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Assorted items => Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) => Topic started by: jonah on March 10, 2020, 05:09:15 pm



Title: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: jonah on March 10, 2020, 05:09:15 pm
Announced as ‘ Coming soon’ on Hyperion’s website - the Piano Concertos by Rubbra and Bliss, played by Piers Lane.
The two existing recordings of the Rubbra, a much underrated work, by Denis Matthews and Malcolm  Binns, are elderly and in mono, so a new recording is much to be welcomed.
As for the Bliss, a modern recording is a bonus.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: patmos.beje on March 10, 2020, 07:56:39 pm

Announced as ‘ Coming soon’ on Hyperion’s website - the Piano Concertos by Rubbra and Bliss, played by Piers Lane.
The two existing recordings of the Rubbra, a much underrated work, by Denis Matthews and Malcolm  Binns, are elderly and in mono, so a new recording is much to be welcomed.
As for the Bliss, a modern recording is a bonus.

Having being an avid collector of the Hyperion RPC series until the early volumes in the 20s and then been very choosey, I will consider this release. Whilst I have a recording of the Rubbra, I haven't listened to it for years and don't recall a note. The Cello Concerto and, especially, the Violin Concerto of Bliss, to my mind, are much more interesting than the Piano Concerto.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest251 on March 11, 2020, 08:51:37 am
Good news indeed. A small point of correction (as an owner of the CD of the Binns performance). As far as I can see this is a stereo recording  - from the BBC, of a concert given in 1976 for Rubbra's 75th birthday. celebrations.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: jonah on March 11, 2020, 02:28:24 pm
You are, of course, correct, but I stick by ‘elderly’ !


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on March 11, 2020, 05:29:01 pm
Not on my shopping list, frankly.  The Bliss Concerto is rather too much tub-thumping for me, and while I value the Rubbra, Binns will continue to work just fine. 


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: M. Yaskovsky on March 24, 2020, 10:50:14 am
June, 26th https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8773246--rubbra-bliss-piano-concertos


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest377 on March 25, 2020, 01:33:53 am

Announced as ‘ Coming soon’ on Hyperion’s website - the Piano Concertos by Rubbra and Bliss, played by Piers Lane.
The two existing recordings of the Rubbra, a much underrated work, by Denis Matthews and Malcolm  Binns, are elderly and in mono, so a new recording is much to be welcomed.
As for the Bliss, a modern recording is a bonus.

Having being an avid collector of the Hyperion RPC series until the early volumes in the 20s and then been very choosey, I will consider this release. Whilst I have a recording of the Rubbra, I haven't listened to it for years and don't recall a note. The Cello Concerto and, especially, the Violin Concerto of Bliss, to my mind, are much more interesting than the Piano Concerto.

Glad to see that....  Since I have all 80 CDs in the series.. I look forward to #81.  Number 80 with Dupont/Benoit was wonderful ..


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on March 26, 2020, 09:10:49 am
Is Hyperion running out of worthy "Romantic Piano Concertos" for the series, or could it conceivably reach 100, or even 200?



Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on March 26, 2020, 11:00:20 am
They will have no difficulty in reaching 100, believe me. 200? Well, some of us may not be around to find out!


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Albion on March 26, 2020, 10:15:17 pm
In terms of British Romantic PCs I am now scratching around to think what else might possibly be included! George Macfarren (1835, if extant) possibly, the elusive Sterndale Bennett 6th hopefully, likewise Holbrooke's "L'Orient". Otherwise it would seem that the series has (very welcome as the idea is) covered the bases pretty well in terms of what is practicable to revive. Bliss and Rubbra strike me as odd inclusions but if the release brings these works to a wider audience I would be the first to applaud Hyperion.

