Aloys Schmitt Piano Concertos on Hyperion

[patently_obvious]

I see this has appeared on prestomusic web site as forthcoming from Hyperion, volume 84 of their Romantic Piano Concertos.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9322040--schmitt-a-piano-concertos

[Alan Howe]

Wow! I'd never heard of him. His dates are: 1788-1866.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloys_Schmitt
https://www.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/musik/schmitt.html (in German)

[Jonathan]

I have a feeling at the back of my mind that he might have taught Thalberg but I've checked and there is no mention of it that I can find.

Sounds like a fascinating release!!

[4candles]

I've known the name for some years, but never heard a note of his music. It sounds like standard RPC fare to me and despite the excellent forces involved, I think I'll wait for a more attention-grabbing release in the series.

Hope you all enjoy it!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Aloys Schmitt wrote 3 piano concertos and 2 he called concertinos (Opp. 75 & 76) and I located the performance materials for all of them. So I hope Hyperion will record the lot eventually.

[Alan Howe]

Kudos to you, Gareth!

[Gareth Vaughan]

I have amended my earlier post - I misremembered (5, not 6 piano concertos/concertinos). The Op. 75 "concertino" is subtitled 'Le Retour a Francfort', and the Op. 76 in E flat is variously referred to as a concerto or concertino. Score and parts to that are in Fleisher.

[giles.enders]

I refer Alan to my posting on this forum dated 18.4.2016, where his five works for piano and orchestra are listed.

[Alan Howe]

This is the earlier thread on Schmitt to which Giles is referring:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,6073.msg64260.html#msg64260

Apologies for having entirely forgotten about the composer.

[terry martyn]

In this bicentenary year of Raff's birth, Hyperion have seen fit to exhume the first two concertos of this German pedagogue and composer instead of the more obvious choice. The booklet refers to them forming part of the 90% of such works which remain resolutely below the iceberg's surface and leaves judgement to the listener. Howard Shelley combines the role of conductor and pianist and performs the works (plus a one-movement filler) in his usual well-mannered,but slightly feline way. Not even a lion of the keyboard such as Ponti would have been able to bring these two corpses to life. I suspect that Ponti would not even have bothered.
There have been masterpieces (the Brull immediately springs to mind) and also-rans in this long-running series,but Aloys Schmidt, if these works are typical of the man,falls into neither category. Rather,he has put me in mind of the famous racehorse Vodkatini. Those who remember this animal from 40 or so years ago will recall that Vodkatini had a particular speciality. When the starter raised his flag, the horse would resolutely refuse to race.That,I fear,is the category for Schmitt.

[Alan Howe]

...whereas I'm rather looking forward to these PCs. Not everything needs to be a masterpiece - just music that's fun to hear.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I actually find these concerti delightfully melodic and beautifully constructed. They are well mannered and slightly old fashioned for their time, but thoroughly enjoyable pieces of light music, IMHO.

[chriss]

and slightly old fashioned for their time

Old fashioned in a classical way. Somewhat strange choices for the "Romantic Piano Concertos" series.

[Alan Howe]

I'd say old-fashioned in a post-Beethovenian way. They appear to have been written around 1820 - I haven't been able to establish their dates. But they're more than 'classical' in style; it's impossible not to hear the influence of LvB.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Well put, Alan, and quite correct. Although I initially suggested to Hyperion that they would fit with the Classical PC series, I think they were right to include them in the RPC series in the end.