Xaver Scharwenka - Piano Music Vol. 1 (Seta Tanyel)

Information

Composer: Xaver Scharwenka

• (01-04) Piano Sonata No 1 in C-Sharp Minor
• (05) Impromptu in D Major
• (06-10) Five Polish Dances
• (11) Polonaise in C-Sharp Minor
• (12) Eglantine Waltz
• (13) Polonaise in F Minor
• (14) Valse-Caprice in A Major

Seta Tanyel, piano
Date: 1991
Label: Hyperion (Originally issued on Collins13252)
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55131

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Review

The neglected minor composers of the nineteenth century are getting a deserved airing these days. Curiously enough, the name of Xaver Scharwenka was one of the first musicians' names I got to know as a child (wondering also how to pronounce it), because of his edition of Chopin published by the British firm of Augener. He was born in 1850 in East Prussia, in the city that is now Poznan in Poland, but studied in Berlin and made his debut there as a pianist, going on to a major career as a performer and teacher in Europe and the United States. He also made a name as a composer, and no less a conductor than Mahler directed a New York performance of his Fourth Piano Concerto in 1910 in which he himself played the solo part.

Seta Tanyel's selection usefully fills a gap in any collection of piano music of this period. But I cannot see more than effective ersatz Chopin in the First Piano Sonata which is the longest work here: indeed, it resembles the very early C minor Sonata which the greater composer set aside and which only received publication against his will. The best music is probably to be found in the slow third movement, but it still refuses to produce a memorable tune or reveal much personality. I can't find anything here that other pianists will dash to take up. Still, on its own terms the work is enjoyable and the performance is stylish: indeed, Seta Tanyel is a good advocate for this music, and she is well recorded.

The other pieces are worth hearing, but I would not put it more strongly than that, and the five Polish Dances have some character within an attractive Polish idiom. But unlike the writer of the booklet-note, I am not ''initially tempted to make comparison with the mazurkas of Chopin'' (which are consistently more remarkable pieces), and even less do I then conclude, as he does, that there is instead ''a distinct originality''. Nevertheless, the fourth dance in G minor is good enough to be by Chopin, though its middle section does not sound like that master and generally these pieces in triple time are less intimate and more in the style of concert music. The remaining works are somewhere between salon and concert music, with the Polonaise, Op. 42, having some grandeur and the Valse-Caprice a distinct charm.

-- Christopher Headington, Gramophone

More reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/Scharwenka-Piano-Music-Seta-Tanyel/dp/B000067UMI

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Xaver Scharwenka (6 January 1850 – 8 December 1924) was a German-Polish pianist, composer and teacher of Bohemian-Polish descent. As a pianist, he was a renowned interpreter of the music of Frédéric Chopin and was praised for the beauty of his tone. Scharwenka's own compositions include an opera (Mataswintha), a symphony, four piano concertos, chamber music (all with piano part) and numerous piano pieces. His piano idiom somewhat resembles Schumann and Rachmaninoff. He was the brother of Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917), who was also a composer and teacher of music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xaver_Scharwenka

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Born in Istanbul of Armenian parentage, Seta Tanyel studied at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik with Dieter Weber and Bruno Seidlhofer, and in London with Louis Kentner. She was a major prizewinner at the 1973 Beethoven Competition and the 1974 Arthur Rubinstein Competition. Acclaimed as much for her distinguished performances of the core repertoire as for her consistent championing of the works of lesser-known composers, Tanyel has excited much attention from audiences around the world. She has received countless critical accolades for her recordings on the Chandos, Collins Classics and Hyperion labels.
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A140

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