Customer Reviews

Weber: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor; Piano Concerto No. 2 in E flat major; Koncertstück in F minor

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There are several reasons this is one of the best in a series that has unearthed a number of gems (and some real clunkers, too): First, Demidenko seems the perfect soloist for the assignment. He relishes Weber's Biedermeier grace and really throws himself into the whirlwind last movements. Second, the redoubtable Sir Charles proves the ultimate accompanist, his Scottish orchestra as responsive an instrument as the Philadelphia under Ormandy.

Third, there is the music. Weber was a virtuoso but also a composer of great skill, which can't be said of many of the composer-pianists of the 19th century. His Konzertstuck is an acknowledged classic of Romanticism. Despite the fact that its program--dealing with a knight's departure for the war, rumored death, and triumphant return to his beloved--is provides pretty threadbare storyline, the music is anything but threadbare, the first movement brimming with minor-key drama and the last, a fantasia on a march theme, a tour de force for both pianist and orchestra. But Weber's two concertos are pretty wonderful stuff, too, with infectiously bouyant fast movements (especially the Second Concerto's last movement) and slow movements full of proto-Romantic innigkeit.

Go for this one.

With amazing technical vituosity, Demidenko carries us excitingly through these rarely performed works. His technique is boundless in it's breadth, and his firey interpretation makes us wonder why these pieces are so neglected. Such pieces are child's play under the command of this unforgettable artist. For anyone serious about piano, this CD is a must!

Weber's piano music is not well known. Most people know of one opera and some of the overtures. I have enjoyed Weber's piano concertos and Konzertstuck for years in record format and I wanted them in CD format. This CD with Sir Charles Mackerraas, conductor, and Nikolai Demidenko, pianist, is every bit as good as the old record I have, scratches and all. Of the three pieces, Concerto No 2 is a more exciting work than Concerto No 1, but Konzertstuck is a close second. All three pieces are wonderful, romantic pieces that should be known to a lot more people than know of them now. I recommend that classical music lovers get acquainted with these wonderful pieces of music and enjoy them as much as I do.

Weber's piano concertos are delightful works, and Hyperion has, with Demidenko and Mackerras, found something of a superstar team to record them. Much of the writing is sheer, glittering brilliance with spectacular runs and leaps and strikingly effective sonorities. The first concerto is attractively melodic and is stylistically far less reminiscent of anything else composed during the same period than one would, perhaps, expect. The second concerto is more clearly indebted to Beethoven. It is very well laid out for the instrument, and the interplay between piano and orchestra is very effective (and there are several interesting turns and twists). Best of the movements is the amiable and memorably catchy Rondo: Presto. The Konzertstück is in most respects another concerto, but in four movements. It is heavily romantic, with lots of Stürm und Drang and passion, but not in the end as attractive as the two "genuine" concertos.

Demidenko's playing is full of color and élan and the accompaniment is equally good. The sound quality is up to Hyperion's standards without being outstanding. This is, in short, a very recommendable disc.

It is so striking sometimes how performances can change the very feel of a work. I just bought this CD and it is notable for a very classicizing reading of all the works. Demidenko is a stupendous virtuoso yet you might think each of these works was a Mozart concerto with extra fast runs. Though they have the form of a more "romantic" concertos, the works seem distilled, especially by Mackerrras direction, into fast forwarded Moazart. The effect is exhilarating. But this tendency is especially pronounced in the Konzertstuck, where, to say the least, most performances emphasize a quasi-Lisztian element. Liszt is far away, and the Enlightenment order and grace are very near in these readings.

I bought this CD not knowing anything about C.M. Weber. After the first movement I became a Weber nut! This music is fun, brilliant, and sincere. The pianist is wonderful and treats these concertos to a peformance of very high quality.