 :)


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on March 27, 2020, 02:26:35 am
Gaze Cooper, Stanley Wilson, William Baines, Lawrance Collingwood, Kathleen Bruckshaw, Ethel Scarborough, Tobias Matthay, Felix Borowski, Caryl Florio, Percy Sherwood (no. 1), Arthur Hinton, Brian Easdale, Frank Merrick, Frank Tapp... all British and all with extant scores for piano and orchestra.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: BrianA on March 27, 2020, 03:27:00 am
But the series is not BRITISH Romantic PCs is it?  I would think there's potentially still lots of ground to cover.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on March 27, 2020, 07:43:25 am
Oh, yes. Quite. I mentioned those British composers just to assure Albion that there were still plenty of those to choose from. The number of worthwhile Romantic piano & orchestra works by non-British composers that remain unrecorded is enormous.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: jonah on March 27, 2020, 08:35:33 am
It is scheduled for release at the end of June, and also includes Bax’s Morning Song (Maytime in Sussex)


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest377 on March 27, 2020, 03:25:44 pm
Oh, yes. Quite. I mentioned those British composers just to assure Albion that there were still plenty of those to choose from. The number of worthwhile Romantic piano & orchestra works by non-British composers that remain unrecorded is enormous.

Yes  in the whole catalogue of Romantic Piano Concertos.. they have only scratched the surface.  Vox did a series in the 1980s/1990s but it only went to Vol 3 or 4. Darzins (Latvian) piano concerto, Garuta (another great one)... Lydia Auster's Piano Concerto.. 2 that I can think of whilest drinking my coffee.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on March 27, 2020, 09:24:19 pm
I agree - the Garuta concerto is a marvellous piece. Lydia Auster's G major concerto dates from 1952 and is heavily influenced by folk music - very beautifully scored and constructed; in spite of the date it is perfectly tonal and certainly Romantic. I don't know Volfgang Darzins' PC (I believe he wrote 2).


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on March 28, 2020, 05:42:16 pm
Do considerations of what might possibly sell enter into Hyperion's decisions?

Some of the names mentioned seem rather a stretch in that regard.



Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on March 28, 2020, 06:15:10 pm
The momentum generated by, and the popularity of, the RPC series means that virtually anything recorded in the series will sell. There are already many deeply obscure composers whose works are recorded under the RPC banner.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on March 28, 2020, 08:01:44 pm
Who are some of the more obscure composers in the series (up to now) would you say?

BTW, what criteria qualify the Rubbra & Bliss Concertos as "romantic"?  Are they a violation of the remit (as Alan Howe might protest)?


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest377 on March 28, 2020, 08:35:30 pm
Who are some of the more obscure composers in the series (up to now) would you say?

BTW, what criteria qualify the Rubbra & Bliss Concertos as "romantic"?  Are they a violation of the remit (as Alan How might protest)?

who is Alan How?


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest377 on March 28, 2020, 08:36:26 pm
oh  Peteris Barisons piano concerto also


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Albion on March 28, 2020, 08:59:12 pm
But the series is not BRITISH Romantic PCs is it?

I don't think I inferred that it was...

Gaze Cooper, Stanley Wilson, William Baines, Lawrance Collingwood, Kathleen Bruckshaw, Ethel Scarborough, Tobias Matthay, Felix Borowski, Caryl Florio, Percy Sherwood (no. 1), Arthur Hinton, Brian Easdale, Frank Merrick, Frank Tapp... all British and all with extant scores for piano and orchestra.

Thanks, Gareth. Could we potentially add Stanley Bate's 3rd, 4th and 5th dating from the 1950s? I would really like to hear these in good modern recordings - number 2 as recorded by Dutton is splendid. I wonder just how far the "romantic" remit can be stretched...

 ::)


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on March 29, 2020, 12:52:01 am
Quote
Who are some of the more obscure composers in the series (up to now) would you say?

Goedicke, Dohler, Kullak, Melcer, Taubert, Rosenhain, Zarzycki, Zelenski, Alnaes, Napravnik, Oswald, Napoleao, Coke, Scholz, Urspruch - scarcely household names!


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on March 29, 2020, 05:47:01 am
A motley group, - you're right, in which Garuda, Auster, & Darzins, et. al. would not be out of place.
What the series lacks is any Scandinavian (or Finnish) representation whatsoever, - or am I wrong?
Where's Stenhammar, Atterberg, and a host of others one could mention.  Have the Nordic countries been deliberately excluded?


