KULLAK : Piano Concerto In C Minor, Op 55 (First Recording) ♦ DREYSCHOCK : Piano Concerto In D Minor, Op 137 (First Recording) (Piers Lane · BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra · Niklas Willén) (1999) Serie The Romantic Piano Concerto – 21 | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Dreyschock and Kullak are today only footnotes in the biographies of those who emerged from the nineteenth century as giants of the musical world, but in their time both artists were very significant indeed.

Both were pianists (and born in the same year) but had very different careers. Dreyschock seems to have been a bit of a showman and played loud and fast, he made a speciality of his left hand work and was one of the first to compose for this esoteric medium. His large output of compositions seem never to have made much impression and it is now purely as a performer that he is remembered. His only concerto (not to be confused with his Concertstück once recorded on LP) is rather Mendelssohnian and has a particularly energetic finale.

Although by all accounts also a superb virtuoso Kullak gravitated towards teaching and became perhaps the most prolific teacher of the nineteenth century century; he eventually founded his own Academy in Berlin which had a roll of around 1000 piano students at its peak.

His only concerto was published in 1855 and is quite conservative for its time, though it may have been written earlier. It clearly derives from the tradition of Hummel and contains much brilliant finger work interspersed with a lyricism very reminiscent of Chopin. It may not be profound, but it is both beautiful and entertaining and must surely be one of the most enjoyable 'lost' concertos around. Hyperion

Theodor Kullak (1818-1882)
                    
Piano Concerto in C minor Op 55 [34'47]

Alexander Dreyschock (1818-1869)     

Piano Concerto in D minor Op 137 [24'19]

Credits :
Conductor – Niklas Willén
Leader – Elizabeth Layton
Orchestra – BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Piano – Piers Lane

DÖHLER : Concerto In A Major, Op 7 ♦ DREYSCHOCK : Morceau De Concert, Op 27 • Salut À Vienne, Op 32 (Howard Shelley · Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra) (2013) Serie The Romantic Piano Concerto – 61 | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

With this release, Hyperion's series of forgotten Romantic piano concertos reaches its 61st volume. Heinrich Heine reported of one of the composers here, Theodor Döhler, that "some say he is among the last of the second-class pianists, others that he is the first among third-class pianists," and you might be forgiven for wondering whether the series was reaching the bottom of the barrel. Certainly Döhler, a German-born Italian, is almost unknown today, and the other composer, Alexander Dreyschock, is remembered primarily for an episode in which he played the left hand of Chopin's "Revolutionary" étude in octaves. Still, the point of the series is completeness, and those specializing in the period will find points of interest here. The sheer difficulty of the piano writing is chief among them, especially in the Döhler Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7; one sees that what Liszt contributed to the piano literature during this period (the Döhler work was written in 1835, the two by Dreyschock about a decade later) was not purely technical display but the harnessing of it to charisma. Döhler's opening movement sets up some not very interesting thematic material and then unleashes a barrage of passagework in parallel that taxes the skills even of Shelley, a Rachmaninov specialist. He doesn't let you seem him sweat, though, and pianists may pick up some moves here; at least those who have studied the works of Czerny will have something new to think about. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, as usual in this series, provides spirited support; Shelley serves as both pianist and conductor. James Manheim  
Tracklist :
Piano Concerto In A Major Op 7 (1836)    (28:27)
Composed By – Theodor Döhler

Morceau De Concert In C Minor Op. 27 (1845)    16:42
Composed By – Alexander Dreyschock

Salut À Vienne: Rondo Brilliant Op. 32 (1846)    (10:55)
Composed By – Alexander Dreyschock
Credits :
Leader – Jun Yi Ma
Orchestra – Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Piano, Conductor – Howard Shelley