Hyperion Romantic

This is the fourth Romantic Piano Concerto album from Simon Callaghan, and that combination of talents which made his first three so successful—not least a flair for exploring the neglected byways of the Romantic repertoire, and the technique and musicianship to do them justice—proves just as compelling here.

The common thread—as so often in The Romantic Piano Concerto series—is Liszt, in whose Weimar circle both composer-pianists featured here moved. Both concertos are pleasingly substantial, and the typically demanding piano writing is powerfully dispatched by Emmanuel Despax.

Just what the Romantic Piano Concerto series does best: three works unlikely to be encountered in the concert hall, in performances by artists who wholeheartedly—and justifiably—believe in the music. The high expectations of this series are amply realized in volume seventy-six.

If the warmly Romantic bloom on these concertos suggests the spirit of an earlier generation—both works date from the 1880s—the music of Stéphan Elmas retains its own distinctive voice, a voice heard to best advantage in Howard Shelley's persuasive accounts.

This is the fourth Romantic Piano Concerto album from Simon Callaghan, and that combination of talents which made his first three so successful—not least a flair for exploring the neglected byways of the Romantic repertoire, and the technique and musicianship to do them justice—proves just as compelling here.

Henri Herz was a phenomenon in 1830s Paris and 1840s America, but today his music is mostly forgotten. He wrote eight piano concertos, one of which was lost. Concertos 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 appear across two previous volumes of the Romantic Piano Concertos series. Here, Howard Shelley and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra put on their finest dancing shoes to complete the cycle with Piano Concerto No. 2 (the one with which Herz conquered America in 1846) and three extended fantasies.

The first recording of Moritz Moszkowski’s long-lost—and eagerly awaited—early Piano Concerto makes for a particularly important addition to the Romantic Piano Concerto series. The coupling is another rarity (and recorded premiere): the Russian Rhapsody by Adolf Schulz-Evler.

The common thread—as so often in The Romantic Piano Concerto series—is Liszt, in whose Weimar circle both composer-pianists featured here moved. Both concertos are pleasingly substantial, and the typically demanding piano writing is powerfully dispatched by Emmanuel Despax.

Volume 72 of our Romantic Piano Concerto series comes to the rescue of yet another neglected figure with three first recordings courtesy of Howard Shelley and his Tasmanian forces. Composer, pianist, writer and educator (he was an early Principal of the Royal Academy of Music), London-born Cipriani Potter was encouraged by Beethoven and admired by Wagner.

No fewer than four composers vie for attention in volume 78 of the Romantic Piano Concerto. There’s only one official piano concerto here, but it’s a remarkable work from a composer in her mid-teens.