is negative: here... (https://musicwebinternational.com/2025/03/alexander-fesca-piano-trios-cpo/)
Oh dear. On the basis of enjoying the previous CD in this series I did buy this recording, but haven't listened to it yet. I'll do so now with some trepidation.
I've just listened to the First Trio and it's cut from pretty much the same cloth as the two in the previous release. This is music for the salon, well-made but plumbing no depths and aiming at the sort of audience who would enjoy a Kalkbrenner or Herz piano concerto, say. I suspect that the reviewer's tastes are rather loftier, and it's true that anyone looking for profound intellectual nourishment should look elsewhere, but this music is frothy fun and at that level I enjoyed it.
I was convinced,when I read the review,Mark,that cpo had not unearthed an Alexander Fesca,but the REAL composer was Hans Franke at his most genuine!
:D Fesca's no genius, but he's not that bad!
Not as good a composer as his father, Friedrich Ernst, though?
No, I think not. It's diverting, undemanding music but with without any spark of originality. The chamber music equivalent of all those contemporary piano concertos by Kalkbrenner et al. And that's not to disparage Kalkbrenner, by the way.
I was pointing out the review, not insulting the composer. There are good reviewers at the site, and there are middling reviewers at the site, and then there are others, and I can't tell from this one review but I incline to agree on one thing: expecting as you go in what you will nowise receive, and elaborating at great length in your review how disappointed you are that you did not receive it, is not a recipe for a good review (note: in the sense, of course, of a review that is good, not a positive review, though a review can be both.)
I enjoyed it very much, but I wasn't expecting any heaven-storming. I just hope his solo piano works are recorded at some point. I mean if Osbourne rates a cd release...
True, I was mostly familiar with George because of all his collaborations with other composers. (I shall call him George.)