Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowsky: Klavierkonzerte Nr.1-3 on 2 CDs

Ungewöhnliche Entdeckungen
Diese Jubiläums-Aufnahme mit 2 CDs wird von keinem geringeren bestritten als dem britischen Pianisten Stephen Hough. Er spielt in Volume 50 sämtliche Werke für Klavier und Orchester von Peter Tschaikowsky und überrascht mit einigen interessanten Extras. Die Klavierkonzerte werden ergänzt durch die Konzertfantasie op. 56, die zwar zu Lebzeiten des Komponisten beliebt war, danach aber in Vergessenheit geriet. Dazu gesellen sich Bearbeitungen von »Solitude« op. 73, 6 und einer Romanze aus op. 6 durch den Pianisten Stephen Hough. Zudem wurden Alternativ-Fassungen des 2. Satzes aus dem 2. Klavierkonzert angehängt. Tschaikowskys ursprünglich komponiertes Andante wurde bei der Uraufführung kritisiert. Der Pianist Alexander Siloti verfasste eine zweite Version und Stephen Hough fügt eine weitere hinzu.

Product-Information:

The Romantic Piano Concerto series reaches Volume 50. This series has been described as a jewel in Hyperion's crown and one of the glories of the recording industry. Rarely in the history of recorded music has such a rich seam of undiscovered delights been mined to such consistently dazzling effect. These first fifty volumes include 131 works for piano and orchestra: fifty-nine of these works are premiere recordings and many other featured works have only been recorded once before. The performers include some of the greatest pianists, orchestras and conductors in the world, and each disc in itself is a miracle of virtuosity, scholarship and musicianship.

For Volume 50, a stellar cast has been assembled for a two-disc set that includes, unusually, one of the most famous concertos in the repertoire. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 has certainly achieved warhorse status—but in the expert hands of Stephen Hough it is a new creature. With the rest of this fascinating two-disc set we are in more usual RPC territory, with music which is actually not widely known. This is a complete survey of Tchaikovsky's music for piano and orchestra and includes alternative versions of the second movement of Piano Concerto No 2 as well as some delicious extras.

Stephen Hough performed all four concertos at the BBC Proms in 2009 and was described as ›the epitome of a »golden age« virtuoso with his balletic elegance and dazzling rhythmic reflexes‹ (The Independent). Armed with this inestimably important experience, he travelled to Minnesota to record the set live with the Minnesota Orchestra under their acclaimed conductor Osmo Vänskä. The result is a set of unique importance: a winning combination of a pianist at the zenith of his artistry, a world-class orchestra and director, a pre-eminent producer and engineer, repertoire both familiar and unknown, and packaged with even more than the usual care that customers have come to expect from Hyperion.

Rezensionen

»[Concerto no 1] Here it is injected with exhilharation, the bravura tempered with limpid lyricism … This set is a worthy tribute to the longevity of Hyperion's series« (The Daily Telegraph)

»Hough plays with a brilliance that conveys delicacy of feelign as well as virtuosity and power« (Mail on Sunday)

»Anyone who heard Stephen Hough's barnstorming performances of all the Tchaikovsky piano concertos at last year's Proms will want to own these CDs … Osmo Vänskä's suave direction of the Minnesota players allows Hough's brilliance to shine through« (The Observer)

»Brilliantly played but thoughtfully reconsidered interpretations … He achieves the remarkable feat of not making the B flat major Concerto sound remotely hackneyed. Sparks fly thanks to his outstanding conductor … He makes the strongest possible case for the restoration of the neglected and often reviled G major Concerto (No 2)« (The Sunday Times)

Reviews

FonoForum 07/10: »Die 1991 von dem britischen Label Hyperion gestartete Reihe ›Das romantische Klavierkonzert‹ hat es bis heute auf die stattliche Anzahl von 50 Folgen gebracht.​ Aus Anlass des Jubiläums gönnt man sich eine Doppel-CD mit Werken von Tschaikowsky - und wer immer argwöhnt, das bisher vor allem wegen der Pflege vergessenen Repertoires gelobte Label habe damit seine Prinzipien über Bord geworfen, sieht sich schnell eines Besseren belehrt: Neben dem populären b-Moll-Schlachtross bietet das sorgfältig präsentierte Album auch das überaus reizvolle zweite Klavierkonzert, die formal eigenwillige Fantasie für Klavier und Orchester und das selten gespielte einsätzige dritte Klavierkonzert, das Tschaikowsky in seinem Todesjahr auf der Grundlage eines verworfenen Sinfonie-Satzes schrieb.​«