JADASSOHN : Concerto In C Minor, Op 89 • Concerto In F Minor, Op 90 ♦ DRAESEKE : Concerto In E Flat, Op 36 (Markus Becker · Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin · Michael Sanderling) (2009) Serie The Romantic Piano Concerto – 47 | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

If you've worked your way through the entire standard repertory of Romantic piano concertos and are eager for more, then you may be ready for these concertos by Salomon Jadassohn and Felix Draeseke. The former may be best known as the teacher of Grieg and Delius and the latter for composing the gargantuan Christus oratorio, but they also wrote in the concerto form and the results of their efforts are released for the first time here performed by pianist Markus Becker with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under Michael Sanderling. All three works were written between 1885 and 1887, and all three are built on the same pillars as the more familiar concertos from the era: big themes, colorful orchestration, and heroic virtuosity for the soloist. Jadassohn's two concertos, the first in C minor and the second in F minor, are more musically conservative, with less chromaticism and tighter forms, while Draeseke's E flat major Concerto is more modern, with richer harmonies and more expansive forms. Becker does both composers justice with his full tone, crisp articulation, and robust technique, and the Berlin orchestra under Sanderling supports him with strong playing. If none of these works challenge the great Romantic concertos in terms of beauty or profundity, they are at least well-composed and sincere works given well-thought-out and earnest performances recorded in warm, detailed, digital sound. James Leonard  

Salomon Jadassohn (1831-1902)
Piano Concerto No 1 In C Minor Op. 89    (15:34)

Piano Concerto No 2 In F Minor Op 90    (23:51)

Felix Draeseke (1835-1913)
Piano Concerto In E Flat Major Op 36    (30:28)

Credits :
Conductor – Michael Sanderling
Orchestra – Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Piano – Markus Becker

WIDOR : Piano Concertos 1 & 2 · Fantaisie (Markus Becker · BBC National Orchestra Of Wales · Thierry Fischer) (2011) Serie The Romantic Piano Concerto – 55 | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Charles-Marie Widor was born in Lyon to a family of organ builders and consequently became an organist of great skill and an assistant to Camille Saint-Saëns at La Madeleine in Paris at the age of twenty-four.

Today, Widor’s compositions for organ have a prominent position in the instrument’s core repertoire, but it is often forgotten that the composer wrote many other significant works, notably his two piano concertos. Surprisingly, these are the first recordings of the concertos and are a much-awaited addition to the numerous world premiere recordings featured in Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series, now reaching its 55th volume and still unearthing little-known works to consistently dazzling effect.

Following the success of his renditions of the Draeseke and Jadassohn concertos, pianist Markus Becker makes a welcome return to the series. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the remarkable Thierry Fischer more than do justice to Widor’s imaginative orchestrations. Hyperion
Tracklist :
Piano Concerto No 1 In F Minor Op 39 (1876)    (29:47)
Composed By – Charles-Marie Widor

Piano Concerto No 2 In C Minor Op 77 (1905)    (19:28)
Composed By – Charles-Marie Widor
Credits :
Conductor – Thierry Fischer
Leader – Lesley Hatfield
Orchestra – BBC National Orchestra Of Wales
Piano [Steinway & Sons] – Markus Becker

PFITZNER : Piano Concerto in E flat major ♦ BRAUNFELS : Tag- und Nachtstücke (Markus Becker • Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin • Constantin Trinks) (2019) Serie The Romantic Piano Concerto – 79 | FLAC (tracks), lossless

The Piano Concerto in E flat major of Hans Pfitzner and the Tag- und Nachtstücke of Walter Braunfels, dating from 1922 and 1933-1934, respectively, may be the latest works chronologically in the Hyperion label's "Romantic Piano Concerto" series. Both works have been forgotten, and all that really survives of the output of either of these composers is Pfitzner's opera Palestrina (1917). However, the Piano Concerto, in four movements lasting almost 45 minutes in total, is worth hearing. It's something like the piano concerto Richard Strauss never wrote, not counting the youthful Burleske in D major. The work announces its attentions right at the beginning with big E flat sounds that bring Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 74 ("Emperor") to mind, and from there it spins out a lengthy structure that seems to be trying to hold the classical sonata form together by sheer force of will. You may find it overblown, but sample "Pomphaft, mit Kraft und Schwung" to hear the full effect. The Braunfels Tag- und Nachtstücke ("Day and Night Pieces") have an entirely original concept. The five movements extend the piano character piece to full concerto dimensions. To these ears the work, although the movements are shorter, is a bit less coherent than the Pfitzner concerto, but anyone interested in the interwar scene and aware that not everything sounded like Schoenberg or Hindemith, will want to hear it. James Manheim
Tracklist :
Piano Concerto in E flat major Op. 31
Hans Pfitzner
Tag-und Nachtstücke for orchestra with piano obbligato Op. 44     
Walter Braunfels
Credits :
Piano – Markus Becker
Conductor – Constantin Trinks
Orchestra – Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

