Korngold: Piano Concerto, Op. 17; Marx: Romantisches Klavierkonzert [IMPORT]

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Composer), Joseph Marx (Composer), Osmo Vänskä (Conductor), Glasgow BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Marc-André Hamelin (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Marc-André Hamelin
• Orchestra: Glasgow BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Osmo Vänskä
• Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Joseph Marx
• Audio CD (February 10, 1998)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B0000063BP
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #162,140 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #19 in	Music > Classical > Featured Performers, A-Z > ( H ) > Hamelin, Marc-André
  #61 in	Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Korngold, Erich Wolfgang
  #62 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( K ) > Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The Korngold on this disc is another of those works composed for Paul Wittgenstein, the one-armed pianist who was also the dedicatee of Ravel's Piano Concerto in D for the Left Hand, Prokofiev's Fourth, and many other fine works. We owe Wittgenstein a major debt because, although he was a pretty awful pianist (and could seldom play the pieces he commissioned), he certainly got major composers to put out some of their best efforts for him! Korngold brought all of his orchestral wizardry to bear on this sumptuous score--one of his biggest and boldest. Joseph Marx's Romantic Concerto, for two (very busy) hands, is a knockout too. Marc André Hamelin, one of the greatest keyboard virtuosos, makes playing each of these impossible works seem like a piece of cake. --David Hurwitz

Amazon.com
How can as sumptuous and ear-tickling a work like Marx's Romantic Piano Concerto have been neglected all this time? True, its lavish style was passé by the time it appeared in 1919. But everything proceeds in even, predictable patterns of four and eight bar phrases, and the tunes are memorable. Korngold's Left Hand Concerto is cut from more Modernist cloth, although one might take its lyrical outpourings to be more "corn" than "gold." Be that as it may, Marc-Andre Hamelin processes these notey scores with poker-faced cool, in a steady, unruffled manner that cuts through the music's caloric excess like lye through grease. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Korngold, Superlative Marx, May 10, 2004

By	minacciosa "minacciosa" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

The Korngold Concerto is one as much for orchestra as it is for the Piano. It's primary challenge is formal, as a broad sonata form is used very freely to present many ideas based upon a variant of his "motive of the happy heart". In its way, it is rather forward looking, the harmony pointing towards the 3rd String Quartet and the late Symphony in F#.

The Marx is the gem of this disc. If you only know Marx as a composer of songs (and he was one of the greatest at lieder writing) you will be shocked. The melodic material is memorable, particularly the 2nd subject of the first movement and the primary Rondo theme of the 3rd movement. The piano writing is of the utmost brilliance, yet never seems to be so for its own sake. It just fits. Harmonically, Marx is extremely ingenious working within an expanded tonal framework. If you listen closely you will hear this tonal framework undermined by constantly shifting lines in the middle register, which lends the work a more complex feeling than the title "Romatisches" implies. The concerto is more subdued than the composer's large orchestral canvasses, but still has the characteristically Marx sound: an all-consuming love of nature seemingly conveyed by endlessly imaginative detail in extension of melodic material.

It's really amazing music. Hamelin is very good as always. (Try to hear the Jorge Bolet aircheck for an interesting contrast in the interpretation of the Marx. He is far more poetic, if less fiery.) This cd gets 5 stars because the Marx is one of the absolute greatest of Piano Concerti. You must hear it.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars (No title)., December 6, 2000

By	offeck (New York, NY -- United States of America) - See all my reviews

Marx's concerto, one of the most wildly romantic and absolutely ravishing piano concertos, lush as lush can be, though never overwhemling or prodound, is an enormous pianistic feast, not to mention pianistic feat! Indeed, it contains a legion of difficulties! It mixes some of the best influences of Scriabin, Korngold, Debussy, and Delius. A work of exceptional craftsmanship, it's always a delight to hear, especially from the hands of Hamelin, who brings it all off with consummate ease... Korngold's remarkable and left-hand concerto makes such a virtue out of gladiatorial spread-chords trickery that it is striking how incredibly difficult it would be to play this piece as written with the right hand in addition to just the left! Such a splendid and romantic Hero concerto of struggle this is, symphonically blending piano with orchestra. Hamelin delivers a luxuriant reading filled with poetry, tremendous power, and authority. A thoroughly pleasant and pleasing disc. Highly recommendable; Highly recommended!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two lesser-known concerti with Hamelin at his best, November 7, 2002

By	Bruce Hodges (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Once again, Marc-André Hamelin delves into far corners of the piano world and delivers fearless performances of two seldom-played pieces. The Korngold, written for Paul Wittgenstein who also commissioned masterpieces such as the Ravel "Left Hand" Piano Concerto, is marvelously satisfying and should be performed more often. Sumptuously written for both the piano and the orchestra, it is filled with memorable moments. I like the Marx, also, even if it is (perhaps) not quite up to the level of the Korngold. Never mind: these are pieces that deserve to be heard more often, especially when performed like this.

In recording after recording, Hamelin proves that he is one of the most brilliant pianists working today. Often choosing neglected repertoire, he illuminates as very few artists do - and invariably with stunning playing. After hearing his performance of the Korngold, you might walk away thinking that it is the finest piano concerto ever written - at least while the final chords linger in your mind.

Osmo Vänskä, the conductor-designate of the Minnesota Orchestra, also deserves credit for his outstanding direction and balancing of these immense forces, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is superb. Hyperion offers typically clear, wide-ranging sound, and excellent program notes as well. (This is but one of an impressive Hyperion series called "The Romantic Piano Concerto," including many large-scale works which are all but forgotten.)

An unusual find, and for piano lovers, perhaps essential.