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest377 on March 29, 2020, 06:05:41 am
BTW, what criteria qualify the Rubbra & Bliss Concertos as "romantic"?  Are they a violation of the remit (as Alan Howe might protest)?

who is Alan Howe??


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on March 29, 2020, 07:40:33 am
The owner/moderator of a certain forum you're a member of and occasional poster on.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on March 29, 2020, 12:46:02 pm
Quote
What the series lacks is any Scandinavian (or Finnish) representation whatsoever, - or am I wrong?

You are wrong - at least, Scandinavian yes; Finnish, no, not yet. Vol. 42 Alnaes & Sinding; Vol. 49 Stenhammar; Vol. 57 Wiklund. There are several PCs by Finnish composers that might be included (I have suggested Vaitio Rainio and Ilmari Hannikainen); and another lacuna is the Baltic States.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on March 29, 2020, 01:01:33 pm
Quote
Could we potentially add Stanley Bate's 3rd, 4th and 5th dating from the 1950s?

I'm not really sure they could be called truly "Romantic", but these terms are so subjective. In any case, Stanley Bate is a criminally neglected composer. I was impressed with the PC2 which Dutton recorded and would love to hear his others. I do hope someone will record them soon - and the other concertos, and the Symphony No. 2, and... and...

And then there is Stanley Wilson: 3 PCs - Mss all at RCM (to say nothing of the "Skye" Symphony, which one a Carnegie Trust award). But perhaps Wilson is for another thread.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Albion on March 29, 2020, 02:15:08 pm
I've just been re-reading Lewis Foreman's notes to the Dutton discs of Stanley Bate and he states that the fifth piano concerto is unfinished. In the BBC Radio 4 documentary feature "The Lonely Death of Stanley Bate" Stephen Bell, conductor of the viola concerto for Dutton examined the autograph score of the second symphony at the RCM and expressed interest in recording it... Let's hope!

 :)


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on March 29, 2020, 09:46:49 pm
Quote
What the series lacks is any Scandinavian (or Finnish) representation whatsoever, - or am I wrong?

You are wrong - at least, Scandinavian yes; Finnish, no, not yet. Vol. 42 Alnaes & Sinding; Vol. 49 Stenhammar; Vol. 57 Wiklund. There are several PCs by Finnish composers that might be included (I have suggested Vaitio Rainio and Ilmari Hannikainen); and another lacuna is the Baltic States.

Got excited I might have a scoop, - but no.  The series has become so large it's easy to forget things.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: JimL on March 29, 2020, 09:59:36 pm
What about the moribund Romantic Violin Concerto and Romantic Cello Concerto series?


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on March 29, 2020, 11:47:24 pm
What about them? This thread is about the RPC series.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest377 on March 30, 2020, 01:37:38 am
What about the moribund Romantic Violin Concerto and Romantic Cello Concerto series?

Start a separate thread please..


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on March 31, 2020, 02:08:42 am
What about the moribund Romantic Violin Concerto and Romantic Cello Concerto series?

Start a separate thread please..

Geez, I see nothing inappropriate in Jim referring to Hyperion's corresponding Violin & Cello Concerto series' here.  Our minds move and we often post by association, and this was a quite natural and understandable one IMO, and worth responding to and pursuing on the very same thread initially concerning the Piano Concerto series (discussion of which can continue as well).  It's not like there's such an over abundance of activity we should worry too much of topics bleeding into one another (when there's a rational basis) and thereby making our exchanges unwieldy.  It's a good question, - what HAS become of the Romantic Violin & Cello Concerto series'?  When and what was the last issue in these, - and does anyone know of plans for their continuation?  Why might they have stopped?  There's an abundance of unrecorded material along these lines that could stand a recording by Hyperion quite as urgently as with the PC's.   Is broadening our consideration such a disruption?


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest377 on March 31, 2020, 04:03:26 am
Good question.... I don't know what happened to those series.... I know I have a few of the Romantic Violin Concerto series CDs... 


