Laura Netzel Piano Concerto

[Alan Howe]

...forthcoming from BIS, unfortunately with totally inappropriate couplings:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9377887--netzel-sandstrom-tarrodi-piano-concertos
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/piano-concertos/hnum/11073449

[terry martyn]

She was presumably well past her best when she composed this. It is a noisy work,with lots of notes, and makes the concerto of Langaard pere sound masterly in comparison.

[Alan Howe]

Sounds like I'll have to buy it and judge for myself. Doesn't cost much to find out...

[terry martyn]

Stefan Lindgren, the pianist in the competing recording, still available to purchase by download on www.amazon.co.uk, has recently uploaded his efforts onto YouTube, for anyone who cares to listen before buying this CD.  I would advise the curious to do so, before purchasing this CD, as Alan is spot on in his warning about the truly unwelcoming couplings.

[semloh]

I have enjoyed listening to Lindgren's version of this concerto, despite the profusion of notes. I wonder if the pianist is making it sound a bit muddy by being indulgent on the ornamentation. All the time, I kept thinking "Grieg on steroids" - just a subjective reaction with no rational justification that I'm aware of! 

[Mark Thomas]

It'll be interesting to see how Johansson's performance on the new BIS recording compares. The third movement will be different, of course, as Netzel left it unfinished and they are different completions, but also the booklet notes imply that he has edited the other two movements as well.

[PFJ]

Hi guys and girls,
this is Peter Friis Johansson writing.

First, thanks to you all for showing interest in my recording of the Laura Netzel Piano Concerto! Since there a couple of different opinions and theories in this thread, I wanted to straight out some of the question marks.

Coupling: The musical selection on the CD is highly personal for me as it represents my own struggle to bring new and unheard music to the audience. I completely understand if you feel that Netzel could be paired with something more closely aesthetically connected to it (it might actually be in a future re-release, but that's still uncertain) but in this case I had the choice of bringing one "unsung" piece to the world or three, and for me that choice was quite simple. I think especially Sandström's piece has a big risk of being neglected (it would truly be a shame) and hopefully the inclusion of the piece in this recording can help avert that fate. I do also think that there is an artistic connection between the three pieces that works, but that's my subjective opinion and you are of course all very free to disagree.

Differences to Lindgren (actually Nieminen) version: I did nothing but write an ending for the piece. There are however huge unanswered questions in the manuscripts and the two versions divert at various occasions due to this. The Swedish Musical Heritage version which I perform is a critical edition so every choice can be traced. We also wanted to include everything Netzel wrote so even before the reconstruction starts our version is longer than Nieminen's. As for what I did in the ending, I'm going to send a link to the critical comments of my ending in a separate post. In short, it's much longer than the Nieminen version and takes greater artistic liberties which may be critized or appreciated.

Laura Netzel "was well past her best when she composed this": It would be interesting to hear what you think are her best works and when you think she was in her prime? Personally, I think that the piano concerto is very adventurous and that some parts are incredibly successful, but that one also can hear that this is her only attempt of a large scale work and some things really needs a lot of attention from the performers to not make it fall flat. I would say that the cello sonata probably is a stronger work as a whole, but she was really breaking new ground with the concerto and I think it deserves a place at least on the Scandinavian music scene.


Best wishes to you all,
Peter

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks for this very interesting and positive response, Peter.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Absolutely. I applaud your post, Mr Johansson - interesting, valuable and helpful.

[semloh]

Yes, thank you for that background information. How wonderful to hear from the performer himself.

[PFJ]

Thanks for your friendly comments!

Here is the link to the critical comments on the reconstruction that I wrote. Please note that it's auto-translated from Swedish and just very hastily edited so please excuse any textual errors.

Laura Netzel Piano Concerto - Critical Comments

[terry martyn]

I am profoundly impressed by these comments on your reconstruction, Peter.  A lot of thought and care has obviously gone into your work, and I found this very illuminating.

[Alan Howe]

Many thanks. I'll be ordering your recording, of course!

[Alan Howe]

Well, whatever others might think, I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing this lovely, romantic work. I also found Johansson's completion of the finale convincing, making for an exciting close to a fine work, well worth investigating.

[John Boyer]

I've listened to the album now and cannot disagree more with the assessment that the Netzel is "a noisy work,with lots of notes".  Like Alan, I found it an enjoyable and indeed above-average romantic concerto, if we consider average to be the the middle ground of works in Hyperion's endless Romantic Piano Concerto series.  And like Alan, I found Mr. Johansson's completion to be seamless and perfectly idiomatic.  You'd never know someone else had completed the score.

As for the alleged inappropriateness of the couplings, I would have felt that, absent Mr. Johansson's explanation of the repertory, the only thing inappropriate was the inclusion of the Netzel in the first place.  Two thirds of the disc is contemporary music; it's the Netzel that's the intruder.  However, since it's meant to be a collection of Swedish concertos, as our pianist explained, the collection works just fine by me.  Though they lie outside the boundaries of our remit, I very much enjoyed the other two works, with the Sandstrom in particular holding many delightful surprises.  Finally, the sound is first rate.  Even in just two-channel CD reproduction, it is marvelously spacious and finally detailed.  Well done all around!