Oscar Straus Piano Concerto (1893)

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from cpo, with the intrepid Oliver Triendl:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/oscar-straus-klavierkonzert/hnum/8992779

[Gareth Vaughan]

I am really looking forward to this. I was told the score and parts of the PC were in the archives of Austrian Radio, but they declined to reply to any of my enquiries - and an Austrian friend of mine received a similar silence when he approached them. This was about 3 years ago. If this recording was in the offing then it might explain their unwillingness to be helpful.

[TerraEpon]

Veeeeeerrry interesting. I wonder if it's light and tuneful like he's known for (no relation to the Strauss family, obviously, but he's often put in the same general sphere as them and a number of other composers.

[eschiss1]

The serenade for strings op.35 in G minor (score at IMSLP; published (edit) in 1899) is also on the CD as is a brief opera (edit: "Tanzspiel"), I see. Neat.

[semloh]

I see we still have a link to an old performance of this concerto, in the UC downloads section:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,4410.msg47175.html#msg47175

I am looking forward to hearing the new recording!

[Gareth Vaughan]

That performance is also on YouTube where it is labelled with the wrong key (A minor, instead of B minor).

[Alan Howe]

Correct. It's definitely in B minor.

[Alan Howe]

And it's great fun - an unapologetically tuneful and attractive display work, right up Hyperion's street, I'd've thought. Except that this is Triendl on cpo and what a great job he does. This could well become a hit. If you've ordered this, you're going to be in for a treat. It's hyper-romantic, naturally, with some arresting brass writing, à la Liszt, maybe, and a 'big tune' just before the coda in the finale.

[Wheesht]

John Groves has just published an enthusiastic, detailed review of the entire CD on the Operetta Research Center website.