Customer Reviews

Kullak / Dreyschock: Piano Concertos

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This CD - 21st in the series - is one of Hyperion's best. It includes two interesting and enjoyable concerti by artists that were once taken very seriously. First up is Theodor Kullak (1818-1882). Kullak was a student of Karl Czerny (who was himself a student of Beethoven and the teacher of Franz Liszt), and one of the most respected teachers of the 19th century. Julius Reubke, Moritz Moszkowski, Amy Fay, and Xaver Scharwenka were all students of his. Many of his students went on to study with Liszt. The Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 55, which was composed around 1850, is (as one of the previous reviewers has indicated) a curious amalgam of Beethoven and Chopin. While not a masterwork, by any stretch of the imagination, it is enjoyable. The last movement gambols along in a spirited Allegro moderato con fuoco that tolerates no frowning. Our second composer is Alexander Dreyschock (1818-1869). Dreyschock was something of the Gyorgy Cziffra/Vladimir Horowitz of his day. Kullak - who would have know, if anyone did - said that Dreyschock's technique was better than Liszt's. He was best known for playing Chopin's C minor study Op.10, #12 with octaves in the left hand as opposed to the original single notes! Dreyschock did this all over Europe. Musicians of the calibre of Johann Baptist Cramer and Felix Mendelssohn testified that Dreyschock pulled this off. Dreyschock's Piano Concerto in D minor, Op. 137 is a very Mendelssohnian piece. It comes across as something like Mendelssohn on crack: that is to say Mendelssohnian melodies punctuated with lightning octave passages, skipping chords and skittering scales. The effect is quite bracing. Perhaps alone among the posted reviewers I prefer the Dreyschock concerto to the Kullak. It is well written, both for the piano and orchestra, and is great fun. I'll take a souffle like this over more portentous fare any day. Both pieces are played with impeccable finish and brio by Piers Lane, who is given yeoman support by Niklas Willen and the BBC Scottish Symphony. If you like virtuosity, and the piano, then you will enjoy this.

This is the best CD I bought this year. The melodic line of the Kullak Concerto draws me back to it frequently. (Esp the first Movt) The third movement is extremely catchy and fun. Similarly the Dreyschock has some great moments in it. This is music for people who like easy-listening Classical music. It is well recorded with Brilliant soloist and orchestra.

This is yet another winner in this long-running Hyperion series. Once again, they have ferreted out two intriguing, if not profound, piano concertos and offered them in sterling performances and sound.

The Kullak is the heavier of the two pieces. One can hear a lot of Chopin in this piece, along with some Beethoven in the first movement. The slow movement contains a beautiful aria interrupted by some strikingly dramatic music. The finale is an early example of the puckish, devilish music that Liszt was to make famous with his Totentanz. It does run on a bit long, however.

The Dreyschock is doesn't have a length problem, as it's only 24 minutes long. It's full of fun piano fireworks and spritely themes that wont last too long in your head. But it IS fun.

All I can say is get this disk if you like romantic music. It's a pleasant diversion from the plethora of recordings of the same six romantic piano concertos we always hear (the 2 Brahms, Grieg, Schumann, Chopin 1 and Tchaikovsky 1).

To date, I've bought nine of the CDs in Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series, and this one is still my overall favorite. It's true that these concerti aren't masterpieces in the Mozart/Beethoven vein, but they're still well constructed and bursting with musical ideas. You can tell two music teachers wrote these concerti, in fact, because both are filled with passages that don't sound hard (thanks to Piers Lane's amazing technique) but are, in reality, nightmarish challenges. Of the two works, the Kullak is probably more "profound," in that its scope is broader and the orchestra is more heavily involved. It's very Beethovenian in both its structure and the musical ideas it puts forth, although the muted brass punctuation in the second movement sounds much closer to something Hummel might have done. The first movement is a stentorian, clipped march, and the final movement starts off blazing and finishes with a huge bang. The Dreyschock, in contrast, is lighter and more Mendelssohnian, but paradoxically no less intense; in fact, it arguably gives the pianist a greater workout. The outer movements are runs and movement from beginning to end; the slow movement, however, is a tenderly lyrical song--almost a "song without words," in fact. Like Beethoven and Mendelssohn, Kullak and Dreyschock pull an amazing compositional sleight of hand, bottling Romantic intensity and improvisation inside a clear, almost Classical structure. Piers Lane does an admirable job bringing these two neglected works to life with fervent ardor and unfailingly precise technique. The BBC Scottish Symphony does its usual admirable job, never overpowering the soloist but pulling out all the stops when the music demands it. These concerti aren't unchallenged masterpieces for the ages, but they're solidly constructed, well played, and just plain thrilling to listen to, and sometimes those are the only criteria you need.

This was the first "Romanctic Concerto" series I bought from Hyperion, and it still remains one of the best. The Kullak concerto especially is lush and very moving, so much so, I wonder why it has been shunned from the repertory. The Dreyschock is excellent also. Highly recommended.

These two concertos are two of my favorites in the series. The Kullak is a large work, very well written, and deserves an occasional hearing in the concert hall. The Dreyshock is not what I would call great music, but it is highly enjoyable.

Recommended!

Theodore Kullak and Alexander Dreyscock were two of the most intriguing personalities in Central European romantic music. Both works have remained on the treshold of oblivion. Both men had eminence galore. But as we are well aware, they were swept away by the musical trends of the time.

On one hand, the shockwave of Wagnerism, the symphonic Mahler, the rise of Impressionism Musical and diverse manifestations of musical nationalism in Europe and Russia suffocated any attempt to prolong the Romanticism with any chance of survival.

Piers Lane has emerged as one of the most celebrated pianists of these days who has devoted much of his talent to interpret these forgotten works of the romantic repertoire; pieces that were left stranded at sea for the reasons outlined above. Lane gives both interpretations, the right balance between introspection and imaginative fantasy, between the sense of adventure and feverish passion, without falling into an alienated reverie.

Do not hesitate to buy this album. It will reward you handsomely.

Several reviewers have commented that Kullak sounds like a cross between Chopin and Beethoven. The same is often said of Hummel, and that I think is the real comparison, although Hummel's concertos require more from the pianist.

Well, this is certainly one of the more adventurous installments in Hyperion's excellent and enterprising Romantic Piano Concerto series. Theodor Kullak and Alexander Dreyschock were exact contemporaries (both born in 1818) and reputable piano players. Kullak was also a noted teacher, and only secondarily a composer. His concerto was composed around 1850 and is light-hearted and tuneful with Weber and Chopin as the obvious models but with melodies more reminiscent of the operas (or opera fantasies) of the day. It is by no means a masterpiece, but an engaging, jovial and very attractive affair nonetheless, and certainly a suitable vehicle for dazzling display of virtuoso technique. Piers Lane tackles the flurries of double octaves and raging arpeggios with panache and total technical confidence.

Dreyschock was by some considered superior even to Liszt as a pianist in his day. But he was definitely not Liszt's equal as a composer. His concerto is more serious and has more depth than the Kullak, perhaps, but is not as charming and engaging although it manages to sustain a dramatic atmosphere. The stylistic main influence is obviously Mendelssohn. In the finale, however, he blows depth and seriosity to the wind for flashy display of brilliance. Again Piers Lane is a superb advocate, unfazed by the technical hurdles and almost able to sustain the illusion of profundity. He is ably partnered by the BBC Scottish Symphony orchestra under Niklas Willén. All in all a very enjoyable release - neither of these works will ever enter into the standard repertoire, nor even at the fringes, but I am glad that I've heard them. Very much recommended.