The Romantic Piano Concerto 11 - Scharwenka & Sauer - Hyperion: CDA66790 - CD or download

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A glitteringly worthy addition to the Hyperion series ... Stephen Hough exhibits dazzling flair in showpiece concertos by Sauer and Scharwenka – and plenty of stamina ... Hough plays throughout... — Classic CD More…

Release Date: 1st Sep 1995
Catalogue No: CDA66790
Label: Hyperion
Series: The Romantic Piano Concerto
Length: 69 minutes

Gramophone Awards

1996

Recording of the Year
Gramophone Awards

1996

Winner - Concerto

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Scharwenka, X: Piano Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 82

Work length39:41

$4.40

$6.00

Stephen Hough (piano)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Lawrence Foster

I. Allegro patetico

Track length18:39

$1.10

$1.50

II. Intermezzo: Allegretto molto tranquillo

Track length6:56

$1.10

$1.50

III. Lento, mesto

Track length7:25

$1.10

$1.50

IV. Allegro con fuoco

Track length6:41

$1.10

$1.50

Sauer: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor

Work length30:12

$4.40

$6.00

Stephen Hough (piano)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Lawrence Foster

I. Allegro patetico

Track length11:00

$1.10

$1.50

II. Scherzo: Molto vivace – Andante con moto, quasi Allegretto – Tempo I

Track length6:51

$1.10

$1.50

III. Cavatina: Larghetto amoroso

Track length7:45

$1.10

$1.50

IV. Rondo: Tempo giusto

Track length4:36

$1.10

$1.50

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About

Scharwenka was one of the most beloved of musical figures during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His Concerto No 4 in F minor, written in 1908, was greeted at its premiere with astonishing enthusiasm from an audience which may, without exaggeration, be said to have included almost every pianist virtuoso, teacher and student in Berlin. Two years later Scharwenka was to give his first performance of the work at a concert in New York. The conductor was Gustav Mahler. Emil Von Sauers compositions have suffered from an even greater neglect, wholly unjustifiable, than Scharwenkas. The E minor Concerto had already gone through eight printings by 1908 when he performed it in Chicago: It was no matter for astonishment that when the pianist-composer had brought the work to its conclusion a storm of genuine enthusiasm should seep the house from gallery to floor Mr Sauer represents a school of piano-playing that has all but vanished. The pianists who are now moulding the taste of the public are, one and all, engaged in the questionable task of reproducing with their instruments effects that are orchestral but in the meantime we are in danger of forgetting the joys of pure pianism. To such joys Mr Sauer has awakened us. Two first recordings, played by one of the greatest virtuoso pianists today.

Reviews

Classic CD

A glitteringly worthy addition to the Hyperion series ... Stephen Hough exhibits dazzling flair in showpiece concertos by Sauer and Scharwenka – and plenty of stamina ... Hough plays throughout with exhilarating momentum and dazzling technical address. I doubt whether any CD has so many double octave passages as this, but he never wearies, and his response to both works is as many-sided as the music itself ... Not to be missed, on any account.

2010

This jewel in the crown in Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series marries flawlessly composer, performance, recording and presentation. Scharwenka's Piano Concerto No 4 is a far cry from his early, ubiquitous success, the E flat minor Polish Dance. Grand, Lisztian ambitions are fulfilled and embellished in writing of the most ferocious intricacy; the tarantella finale in particular throws everything at the pianist, seemingly simultaneously. It's therefore hardly surprising that after early triumphs the Fourth Concerto fell into neglect. At its second performance, given in 1910 with Scharwenka as soloist and Mahler as conductor, it was described as being of a 'truly Dionysian and bewildering brilliancy', a phrase that encapsulates Stephen Hough's astonishing performance. For here is scintillating wit and ebullience. As magisterial as it's eartickling and affectionate, his playing glows with warmth in the third movement Lento, and pulses with the most nonchalant glitter in the finale; one guaranteed to strike down less intrepid and fluent spirits with St Vitus's dance.
Emil von Sauer's First Concerto has a style and content to make even the least susceptible listeners' heads nod and feet tap. The Cavatina is as luscious and enchanting as the finale is teasingly brief and light-hearted. Throughout, haunting melodies are embroidered with the finest pianistic tracery. Once again the performance is bewitching. In the Cavatina Hough's caressing, fine-spun tone and long-breathed phrasing are a model for singers as well as pianists, and in the finale there's a lightly deployed virtuosity that epitomizes his aristocratic style.
Though the spotlight falls unashamedly on the soloist in such music, the orchestra has no small part in the proceedings, and Lawrence Foster and the CBSO are superbly resilient and enthusiastic, with strings that sing their hearts out.
Sound and balance are exemplary. Stephen Heliotis's accompanying notes deserve separate publication for their wit and perspicacity.

At its second performance given in 1910 with Scharwenka as soloist and Mahler as conductor, it was described as being of a "truly Dionysian and bewildering brilliancy", a phrase that, lifted into our own times, encapsulates Stephen Hough’s astonishing performance

The Romantic Piano Concerto 11 - Scharwenka & Sauer

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