The Romantic Piano Concerto 5: Balakirev: Piano Concertos No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor and No. 2 in E-Flat Major / Rimsky-Korsakov: Piano Concerto in C-Sharp Minor [Import]

Mily Balakirev (Composer), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Composer), David Lloyd-Jones (Conductor), English Northern Philharmonia (Orchestra), Malcolm Binns (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Malcolm Binns
• Orchestra: English Northern Philharmonia
• Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones
• Composer: Mily Balakirev, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
• Audio CD (March 4, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B000002ZSH
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,083 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Piano Concerto In C Sharp Minor Op. 30: Moderato - Allegretto quasi polacca

2. Piano Concerto In C Sharp Minor Op. 30: Andante mosso

3. Piano Concerto In C Sharp Minor Op. 30: Allegro

4. Piano Concerto No. 1 In F Sharp Minor Op. 1

5. Piano Concierto No 2 In E Flat Major, Op. Posth.: Allegro non troppo

6. Piano Concierto No 2 In E Flat Major, Op. Posth.: Adagio

7. Piano Concierto No 2 In E Flat Major, Op. Posth.: Allegro risoluto

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In defense of Balakirev, March 5, 2001

By 

"ivocaliban" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Romantic Piano Concerto 5: Balakirev: Piano Concertos No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor and No. 2 in E-Flat Major / Rimsky-Korsakov: Piano Concerto in C-Sharp Minor (Audio CD)

I very rarely write reviews simply to counteract another's point of view, but this disc truly deserves a more favorible account. Even if Balakirev's first concerti is of lesser notice than the other works on this disc, I think it should be noted that it is Balakriev's opus 1. It is a somewhat immature work, but it's historical importance as a reference point in the development of the Russian piano concerto makes it a valuable recording.

I feel that the only reason it is seen as so terribly below par is because it happens to be sandwiched between Rimsky-Korsakov's gorgeous Concerto in c-sharp minor and Balakirev's Concerto No. 2 in E-flat Major. Another interesting note is that while Balakirev's Piano Concerto No. 1 was written very early in his career, the Second Concerto was initiated in the middle of the composer's life, subsequently abandoned, only to be taken up again towards the end of his life. Indeed, it was finished by Lyapunov. To some degree, these works make an interesting set of bookends for Balakirev's career.

If this doesn't convince you of the value of the disc, perhaps the fact that the Balakirev First Concerto is also the shortest work on the disc (13'30") will. All in all, this disc is a must for any lover of piano concerti or Russian romantic nationalism.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best in the Romantic Concerto Series, March 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Romantic Piano Concerto 5: Balakirev: Piano Concertos No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor and No. 2 in E-Flat Major / Rimsky-Korsakov: Piano Concerto in C-Sharp Minor (Audio CD)

OK. So the Balakirev First Concerto is not a masterpiece. Far from it. It is a piece of juvenilia that, while it displays the fluent keyboard writing you'd expect from a young virtuoso, is all too indebted to Chopin, among others.

That said, the other works on the disc are sheer gems. Rimsky's concerto from the 1880s is clearly a work of his "classical" period, which also brought forth his underrated Third Symphony. In these works Rimsky tried to expiate the sins of an earlier period when he was naive enough to compose a suite called "Antar" and dub it his Second Symphony. (Suite or symphony, it's a fine work.) For those who think only of Scheherazade or Capriccio Espagnol when they hear Rimsky's name, the Concerto may be a bit of a letdown, or at least a puzzlement. But it is a finely crafted work whose variations on a Russian folk tune are tasteful and never less than inventive. For Rimsky, the orchestration is modest though colorful and, as one would expect, fully expert. The work builds to a jubiliant little finale that reminds me of Franck's Symphonic Variations. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that Rimsky's work is not far inferior to Franck's much more celebrated piece.

More substantial is Balakirev's Second Concerto. It has a grand first movement with a truly memorable main subject, a tender slow movement, and a rousing finale in the best tradition of Russian festival music--think of the swaggering finales of Glazunov's best symphonies, such as the Fourth and Fifth. If the Second Concerto can't rival the Russian warhorses from Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, still, why isn't it heard more often? It should be played from time to time in the world's music capitals--for me, it could happily replace some of the 1,000 or so performances of the Tchaikovky First Concerto in a season!

As I say, this is for me one of the best of Hyperion's mostly admirable Romantic Piano Concerto Series. If Malcolm Binns isn't quite the heaven-stormer that his colleague Stephen Hough is, he is nonetheless a very distinguished player, tossing off some pretty difficult piano writing with aplumb and with a certain patrician quality that this important music benefits from. The accompaniments and recorded sound are all one could wish. In short, a winner on all counts. Unless you want to gripe about the Balakirev First. I won't.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Precious Jewels (2 rubies, one small sapphire) from the Old Russia, September 1, 2005

By 

Mark E. Farrington (Albany, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Romantic Piano Concerto 5: Balakirev: Piano Concertos No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor and No. 2 in E-Flat Major / Rimsky-Korsakov: Piano Concerto in C-Sharp Minor (Audio CD)

Superb recording. Pianistic aplomb on the part of Malcolm Binns that may remind you of Sviatoslav Richter. Committed, empathetic conducting on the part of David Lloyd-Jones (one of the world's foremost experts on 19th century Russian music). And the English Northern Philharmonia is "crack" enough to give even the old "Legge" Philharmonia a run for its money...Then there's the music itself.

The Rimsky-Korsakov Concerto deserves to be heard at least as often as the Tchaik 1st & 2nd, or the Rach 2nd...
A deep, red ruby in the exotic key of C-sharp minor.

The Balakirev First Conerto...Don't let anyone tell you it's "worthless." Yes, chronologically, it's one of Balakirev's "jeuvenille" works, and it's rather Chopinian. But the "landscape" portrayed is a bit more vast, and the colors run even deeper...A five-star sapphire in the phosphorescent key of F-sharp minor.

The Balakirev Second Concerto is stupdendous...Sweet interludes of melody, based on Russian liturgical chant; deep pools of thought and feeling; and on the surface, the colors shimmer shamelessly...Yes, the last movement's final draft was left unfinished by the composer, but even in its 'realized' state, it emerges as the most characteristically "Balakirevian" of the three movements. With the composer's reputation as an irrascible curmudgeon, it's good to know that even at the very end of his life, he still had this much "sap" and joy in him...Another multi-faceted ruby, or maybe an ultra-rare red diamond.

For an ideal "Old Russian" Christmas Stocking...Take this disc; add Beecham's EMI Balakirev First & Tamara , and his Scheherazade & Polivetzian Dances...Happy Holidays.