Mendelssohn Concertos for 2 Pianos - Description.pdf

8/12/2019 Mendelssohn Concertos for 2 Pianos - Description.pdf

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The Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto seriesVolume 3: MendelssohnConcertos for Two Pianos

Of the myriad Piano Concertos composed in the second half of the 19th century all but a handfulare forgotten. The survivors are played with a regularity that borders on the monotonous: pianists,

promoters and record companies play it safe and opt for the familiar. Even a masterpiece can

become an unwelcome guest, especially when subjected to an unremarkable outing by yet another

indifferent player, as happens so frequently today. How refreshing, then, to have the dust brushed

off forgotten specimens of 19th century piano concertos and rendered clean and polished for

inspection again. Refreshing and rewarding, for they are exactly the sort of pieces that make one

wonder why we are forced to live off such a limited concerto diet. How is it that such appealing,

well-crafted, imaginative works with their high spirits and luscious tunes could have vanished from

the repertoire? It is time for those who promote and play piano music to be more adventurous

and imaginative in their programming.

1991 Jeremy Nicholas

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy(Hamburg, February 3, 1809 - Leipzig, November 4, 1847)

Concerto in A flat majorfor two pianos (1824)

I. Allegro vivace [17:26]

II. Andante [9:45]

III. Allegro vivace [14:17]

Concerto in E majorfor two pianos (1823)

I. Allegro vivace - Poco pi allegro [12:58]

II. Adagio non troppo [9:17]

III. Allegro [8:20]


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Stephen Coombs& Ian Munro, pianosBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Jerzy Maksymiuk

Recorded in City Hall, Glasgow on 31 August, 1 September 1991

Recording engineer, Philip Hobbs. Recording producer, Andrew Keener 1992 Hyperion Records Ltd. CDA66567

Mendelssohns mature piano style was derived not so much from the orchestral texturing of

Beethoven and Schubert, as from the filigree intricacies of the German virtuoso piano school,

represented principally by Hummel and Weber, further enhanced by a Mozartian emphasis on

textural clarity. It was never Mendelssohns intention to push contemporary keyboard instruments

beyond that of which they were comfortably capable, more to utilise those qualities for which they

were best adapted brilliant clarity in the treble register, and the ability to sustain a flowing,

cantabile melody without undue bass risonance. Mendelssohns first surviving works in concerto

form date from 1822: the D minor Violin Concerto (not the popular E minor, a much later

composition) and the Piano Concerto in A minor, both with string orchestra accompaniment,

closely followed by a D minor Concerto for violin, piano and strings in May 1823. The Concertos

for two pianosalso belong to this early group, the E major being dated 17 October 1823, and the A

flat major 12 November1824. both works had entirely dropped out of the repertoire until, in 1950,

the original manuscripts were rediscovered in the Berlin State Library. Mendelssohns sister,

Fanny, was also a gifted pianist, and it is almost certain that the E major Concerto was written with

her in mind. However, it also appears likely that the A flat major Concerto was inspired by Felixs

first encounter with the young piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles. Upon seeing the boy Mendelssohn

play, even Moscheles could barely believe his eyes: Felix, a mere boy of fifteen, is a phenomenon.

What are all other prodigies compared with him?" The major criticism levelled at the Two-Piano

Concertos is their tendency to overstretch relatively fragile musical material, as, with two soloists tocontend with, Mendelssohn had been keen to ensure that the music was shared equally, thus

involving an unusual amount of repetition. It would hardly be fair to expect even Mendelssohn to

have achieved the miraculous thematic concision and structural cohesion of the E minor Violin

Concerto and G and D minor Piano Concertos at such an early age.

Julian Haylock, from the booklet notes.

Ian Munro - Stephen Coombs


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Coombs and Munro prove ideal advocates, playing with delectable point and imagination

(Penguin Guide to Compact Discs) Fine talent is on display here ... this programme makes ideal

listening as well as offering welcome insight into Mendelssohns great genius (CDReview)..The

sheer joy of playing this music bubbles over in every measure (American Record Guide)..

Sensitive and enchanting (Piano International)

This new record is a fair recommendation to those who are curious about, or fond of, the two-piano

concertos sometimes ingenious, sometimes pleasantly tuneful or stimulating works which lack the

quality of the solo concertos. The performances also lack something of the required energy and

dash, and occasionally the speeds adopted overtake clarity and precision of fingerwork. This is

noticeable especially in the virtuoso passagework of the protracted first movement of the A flat

work; the Weberian glitter of the E major Concertos finale comes off pretty well. The pianists

greatest strength is in their lyrical playing of the slow music, in particular theAdagio non troppoof

the E major. The recording might have made more of the musical alternations which Mendelssohn

exploits, especially in the finale of the E major.

Gramophone.co.uk

Three languages-, 10 pages-booklet in .pdf format included.

Complete details of the Romantic Piano Concerto project can be found

at the Hyperion Recordswebsite (Indexes Collections)Quote:

Techn - The Romantic Piano Concerto, vol. 3Extraction: Exact Audio Copy 0.95 beta 3Used drive: PLEXTOR DVDR PX-740A, Offset +618Read mode: Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cacheManually integrated natively-tagged .flac files through EAC proper additional commandline: [-8-V -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T"genre=%m" -T "comment=Exact Audio Copy 0.95 b3 Secure Mode / FLAC q8 v. 1.1.2" %s]Full artwork included in .png and .pdf lossless format, scans at 600 dpiresized to 300.Text pages not descreened.
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Mendelssohn Concertos for 2 Pianos - Description.pdf