This is the second Czerny recording by Rosemary Tuck, Richard Bonynge, and the ESO. That release featured the Grand Concerto in A minor. This one has Czerny’s Second Grand Concerto, and it’s equally grand. Czerny studied with Beethoven and premiered two of his piano concertos as soloist. Czerny’s Second Grand Concerto was started weeks after […]
Romantic period
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Marcy Rosen gives thoughtful performances of Grieg and Strauss
If you’re of a certain age, you may have fond memories of the Musical Heritage Society. The MHS was a record club that offered great music in strictly generic packaging. Originally the MHS licensed music from Erato and other classical labels. Eventually under their own label MusicMasters, they made their own recordings — like this […]
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Anton Bruckner Complete Piano Music Complete Surprise
May I use the word “revelatory?” It most accurately describes my reaction to this release of Anton Brucker’s piano music. Bruckner’s reputation (rightly) rests on his symphonies. But those were far in the future of the young student who wrote these piano pieces. All of the works recorded were composed as student pieces and composition […]
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Friedrich Gernsheim Piano Series Begins at Beginning
Friedrich Gernsheim was a talented pianist and composer with two strikes against him. He was a contemporary of Johannes Brahms, who overshadowed him during his lifetime. And he was a German Jew, so his legacy was (temporarily) erased by the Nazis. The 21st Century seems to be kinder to Gernsheim, given the number of recent […]
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Pianist Jinghu Zhao Launches Carl Czerny Series
Now, this is an ambitious recording project. Carl Czerny wrote over 1,000 works — a substantial portion for solo piano. If you still collect CDs, you might want to clear a shelf for this series. Volume one features five works, only one an entirely original Czerny composition. Variations, fantasies, and impromptus based on existing melodies […]
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Friedrich Schneider Symphony No. 16 reincarnated
Funny how things work. Johann Sebastian Bach was organist at St. Thomaskirk, Leipzig. A prolific composer, his music is known throughout the world. Friedrich Schneider held the same post in 1812. A prolific composer, his music is virtually unknown. Schneider’s catalog includes four operas, 25 cantatas, seven piano concertos, and 23 symphonies. And yet just […]
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Forgotten gems from Begnt Hallberg and Joseph Dente
Hallberg and Dente are far from household names — even in their native Sweden. Begnt Wilhelm Hallberg spent most of his career in Landskrona, outside the cultural center of Sweden (read: Stockholm). Joseph Dente was a major musical figure in Stockholm, though his reputation and influence remained within the confines of the Royal College of […]
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Johann Wilhelm Wilms Piano Quartets receive their due
Johann Wilhelm Wilms (1772-1847) only wrote two piano quartets (that we know of), and they conveniently fit on one CD. German-born Wilms was a major musical figure in the Netherlands As a contemporary of Beethoven, his fame remained more regional than international. A contemporary reviewer called Wilms a “practiced composer versed in compositional technique.” That’s […]
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Charles Villiers Stanford 1919 “Via Victix” still relevant
This is a world premiere recording — of a work that was completed in 1919. And, I think, it’s a work that deserves reevaluation. Charles Villiers Stanford composed his Mass “Via Victix 1914-1918” to mark the end of the Great War (now called World War I). The conflict had begun with stirring appeals to patriotism […]