Rubinstein & Scharwenka: Piano Concertos

I first heard the 2nd movement of the Scharwenka some 15 years ago on Radio 3 and was so struck by it I scribbled the details in an old address book, which was the first thing that came to hand and which promptly disappeared. Thank goodness it has recently surfaced from the dross and I was able to source this recording (playing as I write!).The music ranges from majestically dark and dramatic to playful and hugely romantic, but always with that gently melancholic streak that Rachmaninov and other great Eastern European composers infused into their work. The Rubinstein is therefore an excellent companion on this high quality CD. The piano notation comes through crystal clear and is beautifully balanced by the orchestra.Highly recommended. Don't wait 15 years for your copy!

The Xaver Scharwenka Piano Concert No.1 finally arrived in the Hyperion series of The Romantic Piano Concertos at number at 38 in the series! It comes with the brilliant and incisive piano playing of Marc-Andre Hamelin, complemented by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, directed by a commanding Michael Stern. Despite these credentials, however, and even with the Scharwenka coupled with the 4th Piano Concerto of Anton Rubinstein, it might be considered the least important of the four piano concertos Scharwenka wrote. This would be the opinion of this reviewer (see the reviews of No.11 in the series, Scharwenka’s 4th with Sauer’s 1st concertos, and No.33 in the series with Scharwenka’s 2nd and 3rd concertos).The concerto Scharwenka 1st opens quite dramatically with increasingly stormy sections that requires the pianist to immediately connect with the sympathies of this concerto. This is especially so as the concerto, though notationally is in three movements, in fact eschews the quick-slow-quick formation in favour of three Allegri movements. In the middle of the first movement, however, the work relaxes into a more melodious vein and provides the concerto with probably its most memorable theme. Here, the piano shares pride of place with the violas, clarinet, and the horns in what is a recognisable Adagio, though the movement concludes with more stormy drama.The second movement contrasts the first with its brilliant and quicksilver playing, with the piano offering a jauntier and more hasty progression of the music and, in doing so, provides a marked contrast with the first movement. The final movement returns to the dominant dramatic character of the first movement and, in so doing, introduces a further memorable section, before the concerto reaches a characteristically dramatic finale.Anton Rubinstein wrote eight works for piano and orchestra, the fourth being published in final form in 1874 – the version on this recording. So, as with Scharwenka, he was composing and playing in the era of some of the great European composers of piano concerto music, e.g., Tchaikovsky and Schumann. The 4th Piano Concerto is one of contrasts, with the powerful first movement containing a massive cadenza that gives the movement its impact. The second movement is more lyrical and contains some of Rubinstein’ most listenable piano music, with a mellifluous extended section for the piano, the most memorable in this concerto and where piano and orchestra seem to be totally in harmony.Rubinstein was Russian, but the third, shortest, and concluding movement to his 1st Piano Concerto is close to that of the Polish Scharwenka, and not unlike Schumann. It concludes with fiery momentum of an Allegro to round-off a satisfying concerto, though without the musical impact of Scharwenka’s first, indeed, of Scharwenka’s piano music generally.In this 2005 recording, Hyperion have given both works recordings that have depth and resonance, with clarity in the solo piano sections, but sound where the orchestral entrances are a little on the heavy side and tending to obscure the brilliance of the piano. Nevertheless, this is another welcome addition to the valuable Hyperion series of the romantic piano concertos. The disc comes with an informative booklet on the composers and extended notes about the two compositions. Both are very helpful. As with other discs of Scharwenka’s piano music, this edition is warmly recommended, as is the concerto by Rubinstein.

First, the reservations: I'm not totally happy with the piano/orchestra balance on this CD. It must be difficult, because you want to foreground the piano when so much is being asked of the pianist technically, but there are times here when the orchestra is either an amorphous wash of sound or simply too far back in the aural mix to have full effect. It never sounds bad, but it isn't consistent, and the ear picks that up. When solo orchestral instruments engage the piano, they are given prominence enough for us to appreciate their textures in dialogue with the piano, and there are many such nice moments. It occurs to me that I might be over-thinking the problem here: maybe the POINT of pieces like this is to get the audience into a kind of minute-by-minute responsiveness to exciting or gorgeous playing as a kind of bated breath or edge-of-ones-seat experience. If that's the case, then just sit back and enjoy this.The most cogent and enjoyable movement to me is the scherzo-like finale of the Rubinstein Fourth. It has shape, wit, and drama, and Hamelin plays it with amazing panache. The other movements were enjoyable enough, and lovely or exciting in the moment without being particularly memorable. That's no fault of Hamelin's, for he earns his fee here. The Scharwenka First interested me less than the Rubinstein. There's more variety of mood within the movements, but my reservations with the balance struck me more in this concerto than in the other. Still, it's good to have these on record in such good performances. These are the necessary context for Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev. What distinguishes the now-canonical works, by contrast with works like these on this disc, is their balance of virtuosity, shapeliness, and memorability of thematic material.