Herbert Schuch, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
Release Date: 12 January 2024
Label: C-Avi
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 4260085535392
Genres: Classical Orchestral
Description
Pianist Herbert Schuch looks at the connections between Beethoven's Piano Concertos and the Concerto for Piano and Small Orchestra by Erwin Schulhoff.
Schuch: "Indeed, it's quite exciting to look at what was going on exactly 100 years ago - perhaps because 1923 doesn't seem all that distant to us. Certain events and circumstances seem to mirror one another a century apart. From a musical point of view, Erwin Schulhoff's piano concerto is a truly interesting work that has not attained the recognition it deserves. . ...
In terms of style, the piano concerto, composed between 11 June and 10 July 1923, is one of those works where Schulhoff radically deals with the dance types of jazz, which had crossed the Atlantic at the end of the First World War and spread out from Paris until taking all of Europe by storm..... No other pair of composers could be more different - on paper - than these two.
Schulhoff always took a decisive stance against traditionalism. Indeed, he may have been something of an iconoclast, but he was also a talented and well-trained pianist - a pianist who wanted to earn success in that very role. Of course, Schulhoff studied the Beethoven concertos, performed them, and ultimately also took the opportunity (like many other composers before him) to put his stamp on these works by writing his own cadenzas......
...It was also in Berlin - in February 1923, to be exact - that Schulhoff conceived and worked out the cadenzas for the first four Beethoven piano concertos ......." (Excerpts from the booklets notes)
GRAMOPHONE EDITORS' CHOICE FEBRUARY 2024
"this Beethoven performance is a delight overall. Schuch comes across as a sparkling raconteur, one who knows how to make his storytelling especially vivid, whether he's pellucidly articulating a florid passage or sculpting a melody." – Gramophone, Editors' Choice February 2024
"What a fascinating disc this is! […] The finale is a joy, Schuch's clarity perfect for this piece; strings are perfectly disciplined by Chuang while Shcuch's treble/bass dialogues (the hand crossings) are full of character" – Classical Explorer
"this new [recording] is uncommonly effective, well recorded, sharp-edged and witty, with Herbert Schuch a crisp soloist...Schuch has a way of maintaining pulse and energy while finding room for rubato, and his gentle pulling back in some episodes is spine-tingling." – BBC Music Magazine *****
Tracklisting
Andreas Willwohl & Daniel Heide
Laurence Kilsby & Ella O'Neill
Kilian Herold, Barbara Buntrock, Florian Donderer, Tanja Tetzlaff
Kathrin Zukowski, KammerMusikKoln
Katharina Konradi, Catriona Morison, Ammiel Bushakevitz
Antje Weithaas, Denes Varjon
Premysl Vojta, Florence Millet, Ye Wu
Herbert Schuch, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
Hans-Jurg Strub; Wurttembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen; Christian Erny
Sinfonieorchester Gottingen
London Sinfonietta; David Atherton
Antal Dorati; Philharmonia Hungarica
Karel Ancerl; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Yoichi Sugiyama
David Rabinovich
Badische Staatskapelle, Georg Fritzsch
