Jonathan Plowright pf
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra /
Christoph König

Hyperion CDA67630 (67')

A musical alchemist again works his magic on some obscure repertoire

Henryk Melcer (-Szczwinski) does not merit a mention in every musical reference work. He was born near Warsaw in 1869 and died mid-lecture at that city's conservatory from a heart attack in 1928. His career, defined by a succession of pedagogic appointments and artistic directorships throughout Europe, is well charted in Joseph A Herter's valuable booklet.

Not a prolific composer, Melcer, a pupil of Leschetizky, wrote his Piano Concerto No 1 in 1892-94. It gained a measure of popularity at the time and was first recorded in 1980 by Michael Ponti. Sir Henry Wood, who conducted the work in 1911, thought "it was quite worth hearing once". I think it is better than that. True, there are passages of glittering superficiality and predictable gestures but these are more than compensated for by its many arresting features like the dramatic fermata in the first movement at 9'26" followed by (most unusually) a full-blown fugue.

The Second Concerto from 1898, also in three movements, is crowned by a hair-raising final Allegro con fuoco, a remarkable tour de force which, were it ever to be heard in a concert hall, would have you on your feet at the end cheering. As with his compelling performances of the two Stojowski concertos (6/02 - not to mention his subsequent Hyperion discs of Paderewski and Bach-Rummel), Plowright enhances his glowing reputation as a musical alchemist of rare distinction with a transcendent technique. The piano/orchestra balance is well focused, captured in a slightly less resonant acoustic than usual in this venue (City Halls, Glasgow) which, in some ways, I prefer. I need hardly add that collectors of this historic Romantic Piano Concerto series need not hesitate.

Jeremy Nicholas