Henri Herz - Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 7 & 8 (Howard Shelley)

Information

Composer: Henri Herz

1. Piano Concerto No. 1 in A major, Op. 34: I. Allegro moderato
2. Piano Concerto No. 1 in A major, Op. 34: II. Larghetto
3. Piano Concerto No. 1 in A major, Op. 34: III. Allegro moderato
4. Piano Concerto No. 7 in B minor, Op. 207: I. Allegro moderato
5. Piano Concerto No. 7 in B minor, Op. 207: II. Romance. Larghetto senza tempo - Andantino cantabile
6. Piano Concerto No. 7 in B minor, Op. 207: III. Rondeau Espagnol. Allegretto
7. Piano Concerto No. 8 in A flat major, Op. 218: I. Allegro molto moderato
8. Piano Concerto No. 8 in A flat major, Op. 218: II. Andantino
9. Piano Concerto No. 8 in A flat major, Op. 218: III. Polonaise

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Howard Shelley, piano & conductor

Date: 2004
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67465

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Review

Don’t look for profundity: just enjoy some dazzling pianistic virtuosity

Rescued from oblivion, Henri Herz’s Piano Concertos Nos 1, 7 and 8 (amazingly, Volume 36 in this superb series) are dusted down to emerge into scintillating light. Herz (1803-88) was an unapologetic salon entertainer who, even when lambasted by Schumann (who was high on his list of detested notespinners and philistines) he came to be on the great composer’s own list of detested note-spinners and philistines – charmed his audiences senseless with his elegant acrobatics and musical know-how. Indeed, it is not difficult to imagine his listeners’ shock and horror when they heard Brahms’s First Piano Concerto in 1859, music the reverse of Herz’s grace and sparkle. 

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Try 3'02" in the First Concerto’s finale for an example of the most fashionable ear-tickling virtuosity, or sample the Rondo espagnol finale of No 7 with its triangle and foot-tapping attempt at exoticism. True, there is little to inflame the senses or activate the brain but such is Howard Shelley’s expertise that the superficiality becomes engaging. There are few more dextrous or musicianly pianists than Shelley and although I would dearly love to hear him in, say, the Chopin concertos, I am more than grateful for an artist who, like Herz himself, can make you think ‘that a bird had escaped from his fingers and went undulating and singing through the air’ (The New York Times in 1846). To crown it all, Jeremy Nicholas, in his booklet-note, has a field-day with the 19th-century glitz andpell-mell course of Herz’s hyperactive life.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: **** / SOUND: ****
http://www.classical.net/~music/recs/reviews/h/hyp67465a.php
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jul/09/classicalmusicandopera.shopping5

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Henri Herz (6 January 1803 - 5 January 1888) was a pianist and composer, Austrian by birth, and French by domicile. Herz was a celebrated pianist, traveled worldwide, including tours in Europe, Russia, Mexico, South America, and in the United States of America between 1846–50, where he concertized all the way to San Francisco. Among his major works are eight piano concertos, a piano sonata, rondos, nocturnes, waltzes, marches, fantasias, and numerous sets of variations. Herz taught at the Conservatoire between 1842 and 1874.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Herz

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Howard Shelley (born 9 March 1950) is a British pianist and conductor. He was educated at Highgate School and the Royal College of Music. As pianist he has performed, broadcast and recorded around the world with leading orchestras and conductors. He made many recordings for Chandos, Hyperion and EMI, including Rachmaninov's complete piano music and concertos. As a conductor, he has held positions of Associate and Principal Guest Conductor with the London Mozart Players in a close relationship of over twenty years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Shelley

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