The Gramophone (Awards issue) reports that Jonathan Plowright has recorded Jerzy Gablenz's PC of 1926, coupled with Paderewski's Polish Fantasy, for Hyperion. The BBC Scottish SO were conducted by Lukas Borowicz. Release dat is to be September 2020.
Hurray! Great news.
Without meaning to hijack this thread... since there's mention of a companion piece, seldom heard live in the U.S., I'll mention that this evening the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra performed the Polish Fantasy, with Hubert Rutkowski at the keyboard. Mr. Rutkowsky milked it for every ounce of its power, poetry and panache, which turned out to be considerable, and the result was a real crowd pleaser. I thought the work stronger than it had seemed from recordings, with the orchestra's part writing pleasing, often clever, and colorful.
Just by way of reference - a thread on Gablenz from long ago:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,2206.msg26948.html#msg26948 (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,2206.msg26948.html#msg26948)
Hello,
I just uploaded Jerzy Gablenz's "Piano Concerto in D-flat major" op. 25 (1926), in the same performance as the one whose link is missing for long...
I took it from a Polish source - the sound is slightly better than the one formerly on YouTube...
Corentin Boissier
BBC radio 3 tomorrow in the afternoon:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gt45
This should shed a little light on at least one forthcoming RPC release. I presume it will be 82 but I have no inside info.
Rob
Details here, as announced at beginning of thread:
Gablenz: Piano Concerto, Op.25
Paderewski: Fantaisie Polonaise, Op.19
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Jonathan Plowright, piano
Lukasz Borowicz, conductor
guessing so since 81 is the topic of the more recent thread and their issuing two, let alone three, in the series, in three months is pretty remarkable already :)
Quote from: CorentinBoissier on Tuesday 29 October 2019, 15:05
Hello,
I just uploaded Jerzy Gablenz's "Piano Concerto in D-flat major" op. 25 (1926), in the same performance as the one whose link is missing for long...
I took it from a Polish source - the sound is slightly better than the one formerly on YouTube...
Corentin Boissier
As far as I can see there's still a recording on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEZp6W7ZE1E), mind you.
RPC83 is announced here in the UK as a 28th May release (audio samples also available):
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8894888--gablenz-piano-concerto-paderewski-polish-fantasy
Excellent! Really looking forward to this which will probably be one Hyperion's most interesting RPC release for a while! Without sounding greedy though, I do hope that some of Gablenz' orchestral works will somehow get done at some stage - probably the best chance of this will be one of the Polish labels, and I imagine Lukasz Borowicz would fit the bill admirably!
Thanks for the notice, Alan. I think it's quite adventurous choice for RPC83. I'm sure it will prove popular, and although I have the Paderewski on an Olympia CD, I'll certainly be looking to get this.
Now on the hyperion website https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68323
Reminder that this was just released today!
Thanks, Justin!
This is an excellent release in the Hyperion series. To me, the Gablenz is quite a complex piece with its sometimes sudden shifts in moods, but Plowright and the BBC Scots navigate it all very well and give the piece a depth that the old Stompel recording failed to reveal.
I had no expectations regarding Paderewski's Fantaisie Polonaise going in, but it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise: untypically easy-going for this composer and very tuneful. And again, expertly played by this combo of performers.
The recording lives up to Hyperion's high standard, although I would have liked the piano to be just the tiniest bit further to the back. But that's really a very minor niggle. Highly recommended.
Particularly with the first and second movements from Gablenz's concerto, we are entering "film music" territory here. The climax of the second movement is much more graceful than the Stompel recording, and frankly I think that it works both ways. However, crystal clear sound quality takes the cake for me, so I applaud Hyperion.
I am always pleased to hear vibrant melodic themes in post-WWI works.
Strangely, it often seemed to me as though I were listening to a phantom PC by Elgar.
All I can sensibly say is that I believe this to be a major discovery - one of the most significant in Hyperion's RPC series. And for what it's worth, it knocks many a late-romantic PC into a cocked hat. It has everything: melody, passion, but also subtlety. Another feather in the well-stocked cap of Jonathan Plowright!
Quote from: Alan Howe on Thursday 17 June 2021, 12:15
Strangely, it often seemed to me as though I were listening to a phantom PC by Elgar.
Gracious me! I'll listen again with more careful attention - a pleasure for which no excuse is needed.