Koczalski PCs 1 & 2

[Alan Howe]

MusicWeb now have this for sale - here:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Acte_Prealable/Catalogue_Acte_Prealable_2013.htm

[Alan Howe]

...and Acte Préalable themselves now have it as a 'new release'.

[Alan Howe]

Stock has now arrived in the UK, so order away...!

[Alan Howe]

Anyone who receives this CD in the coming days is in for a real seasonal treat. PC1 is surely 'up there' with the Garuta PC in 2017's 'Previously Unrecorded Piano Concerto Role-Call of Honour'. The slow movement in particular ought to be a Classic FM favourite - it's just meltingly beautiful.

[Alan Howe]

...although PC2 (ca.1914) is probably the better, more integrated piece. The first movement in particular - an expansive Moderato - is a very fine achievement. Wonderfully pianistic throughout, there are some absolutely ravishing passages where the strings soar and sing, as well as immensely powerful climaxes where the orchestra roars and the piano thunders.

I'm very glad to say that this music doesn't sound like Rachmaninov at all...

[Mark Thomas]

For me PC2 is clearly the superior piece, thoroughly romantic in idiom and spirit but with less of the rhapsodising which holds back passages of its predecessor.  That's not to say that the First isn't a fine work, but it does have more than an echo of Rachmaninov about it to my ears. The slow movement is absolutely glorious, though. Both works are treated to excellent performances, especially so from the soloist Joanna Lawrynowicz, a new name to me but one with a technique to spare.

[FBerwald]

Is this CD available for Digital Purchase anywhere?

[Mark Thomas]

No, I don't think so. None of the recent Acte Prealable releases have been, possibly none of them are.

[semloh]

I think that this CD is going to stay on the wants list for the foreseeable future. Too expensive for me. Can't even find a few sound-bites.

[eschiss1]

JPC does have soundbites for the disc of his chambermusic, but agreed- can't find them at a number of places the piano concerto CD is advertised, including the conductor's own homepage.