BRONSART ♦ URSPRUCH : Piano Concertos (Emmanuel Despax · BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra · Eugene Tzigane) (2018) Serie The Romantic Piano Concerto – 77 | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The commercial success of Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series, here reaching its 77th volume, attests to the hunger of audiences for new repertory, and for an understanding of the context in which the great composers of the era worked. The two piano concertos here, by German composers Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf and Anton Urspruch, are all but unknown even to specialists. Yet both are enjoyable and cast light on how the music of Brahms, the model for both works, was received. Schellendorf was a student of Liszt but turned toward the Brahmsian three-movement Classical concerto pattern. There are all kinds of Brahms influences here; you can sample the second theme of the second movement, Adagio ma non troppo (three-plus minutes in), for an unusually well-executed iteration of the noble theme. But the footprint of Schellendorf's teacher is also present in the degree to which the music is pushed in the direction of virtuosity, with a corresponding simplification of the motivic structure. The concerto by Urspruch, a not uninteresting figure who may have been instrumental (?) in bringing Gregorian chant to prominence, is a more heroic, Beethovenian mold, although its lengthy finale lacks cohesiveness. Both works challenge the pianist, and it's entirely likely that the confident performances by Franco-British pianist Emmanuel Despax will not be the last ones. The music was idiomatically recorded in the Glasgow City Halls. James Manheim  
Tracklist :
Piano Concerto In F Sharp Minor Op. 10 (1873) 30:21
Composed By – Hans Bronsart Von Schellendorf

Piano Concerto In E Flat Major Op. 9 (1882) 45:01
Composed By – Anton Urspruch
Credits :
Piano – Emmanuel Despax
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Conductor - Eugene Tzigane