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. Hyperion
Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
1. Piano Concerto No 1 In B Flat Minor Op 23 (32:17)
Concert Fantasia In G Major Op 56 (28:24)
2. Piano Concerto No 2 In G Major Op 44 (39:42)
Piano Concerto No 3 In E Flat Major Op 75 Allegro Brillante 14:42
Piano Concerto No 2: Andante Non Troppo 7:06
Cello – Anthony Ross
Score Editor [Ed.] – Siloti
Violin – Lim Kyu-Young
Piano Concerto No 2: Andante Non Troppo 13:55
Cello – Anthony Ross
Score Editor [Ed.] – Hough
Violin – Jorja Fleezanis
Credits :
Conductor – Osmo Vänskä
Orchestra – Minnesota Orchestra
Piano – Stephen Hough
