Rubinstein: Piano Concerto No. 4 – Scharwenka: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 38)

Approfondimenti

Is there really another volume in Hyperion's series The Romantic Piano Concerto? Are there really any more unrecorded Romantic piano concertos? Apparently. Here are Xaver Scharwenka's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor and Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No. 4. But that's not the amazing thing. The amazing thing is that Scharwenka's First and Rubinstein's Fourth are both first-rate, second-rank works that are both given first-rate performances by virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Michael Stern. Scharwenka's exuberant three-movement B flat minor Concerto has the distinction of having all three movements marked Allegro and Hamelin handles Scharwenka's handfuls of sixty-fourth notes with nonchalant flamboyance. Rubinstein's dramatic three-movement D minor Concerto has the standard central Andante and Hamelin masters Scharwenka's monumental chords and massive octaves with insouciant aplomb. Stern and the BBC Scottish Symphony support Hamelin through the ill-scoring of Scharwenka and the over-scoring of Rubinstein and Hyperion captures their performances in deep, detailed sound. As long as Hyperion can continue to releases discs of such high quality, may The Romantic Piano Concerto never end.

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