Czerny Concerto in A minor

[Rob H]

Have just noticed this on Naxos recording sessions videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tO52m2NGG8

Tuck plays various concertante works including the Grand Concerto in A minor.

Rob

[Alan Howe]

One for the wants list!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Definitely. Was there not an old Vox/Turnabout recording of this work played by Felicja Blumenthal? Or does memory play me false?

[jerfilm]

Right on, Gareth.

[edurban]

My favorite of all the Czerny pieces I know.  The expansive opening tutti is really first rate and the horns in the slow movement are lovely.  It's too long, of course, and the passagework doesn't avoid note-spinning, but you can't have everything.  Czerny at his often stormy and proto-Romantic best.

[semloh]

Yes, that Turnabout/Vox recording is stored away on my computer. What a great series that was....

[Herbert Pauls]

Looking forward to this, as well! Good to see more pianists taking up Czerny concertos. (Would like to see more sonatas, too.)

[Alan Howe]

It's announced as a 29th April release in the UK:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/czerny-carl-grand-concerto-in-chamber-orchestra-richard-bonynge-naxos.html

[edurban]

That video has me a little worried.  I know it is billed as a "first reading", but Mme Tuck's technique does not seem to be as formidable as the music needs.  She and Mr B choose careful tempos, apparently to accomodate her, she slows down more when the going gets tough...Pianism on the Stephen Hough plays Hummel level is needed here, and I"m pretty sure we won't get more than the notes.  I hope to be proved wrong, and I'll certainly buy this anyway.  The orchestra sounds good...

[Gareth Vaughan]

I agree. The tempi are certainly "safe", not to say plodding in places. This music should be much more exciting than it sounds in the YouTube video.

[Herbert Pauls]

She does create a lovely sense of flow in the more lyrical and melodic sections with beautifully spun decorative passage work. And it must help that she has a conductor with no little understanding and experience of the bel canto style. I did feel that there could have been a little more high-octane brilliance when the music becomes more lively and the rapid fire double notes, etc. come out. That is where one longs for a Hough, or even better, the vast command of Demidenko, who I once heard do the Hummel B minor Concerto (in Saskatoon, Canada, of all places). In the past, he has shown an interest in concertos from this period. Would be nice if he could be persuaded to take up a couple of Czerny concertos too. Its nice to dream anyway.

But I know I will enjoy the two Naxos discs and am happy that the ECO plays with a bit of vibrato, which is not a given in modern chamber orchestras that record classical and early romantic music these days.

[Sharkkb8]

Problematic tempi or not - cd is now available from Presto for a very nice $6.75.  And for downloaders, it's available immediately.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8573417

Gregory