Scharwenka, Franz Xaver - Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 32 - Composer: Franz Xaver Scharwenka (6 January 1850 -- 8 December 1924) - Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra - Conductor: Erich Leinsdorf - Soloist: Earl Wild - Year of recording: 1969 Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 32, written in 1876. 00:00 - I. Allegro Patetico 10:35 - II. Allegro assai 17:41 - III. Allegro non tanto Franz Xaver Scharwenka was born in 1850 in Szamtoly near Posen, Prussia (now Poznań, Poland). Like his brother Ludwig Philipp, he showed an early attraction to and natural talent for the piano. In 1865 the Scharwenka family moved to Berlin; both brothers were accepted into the prestigious Neue Akademie der Tonkunst of the great piano pedagogue Theodor Kullak. Xaver studied piano with Kullak himself, and composition with Richard Würst. In 1874 Xaver toured extensively and was praised for his interpretation of Chopin. Two years later he composed his Piano Concerto No.1, dedicated to Franz Liszt, who warmly accepted the dedication. - The concerto, though in the expected three movements, forsakes the quick--slow--quick format by dispensing with a separate slow movement. The Adagio is incorporated into the stormy first movement, providing one of many memorable themes in the work, this one allotted to the violas, clarinet and then horns. - The second movement is an extended scherzo--rondo demanding a quicksilver touch from the soloist and offering a dizzying, brilliant contrast to the dominant dramatic character of the work. - This mood returns in the opening bars of the final Allegro non tanto, a movement which throws down a succession of technically daunting challenges to the pianist. Yet Scharwenka soon introduces a ravishing second subject, not unrelated to the first movements Adagio theme, one which, after an imposing cadenza, heralds the ecstatic, lengthy coda and the Concertos climactic final pages. Tchaikovsky had a high opinion of Scharwenkas 1st Concerto saying that it stood out from the grey mediocrity of much that was then being written. https://youtube/watch?v=xpZ5KkthoJ4
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 14:14:29 +0000
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