Hiller Piano Concerto No.2/Shelley

[FBerwald]

A video of Howard Shelley playing (the 3rd movement) Hiller's 2nd Piano Concerto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxFN-ZT1C20

[edurban]

Wonderful.  Thanks so much for this.

[Alan Howe]

Wasn't it joyous? The CD's a must-get, of course:

[FBerwald]

It's one of my favourites from the whole RPC series. Now if only Hyperion or CPO (or any label) would get around to his other concertante works - cello, violin.

[tpaloj]

But it's not period accurate – he didn't play the first three notes with his fists 

(at least according to Frederic H. Cowen, Hiller's students used to do so when the master wasn't looking)

Now if only Hyperion or CPO (or any label) would get around to his other concertante works - cello, violin.

I wonder what his op.152 Violin Concerto (not the Fantasiestuck which shares the same opus number) is like? Let's wish someone could excavate that score and produce a recording.

[FBerwald]

 Can you elaborate "first three notes with his fists" ?

[tpaloj]

In his autobiography, Federic Cohen writes:

I knew many of this eminent musician's [Hiller's] compositions, and his F sharp minor Concerto was one of the pieces which every young student in Leipzig had to learn. The last movement was a particular favorite of ours, for we used to play the first three notes of the theme, whenever they occurred, with our fists instead of our fingers (that is to say, when our master was not looking), finding this much more effective than the ordinary way, though I doubt if Hiller himself would have appreciated the little joke.