Kashperova Piano Concerto & Symphony

[pianoconcerto]

Capriccio will be releasing a CD with Kashperova's Piano Concerto, Op. 2 and Symphony, Op. 4.  The performers are Oliver Triendl/Radio SO Berlin/Anna Skryleva.  It will be interesting to compare Triendl's performance in the pc with Alexandra Dariescu's (heard on the BBC series on the composer in 2022).

[Gareth Vaughan]

It will indeed. I am glad we will have a readily available commercial release of this concerto, which I think is rather a good work.

[Justin]

Release date on their website is March 2026. It is possible that it will be available digitally sooner on sites like Presto.

[Alan Howe]

Try the excerpts available here:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9829768--leokadiya-kashperova-piano-concerto-symphony

[semloh]

Where would we be without the wonderful Oliver Triendl's dedication to the Unsungs.... 

[tuatara442442]

This has been released this week.

[terry martyn]

After a few play-throughs, I can't say that I am particularly impressed by the piano concerto ,but the symphony is more interesting.  I have some reservations about Kashperova's skills as an orchestrator, but I have a feeling that ,under a conductor like Jarvi pere, this sometimes-episodic work could catch fire. At times, I felt that the orchestra here had the fabled  energy of Jeb Bush, and I questioned some of the tempi adopted by the conductor. But it's listenable and, although uneven in quality, I think it's a welcome addition to the world of romantic Russian symphonic works.

[Ilja]

As will surprise no one, my experience after the first two listens is a somewhat different one from Terry's. I found the piano concerto thoroughly engaging, positively lush in places, and not at all inadequately orchestrated. It wears its Rimskyan origins on its sleeve, particularly in the first movement. That, in my view, is also its strongest. The Adagio is still a gorgeous movement though, understated in places and sweeping in others. The Allegro con anima, however, sounds a bit like it's part of a different work. Not at all bad, but particularly its first half takes you to a different place than you were until then.

The symphony is a solid piece, although I found it musically less interesting than the concerto. The orchestration isn't particularly inventive, but perfectly in line with many of its contemporaries. The Andante stands out, and it's again the Finale that's a bit over the place; quite episodic, with perhaps too much pointless meandering in the middle. However, once it decides where it wants to go, it gives us a glorious coda. I have a suspicion that this is one case where repeated listening may yield greater appreciation, so I will give it another few shots.

I need to add that this new recording is rather better than the earlier ones we knew from the BBC Concert Orchestra with Helen Glover (Symphony) and particularly Alexandra Dariescu with the BBC SO under Chris Hopkins (PC). In both pieces, Anna Skryleva takes more time for the slow movements and less for the quicker ones, with the exception of the symphony's Scherzo. Triendl obviously is more at home in material like this than Dariescu was, and the interaction with the Berlin RSO and Skryleva is exemplary. I'm not at all sure Järvi senior or anyone else would do better in either of these pieces.

[terry martyn]

We do, of course, agree about the merits of Atterberg's re-creation of the Stenhammar First Piano Concerto,Ilja. So,maybe it is not the case here that a stopped clock tells the time correctly twice a day!

[Ilja]

I think we agree on many things; these are mostly differences of personal aesthetics, aside perhaps from our judgment of the quality of the performance itself. Not being all that familiar with Jeb Bush, my conclusion was that you felt the it lacked enthusiasm? Of course, my assessment was mainly based on the comparison with the earlier BBC ones, which didn't generate the interest in the music itself that this performance did. For me, that is the hallmark of a solid rendition.

[terry martyn]

Jeb's nickname is "Low Energy Jeb" !

Jarvi might not have been aesthetically better, but I reckon he might have made it more exciting and injected a snarl or two.

[Ilja]

That might very well be the case, but it can also be a bit of a double-edged sword. Järvi's performances (at least the older ones) typically injected energy and excitement (e.g. Gade, Glazunov) or a truly original, "fresh" approach (Raff), but sometimes (and particularly more recently) that can descend into superficiality and the loss of emotional charge (e.g., Schmidt, Atterberg). Although to be fair, late romantic Russian stuff is the sort of repertoire where he always used to shine.

I expect that others will pick up these works in future and try another approach, but for me the Skryleva recordings are a great point of entry into these works: very well played, un-idiosyncratic, and safe in a good way.

[eschiss1]

Mind, I'm more familiar with him as a politician - former Governor of the State of Florida, Presidential Candidate in the USA - than as an orchestral conductor, myself.