Description
The disc is the thirteenth volume in the famous Hyperion 'Romantic Piano Concerto' series; it also follows on from Stephen Coombs's four-volume set of Glazunov's music for solo piano, meaning that Coombs has now recorded all of Glazunov's music for piano soloist.
The two piano concertos date from relatively late in the composer's career and are lyrical works, betraying the characteristically lush orchestral textures familiar from Glazunov's symphonies and ballets.
Alexander Goedicke (Medtner's cousin!) wrote his Concertstuck earlier than Glazunov's two concertos despite being the younger man. The work was published in 1900 and won the composer the Rubinstein Prize for Composition, bringing him early fame hardly matched by any subsequent successes. The Concertstuck is rhapsodic, with much brilliant piano writing and a distinctly Russian flavour to its themes.