Goetz PCs 1 & 2

[Alan Howe]

... plus his Spring Overture, forthcoming from Naxos:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/goetz-hermann-piano-concertos-davide-cabassi-kimbo-ishii-naxos.html

[giles.enders]

There is a third piano concerto which was left incomplete when Goetz died.  It seems a shame that this has not been looked at.

[Alan Howe]

That's not Naxos' fault, surely. In any case, I understand that only sketches exist, so that would be a major reconstruction job at the very least. Does anyone actually know what the extent of these sketches is?

[Alan Howe]

By the way, I would have a look at the cpo recording of these concertos before considering the Naxos. For one thing, the cpo features a rather better orchestra...
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Hermann-Goetz-1840-1876-Klavierkonzerte-Nr-1-2/hnum/5996766

[adriano]

You are right, Alan :-)
I like this 3-CD box of 2002 by cpo with Goetz's Orchestral works very much - in which the two mentioned Piano Concertos were already included. The "Spring Overture" is also figuring...

[Revilod]

I also endorse any recommendation of Banfeld's CPO disc. It's excellent.

By the way, one person who won't be looking forward to a new recording of Goetz's Second Concerto is Jeremy Nicholas. Reviewing the Brilliant Romantic Piano Concerto box in August's "Gramophone" , he calls it, together with Mosonyi's concerto, a "complete non-starter" and "particularly awful".   Beats me!  I think it is one of the best unsung concertos of its period.

[Alan Howe]

Mr Nicholas is just plain wrong, isn't he? Mind you, how good's the Goetz PC recording in that box?

[Revilod]

It's going to be Michael Ponti's old recording with the Luxembourg Orchestra under Pierre Cao....perhaps not the last word in refinement but more than enough to give a fair representation of the work itself....and Mr Nicholas is, rightly, extremely enthusiastic about Ponti's playing in general. The only serious problem is a big cut in the finale.

I've always had a soft spot for the versatile Pierre Cao ever since I saw him conduct for the Eurovision Song Contest (I have no excuse!) many years ago. Can you imagine Karajan doing that?!

[black]

Volker Banfeld's interpretation of the Goetz piano concertos is indeed very convincing, but for the 2nd piano concerto  I'd prefer the more demur performance by Paul Baumgartner on a 1971 LP recording (as far as I know never issued on CD) which can be heard on YouTube.