Hyperion Records | The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 41

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CDA67535

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: May 2005
Federation Concert Hall, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Produced by Ben Connellan
Engineered by Andrew Dixon
Release date: September 2006
Total duration: 58 minutes 43 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: Yes

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'In Howard Shelley [Kalkbrenner] has found a pianist who not only relishes everything the composer throws at him, including ambuscades of double notes, but who plays with truly dazzling wit and style.... Shelley's effortless bravura would surely have awed and piqued the composer himself' (Gramophone)

'Kalkbrenner's First Concerto offers a truly beautiful and atmospheric slow movement...it would be a boring world if we couldn't find an hour to listen to these musical layer cakes from a bygone age' (Pianist: Recommended)

'Shelley draws committed and expressive playing from this fine ensemble [The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra], besides dispatching the demanding solo parts with unfailing élan' (International Piano)

'Shelley's fearless and seemingly impeccable technique seems to match Kalkbrenner's ideal of good piano-playing perfectly. The sound is always beautiful, those endless runs at the upper end of the keyboard register delivered as if they came easily rather than being the formidable obstacle course that they really are' (International Record Review)

'Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series is one of the most significant recording ventures in front of the public today....The standard of the Hyperion edition has been so high, and it has done so much to showcase both young and established talent, with such exceptional recording quality, that it remains without parallel. Anyone who revels in exploring the peripheries of the repertoire will enjoy this disc enormously' (MusicWeb)

'you may well find yourself riveted as the composer springs one surprise after another. He sustains the 15 minutes of the opening movement effortlessly, through good tunes and brilliant keyboard showmanship, and if the music exists primarily to entertain it certainly does so with style and grace…Howard Shelley plays both works with the panache that they require, and given the fact that he seldom has much of a chance to take his hands off of the keyboard, the Tasmanian Symphony stays with him admirably every step of the way. Hyperion's sonics are also better than some other releases from this source, being well balanced and flattering to both soloist and orchestra…you may find them becoming staples at home' (ClassicsToday.com)

'Howard Shelley is a persuasive advocate, who apart from reconstructing the Fourth with Philip Littlemore, performs these pieces with a dazzling wit and style... I have a notion that Shelley's bravura might have unsettled even the composer himself, particularly in the Fourth's finale where the soloist's effortless command of the music is absolutely stunning. Amazingly, Shelley is able to conduct as well as play these concertos with the Tasmanian players wonderfully supportive' (Classical.net)

Friedrich Kalkbrenner (1785-1849)

The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 41 – Kalkbrenner 1 & 4

Howard Shelley (piano), Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Howard Shelley (conductor)

		Piano Concerto No 1 in D minor, Op 61
1		Movement 1: Allegro maestoso [14:35]
2		Movement 2: Adagio di molto [7:11]
3		Movement 3: Rondo. Vivace [8:47]
		Piano Concerto No 4 in A flat major, Op 127
4		Movement 1: Maestoso brillante [13:36]
5		Movement 2: Adagio [6:03]
6		Movement 3: Rondo. Allegro non troppo [8:31]

More superlative performances of early 19th-century concerto repertoire from Howard Shelley and his Tasmanian Orchestra. Following on the heels of Moscheles and Herz, this time it’s Kalkbrenner, another of those virtuosi hugely acclaimed in their time and now forgotten. Kalkbrenner’s music bridges the gap between the classical and romantic styles and such was his fame that his presence in Paris resulted in that city becoming the pianistic centre of the romantic movement in the 1830s with Chopin, Liszt and Thalberg all basing themselves there; indeed Chopin originally planned to study with the older composer, only declining when Kalkbrenner told him he must not play in public for three years while under his tutelage.

Both concertos are very much of their time, bursting with scales, arpeggios, thirds and octaves in their outer movements and lavishly decorated operatic ‘bel canto’ melodies in their slow movements. The fourth concerto is a first recording.