Josef Wieniawski: Klavierkonzert g-moll op.20 on CD

Klavierkonzerte der Romantik
Hermann Goetz ist heute weitgehend bekannt durch seine Oper »Der Widerspenstigen Zähmung«. Als Pianist lebte Goetz nach seinem Studium bei Hans von Bülow in der Schweiz und komponierte dort sein Klavierkonzert, das mit charmanten und einfallsreichen Themen überzeugt. Der Orchesterpart ist entgegen des Zeitgeschmacks nicht überladen, die Musik überzeugt durch Frische und Optimismus. Das Klavierkonzert von Jozéf Wieniawski stellt den virtuosen Klavierpart in den Vordergrund. Nur wenige Atempausen sind dem Solisten gegönnt, der auf spektakuläre Weise durch das attraktive Werk führt.

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Hamish Milne makes a welcome return to the Romantic Piano
Concerto series with two recherché delights from the nineteenth century.

Józef, ›the other Wieniawski‹ is the brother of the more famous violinist, Henryk. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and had a wide-ranging and successful performing and composing career. His highly attractive Piano
Concerto in G minor is in the mould of those by Chopin and Liszt, with the piano very much in the foreground. The Rondo finale demands a spectacular display of technique, living proof of Wieniawski's own brand of virtuosity.

Goetz's music, although full of melodic gift and mastery of form, was rarely performed after the end of his short life. His piano
Concerto proved to be the most successful of his orchestral works played during his lifetime, and was praised by the local press as ›evidence of his outstanding talent, crafted, melodious, fiery and reflective, with a brilliant piano part. It is effective without playing to the gallery, often has quite new combinations of scoring in the orchestral accompaniment, and is, in the best sense of the word, modern‹.

Rezensionen

»Wie immer in dieser CD-Serie wird auch hier durchaus wertvollem, aber eher abseitigem Repertoire von Seiten der Interpreten großer Respekt gezollt, so dass sich auch diese Folge nahtlos einreiht in den hohen Qualitätsstandard des Gesamtprojekts. Nicht nur, aber auch was für Sammler!« (Fono Forum, 03 / 2011)

»[Goetz] Milne finds a deal more depth and poetry here and in the second movement, which also features some lovely passages for the woodwind and the horns … This is among the most rewarding concertos of Hyperion's entire series … [Wieniawski] Milne plays it up to the hilt (try the spectacular rondo-finale with its ›wrong note‹ chordal motif), relegating Setrak's 1987 Le Chant du Monde recording to silver medal position« (Gramophone)

»There is much about Goetz's concert that is adorable – the slow movement in particular – and it is well worth the average listener's attention … Milne is aristocratic and subtle in both his tone and his interpretation, and this seems appropriate for Goetz's gentlemanlike personality and
Concerto … [Wieniawski] The very Polish finale … has a main theme whose swashbuckling quality entrenches it in the ear« (International Record Review)

»Goetz delivers generous helpings of melodic warmth with his virtuoso passages, while Josef Wieniawski is all about showcasing the brilliance of the pianist's technique … Hamish Milne's distinctive playing of great clarity and sensitivity invests both these concertos with a characteristic of their own … Another success for this long running series of discoveries« (Classic FM Magazine)

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