Announced for November release on Hyperion website- Hill and Boyle concertos with Piers Lane.
Where, please?
Here: http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/ym.asp?ym=2016_11 (http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/ym.asp?ym=2016_11)
This album includes Hill's Piano Sonata in A Major as well.
The excerpts sound absolutely GORGEOUS (see above). A nice Christmas present, surely.
I'm just flagging up this thread for discussion when the CD is released...
From the excerpts, Hill clearly knows how to charm. Boyle's 1911 work has a lot to say. Did Gershwin know the opening of the slow movement? I'm guessing that he did.
Wait- Alfred Hill? Yes. It's good to see more of his idiosyncratic muse represented on record, I think...
Hill's PC is music that soothes the soul. Charming, unpretentious, uplifting are words that come to mind. Buy it!
The note by marcus in the thread "Australia's Unsung Symphonists" is a fascinating summary of the context to Alfred Hill's work. On the rare occasions when the ABC broadcasts his music, he is referred to in reverential terms as our great neglected Australian symphonist, and yet you'd be hard pressed to hear a concert performance of one of his symphonies or even his concertos. I hope this CD turns his piano concerto into a concert favourite..... :)
I think Hill's concerto is pretty anodyne stuff....though any pianist whose ambition is to play a concerto could tackle it. It sounds almost sightreadable!
Boyle's is much more interesting....much more what a Romantic Piano Concerto should be.
I would say that neither is strong enough melodically to have a real chance of entering the repertoire but Boyle's is worth getting to know.
I think that in today's world "anodyne stuff" is just what many people want, and Hill's concerto is the kind that would appeal to Australian audiences with only a passing interest in classical music. In a world where one is faced with endless accounts of war and suffering, where one's own well-being is increasingly put at risk by religious fanatics, reckless political leaders, economic failures, and natural calamities, a bit of anodyne music ain't a bad idea, especially if it kickstarts a new interest in classical music. :)
An interesting point of view. Would the opposite be described as heterodyne? (Agatha?)*
*(Yes, irrelevant way-offtopic (very way-offtopic) reference. Apologies)
In a word, no:
het·er·o·dyne (hĕt′ər-ə-dīn′) - adj.
'Having alternating currents of two different frequencies that are combined to produce two new frequencies, the sum and difference of the original frequencies, either of which may be used in radio or television receivers by proper tuning or filtering.'
;)
I've listened a couple of times now to Boyle's Concerto, but it has yet to make a very positive impression. I don't know how representative it is of Boyle's output, but on this showing he was extremely eclectic, drawing on the prevailing styles of the early 1910s. Surging passages of sub-Rachmaninov (lacking his gorgeous melodic impulse unfortunately) sit next to languid sections of effectively orchestrated Debussian impressionism in an uneasy mix. It is gorgeously orchestrated, but what seems to be lacking is a sense of purpose - the Concerto rambles along pleasantly enough, but there's no passion or real drama to quicken the pulse or excite interest. No doubt Lane and Fritsch make the best case possible for it, but I'm underwhelmed.