JAN LADISLAV DUSSEK : 3 Piano Sonatas (Markus Becker) (2006) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Investigate the music of Beethoven's contemporaries who were well enough known to be called his rivals, and the idea of Beethoven as fist-shaking revolutionary comes in for some serious revision. Jan Ladislav Dussek, Bohemian-born, became famous all over Europe for piano music that was daring in every way. The three sonatas on this disc date from the very beginning of the nineteenth century. They have Beethovenian dimensions and conventions -- the Piano Sonata No. 18 in E flat major, Op. 44, is a "Farewell" sonata -- and their harmonic schemes, at both movement-wide and local levels, are ambitious. Listen to Dussek, or Hummel, and Beethoven begins to seem like the composer who brought their innovations back within the confines of classical frameworks. The clear outlines of Beethoven's movements are missing in these works, which are occasionally dull -- the incessant motor action of the first movement of the Piano Sonata No. 24 in F sharp minor, Op. 61, is enough to make you want to leave the room for a sandwich and a beer, or to wish for the opening movement of the "Moonlight" sonata. But in the main these are expansive works with much to tell us about the music Beethoven was hearing and reacting to. Pianist Markus Becker delivers fine readings, with sensitivity to the rhetorical gestures of the music and an admirable refusal to pile more passion onto these works than they can comfortably handle. James Manheim

JAN LADISLAV DUSSEK : Piano Sonatas, Opp. 9 & 77 (Markus Becker) (2008) APE (image+.cue), lossless

CPO's Jan Ladislav Dussek: Piano Sonatas Opp. 9 & 77, featuring pianist Markus Becker, contrasts Dussek's last-known work -- the Grande Sonate in F minor, subtitled "L'Invocation" -- with three of Dussek's earliest, solo piano arrangements of works originally published as accompanied sonatas. Becker -- who performs these sonatas on a modern grand -- is certainly the right player to put the best face on these pieces; his playing is grand, confident, and forceful. "L'Invocation" is an engrossing piece with a wide variety of emotional twists and turns and a secure, yet exploratory approach to pianistic technique that in the Tempo di Minuetto movement betrays the influence of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. It is a landmark piece well worth knowing, and as Dussek -- by 1812 no longer youthful, badly overweight, and suffering from a multitude of ailments -- did not live to produce another, "L'Invocation" stands as his valedictory statement.
By comparison, the three sonatas of Op. 3, dating from 1786, contain no foreshadowing of psychological form, though they do represent a highly elaborated and expanded take on the classical piano sonata. Superficially, they seem similar to Beethoven's early piano sonatas, but listening closely reveals that Dussek's work has its own aesthetic and unique voice, not to mention that Beethoven himself was only beginning to compose when these works first appeared. While they are anything but conformist -- contrast any one of these sonatas to one of Haydn's, for example -- they are a little more difficult to warm up to than the "L'Invocation" is and will reward repeated listens. However, the Larghetto from the Sonata Op. 9/2 in C major is quite penetrating, striking, and memorable.
If one were to judge Dussek solely on his scandal-ridden and sometimes wasteful personal life, then his relative obscurity might be seen as well deserved. Where would we be, however, if we applied the same criteria to the work of Richard Wagner? In terms of the final phase of the classical piano sonata, Dussek's work has a relative value similar to Wagner's place in the scheme of high German romanticism just prior into its dissolution into the post-romantic ethos. Wagner was the culmination of the process that began with Beethoven, just as Beethoven naturally carried the torch of the aesthetic from which Dussek sprang, and probably buried it forever. Such observations still may not compel one to listen to Dussek; however, if a listener decides to take the plunge, CPO's Jan Ladislav Dussek: Piano Sonatas, Opp. 9 & 77, is as good as it gets in terms of advocacy of Dussek as a figure worthy of first-tier status. Uncle Dave Lewis