano and harp duo and each might have wanted the ability to take the work on tour- which reminds me of many like practices in the Classical era (oddly, maybe even more the -earlier- part of it))- anyway..- also, some numberings might not count op.63 (for several reasons: it was not brought into the world as a concerto at all, but a "sinfonia concertante"- which is not a concerto or a symphony, rather than being a bit of both; it's its own thing...- and since it is for 2 pianos and orchestra, in any event it would not have been counted among his -piano- concertos, which would explain why, even if all the others were counted, the E-flat Op70 would end up as No.11.)

[giles.enders]

I am no expert on Dussek, however as far as I know there are a total of seventeen extant piano concertos, including Op.63 in B flat for two pianos.  Ten of these have been recorded.  There is a concerto in E flat, listed as both Op.15 or Op.26 of which only one movement survives.  The earliest one I know of is without an opus number and is in B flat and dating from before 1779.  There is also one in F published in 1798 for which I don't know of an Opus number.

[Alan Howe]

The new CD is well worth investing in. I am listening to the (relatively familiar?) 30 minute-long Concerto in E flat Op.70 which dates from 1810 and is clearly as much a proto-romantic work as a strictly classical one, with similarities in style to the early concertos of, say, Ries and Hummel. It's a marvellous work, marvellously played by Shelley and the Ulster Orchestra - and, thank goodness, not on period instruments.

I shall certainly be following this series with some interest.

[FBerwald]

"..................thank goodness, not on period instruments." Amen to that!

[kolaboy]

Sometimes I find the phrase "recorded on period instruments" as disconcerting as I would find (if possible) "recorded on period recorders".