Kalkbrenner Piano Concertos Nos 1 and 4
A pianistic popinjay finds persuasive advocates in Shelley and the Tasmanians
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Frédéric (Friedrich Wilhelm Michael) Kalkbrenner
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 10/2006
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 59
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA67535
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No 1 |
Frédéric (Friedrich Wilhelm Michael) Kalkbrenner, Composer
Frédéric (Friedrich Wilhelm Michael) Kalkbrenner, Composer Howard Shelley, Piano Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra |
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No 4 |
Frédéric (Friedrich Wilhelm Michael) Kalkbrenner, Composer
Frédéric (Friedrich Wilhelm Michael) Kalkbrenner, Composer Howard Shelley, Piano Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra |
Author: Bryce Morrison
Hyperion’s 41st offering in their invaluable “Romantic Piano Concerto” series includes a first recording of Kalkbrenner’s Fourth Piano Concerto lovingly reconstructed by Howard Shelley and Philip Littlemore. And this, together with the First Concerto, allows one a scintillating overview of a composer as admired for his playing as he was despised as a person. A fake grand seigneur and “popinjay” (delightful word), Kalkbrenner was mocked by most contemporaries of note, though Chopin fell briefly under his spell.
“A knowing fellow” whose music was like “a bonbon fallen in the mud” (Heinrich Heine), Kalkbrenner needs an especially persuasive advocate. And in Howard Shelley he has found a pianist who not only relishes everything the composer throws at him, including ambuscades of double notes, but who plays with truly dazzling wit and style. Shelley is a master of such period virtuosity, yet he surpasses even his own standards and it is hard to imagine a more fine-spun or dazzling command. The fidgety theme opening the First Concerto’s finale and its subsequent embellishment provide a case in point, as does the finale of the Fourth Concerto where Shelley’s effortless bravura would surely have awed and piqued the composer himself. Amazingly, Shelley finds himself able to conduct as well as play these concertos, and he has been immaculately balanced and recorded.
“A knowing fellow” whose music was like “a bonbon fallen in the mud” (Heinrich Heine), Kalkbrenner needs an especially persuasive advocate. And in Howard Shelley he has found a pianist who not only relishes everything the composer throws at him, including ambuscades of double notes, but who plays with truly dazzling wit and style. Shelley is a master of such period virtuosity, yet he surpasses even his own standards and it is hard to imagine a more fine-spun or dazzling command. The fidgety theme opening the First Concerto’s finale and its subsequent embellishment provide a case in point, as does the finale of the Fourth Concerto where Shelley’s effortless bravura would surely have awed and piqued the composer himself. Amazingly, Shelley finds himself able to conduct as well as play these concertos, and he has been immaculately balanced and recorded.
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