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on March 31, 2020, 05:23:30 am
Which may be the end of the discussion so concerning, hehe.  But we needn't pre-empt it. ;)


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: M. Yaskovsky on March 31, 2020, 08:34:49 pm
Some Belgian & Dutch candidates for the RPC series: Paul Gilson: 2 concertos; Carl Smulders: concerto in a (1892); August de Boeck; Jean Absil; Joseph Jongen's op.127; Marinus de Jong; Luctor Ponse; Jan Koetsier; Ignace Lilien; Herman Mulder; Cor de Groot (the excellent Debussy interpreter)...


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on April 01, 2020, 03:47:50 am
Which recognized composers DIDN'T write a PC worthy for inclusion in Hyperion's series?


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Grandenorm on April 01, 2020, 07:51:37 am
Sibelius, Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Smetana, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Elgar (the completion is IMHO certainly not worthy of inclusion), Bantock, Ethel Smyth, etc., etc.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest224 on April 01, 2020, 12:41:25 pm
Oh, yes. Quite. I mentioned those British composers just to assure Albion that there were still plenty of those to choose from. The number of worthwhile Romantic piano & orchestra works by non-British composers that remain unrecorded is enormous.

Yes  in the whole catalogue of Romantic Piano Concertos.. they have only scratched the surface.  Vox did a series in the 1980s/1990s but it only went to Vol 3 or 4. Darzins (Latvian) piano concerto, Garuta (another great one)... Lydia Auster's Piano Concerto.. 2 that I can think of whilest drinking my coffee.

How Romantic are they, particularly Dārziņš and Auster?


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest128 on April 01, 2020, 05:09:33 pm
As much so as Rubbra and Bliss?  But they're un-British, which lessens their chances of sneaking in.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: Gauk on July 19, 2020, 09:26:15 pm
Well, I had to get this, despite having "stopped buying CDs". How wonderful it is! The Rubbra concerto has long been a favourite work, despite my acquaintance with it having been solely from the scratchy old LP (with that wonderful glassy cover art). Having a modern stereo recording is great. What an unsung masterpiece it is! Mind you, I have to ration my listening to Rubbra's music - I find it emotionally exhausting.

It is also a very fine recording of the Bliss - I had forgotten what a good piece this is. Would go down so well in the concert hall. Interesting to read that Solomon (who gave the premiere) was quite nervous as to his ability to bring it off.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: guest377 on July 19, 2020, 09:38:06 pm
Well, I had to get this, despite having "stopped buying CDs". How wonderful it is! The Rubbra concerto has long been a favourite work, despite my acquaintance with it having been solely from the scratchy old LP (with that wonderful glassy cover art). Having a modern stereo recording is great. What an unsung masterpiece it is! Mind you, I have to ration my listening to Rubbra's music - I find it emotionally exhausting.

It is also a very fine recording of the Bliss - I had forgotten what a good piece this is. Would go down so well in the concert hall. Interesting to read that Solomon (who gave the premiere) was quite nervous as to his ability to bring it off.

Yes  I just got my copy in the mail last week...and been playing it over the last week...  Bliss is wonderful.


Title: Re: Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos series - next issue Rubbra and Bliss
Post by: JimL on July 19, 2020, 10:58:41 pm
Oh, yes. Quite. I mentioned those British composers just to assure Albion that there were still plenty of those to choose from. The number of worthwhile Romantic piano & orchestra works by non-British composers that remain unrecorded is enormous.

Yes  in the whole catalogue of Romantic Piano Concertos.. they have only scratched the surface.  Vox did a series in the 1980s/1990s but it only went to Vol 3 or 4. Darzins (Latvian) piano concerto, Garuta (another great one)... Lydia Auster's Piano Concerto.. 2 that I can think of whilest drinking my coffee.

Auster I find very Romantic. Darzins (actually 2 concertos) is certainly neo-Romantic, along with what I consider more than a little jazz influence sneaking in around the edges (although not nearly so much as, say, Kapustin).
How Romantic are they, particularly Dārziņš and Auster?