Piano Concertos

After three solo recordings, virtuoso pianist Paul

Wee brings us two forgotten concertos from the

Romantic period with the Swedish Chamber

Orchestra conducted by Michael Collins.

Premiered by Clara Schumann under the baton of

Felix Mendelssohn, Adolph von Henselt's Concerto

in F minor was eventually performed by the

greatest virtuosos of the 19th and 20th centuries. It

has, however, inexplicably disappeared from the

repertoire despite it's obvious qualities: soaring

melodies and tender lyricism, colourful

orchestration, dramatic intensity across it's three

movements and piano writing of astounding

inventiveness and brilliance. The familiarity

between Henselt's concerto and some of Sergei

Rachmaninoff's works can be explained by the

profound influence that the German composer

exerted on the Russian.

Hans von Bronsart's Concerto in F sharp minor did

not enjoy the same public acclaim, although it is

rousing, intimate and electrifying in turns. The

richness of it's orchestration is matched by an

uncommonly brilliant piano part that is a model of

practical virtuosity. Breathing late-Romanticism, it

requires a soloist to embrace it's superheated

Romantic language unashamedly if it's passions are

to take flight.