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Saturday, July 23, 2022

Stéphan Elmas - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Howard Shelley)


Information

Composer: Stéphan Elmas
  • (01) Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor
  • (04) Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Howard Shelley, piano & conductor

Date: 2021
Label: Hyperion

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Review

Hyperion keeps pulling obscure Romantic concertos out of the woodwork, this time with two by Armenian composer Stéphan Elmas (1862-1937). According to Jeremy Nicholas’s excellent and informative booklet notes, Elmas started out as a piano prodigy and then turned to composition, which he continued to pursue despite losing his hearing as a result of typhoid fever. After settling in Geneva, he fell in love with the armless painter Aimée Rapin, who nursed him through periods of severe depression.

Elmas’s conservative musical language might be described as a hybrid of Anton Rubinstein’s heroic, declarative concerto style and the kind of lyricism and sophisticated filigree associated with Chopin. Indeed, the G minor First Concerto’s central Larghetto owes a lot to the Larghetto from Chopin’s Second Concerto. The outer movements abound with attractive and idiomatic piano-writing that also reflects Chopin’s style, yet without the latter’s finely honed harmonic sensibility.

However, Elmas’s personality better asserts itself in the D minor Second Concerto’s stormier outbursts, along with a generally fuller-bodied and orchestrally inspired approach to the instrument, as the Brahmsian octave passages and hefty chord-voicings bear out. By contrast, the central Andante answers the musical question of how the slow movement of Mozart’s D minor Concerto, K466, would have been appropriated by generic Hollywood composers in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

If one cannot claim these works as deathless masterpieces, the redoubtable Howard Shelley once again proves himself the piano world’s St Jude: the passionate advocate of the Romantic concerto repertoire’s lost causes. The pianist’s nuanced and sweeping phrasing, his wide dynamic range and his perpetually singing tone convey both urgency and nobility to the point where he convinces you that this is great music. He also elicits hearty playing from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, with balances that bring the winds and brass to the forefront. Not the most essential offering in Hyperion’s valuable series, but Shelley’s persuasive performances are self-recommending to those who’ve been steadfastly collecting each volume.

-- Jed Distler, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

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Stéphan Elmas (1862 – August 11, 1937) was an Armenian composer, pianist and teacher. A child prodigy, he studied in Vienna with Anton Door and Franz Krenn. A highly successful recital in Vienna’s Bösendorfer-Saal in 1887 followed by a busy concert schedule, with Elmas scoring artistic triumphs in France, England, Germany, Austria and Italy. He mostly programmed his own works, which were composed rapidly and with great ease, as well as works by Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann. Recently, the composer’s works have been experiencing a revival, thanks to the efforts of pianist Armen Babakhanian.

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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. He has appeared regularly on television and on the soundtrack of several films.

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7 comments:

  1. Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Skip Ad' (or 'Get link').
    If you are asked to download or install anything, IGNORE, only download from file hosting site (mega.nz).
    If MEGA shows 'Bandwidth Limit Exceeded' message, try to create a free account.

    http://stoodsef.com/3bf6
    or
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    or
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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Thanks - interesting composer. Can you revive the Rubbra/Bax/Bliss Romantic Piano Concerto 81 you had once upon a time?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here it is:
      https://www.mirrored.to/files/XCVUADM8/

      Delete
    2. can't access that site from U.S. and via proxy, says only the premium d/l is available .....

      Delete
    3. That's odd. It's the same site that I use for the other blog.

      Delete
    4. Arckk! Never mind, I was going to an Upload.To link - got it - thanks!

      Delete