Unsung Rachmaninoffian Piano Concertos

Started by kyjo, Sunday 05 August 2012, 04:46

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kyjo

Hello, I'm new here!
Rachmaninov's piano concertos are some of my favorite pieces and I am always on the lookout for unsung PCs (and other works for that matter) written in Rachmaninov's lush late-romantic style. A few I found are (off the top of my head):
-Andre Mathieu #4 in e minor
-Vittorio Giannini in d minor
-Medtner's 3 (not so unsung ::))
-Issay Dobrowen in c sharp minor
-Evgeny Golubev no 2
-Hamilton Harty in b minor
- Herbert Howells no 1 in c minor (and, to an extent, no 2)
-Lyapunov 1 and 2
-Healey Willan in c minor
-Respighi in a minor
-Bortkiewicz 1,2, and 3 (ditto)
-Alnaes in d flat major (my favorite key ;D)
-Theo Mackeben in b minor (available on collectioncb2's youtube channel, rather lighter piece, but...)
-York Bowen 1,2,3, and 4
-Martucci 2 (to an extent;the 2nd movement especially contains foretastes of Rach)
-Viktor Kosenko (available on youtube, beautiful piece)
-Montague Philips 1 and 2
I'm sure there are many more, and all of the above (except the Mackeben and the Kosenko) are available on cd, but the Golubev and Willan works are a bit more difficult to find. And we can expect Roger Sacheverell Coke's PCs to be in this style! I sure hope those (and his other pieces) get recorded. So, anyways, does anyone know of any other PCs besides the ones mentioned that are written in the style of Rachmaninov (or, remotely close to it ;))?

Alan Howe

I think we've been here before, but in the hope that we might uncover something new....
Welcome, kyjo, by the way!

alberto


I would put into the list the Piano Concerto by Lao (Stanislao) Silesu, a musician called by someone (with some exaggeration) "the Sardinian Rachmaninoff" (BTW I see than one friend in the forum, instead, deemed the Silesu between Palmgren and Debussy, but I -IMHO- see/listen rather the Rachmaninoff association). There is a decent "Inedita" Cd. 

Jimfin

Stanford's second one is very Rachmaninoffian and there are now, amazingly, two recordings available

febnyc

I would nominate the following - quite in the Rachmaninoff style:

Vittorio Giannini (1903-1966) - Piano Concerto (recorded by Naxos)
Adolf Wiklund (1879-1950) - Piano Concertos 1&2 (Hyperion & Caprice)

(And, of course, Richard Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto)

britishcomposer


Alan Howe

Quote from: alberto on Sunday 05 August 2012, 13:00
I would put into the list the Piano Concerto by Lao (Stanislao) Silesu...There is a decent "Inedita" Cd.

...with a dreadful-sounding orchestra!

MikeW

Just go to the Hyperion website and run through the music samples for their Romantic Piano Concerto series. You'll find dozens more.

kyjo

Thank you for all your suggestions. And by the way, I didn't realize that this topic had been brought up before, sorry Alan! A few PCs I forgot to add are:
Holbrooke 1 in f minor
Haydn Wood in d minor
Scharwenka 4
Thank you, febnyc, for mentioning the Wiklund PCs. I meant to put them on my list, but I forgot! And thanks, Jim, for mentioning the Stanford PC 2. Is his 3rd PC in the same style? Re the Wiklund PCs, how does the new Hyperion disc compare to the old recording on Caprice? And Silesu sounds very interesting.

jerfilm

Add Scharwenka 3 as one of my all time favorites

J

Revilod

Stanford's 3rd concerto is similar in style to the 2nd and well worth investigating but it is less memorable melodically.
What about Medtner's other concertos? The slow movement of the 2nd concerto is particularly reminiscent of Rachmaninov.
Scriabin's wonderful concerto is also in the Rachmaninov vein (especially the big tune in the finale).

Alan Howe

The topic is in danger of encompassing any and every late-Romantic piano concerto, if we're not careful - and becoming another, extremely boring, list. Rather than just listing possible contenders, may I suggest that contributors say why they consider a particular concerto Rachmaninoffian? Stanford PC2, for example, is in the same key as Rach PC2 and opens in similar fashion. Otherwise, it owes just as much to the German tradition in fact.

kyjo

Stokowski 1 and 2 (does a third exist?)
Rozycki 1 and 2
Paderewski in a minor
Palmgren 1-5 (on hard to find Finlandia CDs;2 and 3 on fyrexia's YouTube channel)
Frank Merrick 1 and 2 (both available to download from this site;1 on jchbonnet's YouTube channel)
Artur Lemba 1-5 (1 on an OOP CD called Estonian Piano Concertos, others available on YouTube)
Halfdan Cleve 1-5 (available to download from this site; 3,4,5, and the 1st movement of 1 available on YouTube)
Ernst Linko 2 (available to download from this site, also on fyrexia's YouTube channel)
Janis Medins in c minor (available on YouTube; very beautiful piece)
Atterberg in b flat minor
Any more :)?

kyjo

Alan, I sincerely apologize for my compulsive list-making. I realize that most, if not all, late-romantic piano concertos bear some similarity to Rachmaninov. All the concertos I have listed have multiple places that remind me of the great Russian master-soaring melodies, lush harmonies, drama, virtuosity, and most of all, those "goosebump" moments. IMO, we should be able to list concertos that have Rachmaninov-inspired moments, but have other influences as well, like Stanford 2. We all love making lists, don't we ;)

Alan Howe

Absolutely no more lists, please! A couple of suggestions per contributor, with reasons, please - otherwise we're simply listing late-Romantic PCs.