In the centenary of his death in 1921, Camille Saint-Saëns is still patronized in some quarters as a prodigiously fluent musician of second-rate gifts. Yet his elders, his contemporaries and his students all esteemed him as an innovator as well as a gifted melodist and supremely disciplined technician in the craft as well as the art of composing. For Berlioz, the only problem with the child prodigy Saint-Saëns was that he knew too much. Ravel declared that he learnt everything he knew about orchestration from scores such as the Second Piano Concerto. Out of the composer’s five piano concertos, the Second has long established itself as the most popular thanks to a unique and winning stylistic progression neatly summed up ‘from Bach to Offenbach’, opening with a monumental cadenza and orchestral response in the manner of a Bachian prelude for organ, and winding up with an exhilarating tarantella. Three years after its composition in 1868, a version for solo piano was made by none other than Georges Bizet, Saint-Saëns’s short-lived contemporary. The arrangement was enthusiastically taken up by the composer, and it sheds valuable light on the essentially pianistic nature of his inspiration. This rarely encountered but fascinating transcription is complemented by ‘Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix’, the love-confession sung by Delila in the grand Biblical epic staging the downfall of Samson, in a solo piano version made by the Russian musicologist Boris Borodin. Another of the composer’s greatest admirers was Tchaikovsky, and Maria Stembolskaya adds a pair of piano fantasies inspired by the best-known of his stage works, Eugene Onegin: a free transcription of the third-act Polonaise made by Liszt, and a spectacular paraphrase of the opera’s main themes by one of his most talented students, Paul Pabst.
LPO Principal Conductor Edward Gardner loves the music of Michael Tippett, he says, because of it's 'otherworldly, luminous and elemental' qualities, which 'strike right from his inspiration to a listener's heart.' In 2022 the LPO and Gardner released a landmark live recording of Tippett's opera The Midsummer Marriage, which won a Gramophone Award, and on this disc Gardner continues to shine a spotlight on this fascinating 20th-century composer. The ferociously difficult Piano Concerto is executed flawlessly by Steven Osborne, while the Second Symphony revels in the newfound clarity, intricate textures and formal rigor that would become the hallmarks of Tippett's later works.
This Bella Musica release of two historical recordings captured nearly a quarter-century apart features the conductor Carl August Bünte (b. 1925), a pupil of Sergiu Celibidache who for 24 years led the Berlin Symphony, the Kansai Philharmonic, one of the two major orchestras resident in Osaka, Japan, pianist Hiroko Miyamoto and the aforementioned Berlin Symphony in performances of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in c, op. 18 and Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 in d, op. 120. + Ms. Miyamoto is currently a professor at the Osaka University of Education.
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Igor Levit, Xiaohan Wang, Cologne Chamber Orchestra
Naxos
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%Feb 12, 2021
In 2005 Igor Levit and Xiaohan Wang performed, together with the Kolner Kammerorchester under Helmut Müller-Brühl, as outstanding talents of the semi-final of the “International Beethoven Competition for Piano Bonn”. The competition had been initiated in the same year by the then President of the Federal Republic of Germany Horst Kohler. The young pianists, today successful all over the world, performed on that occasion Beethoven's piano concertos nos. 1 and 2. On this recording, Igor Levit performs the First Concerto, and Xiaohan Wang the Second.
On two previous albums, Yevgeny Sudbin and Osmo Vänskä have released Beethoven’s three last piano concertos to critical acclaim. Distinctions include Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and top marks from the Italian magazine Musica and the German website Klassik-Heute.de, and performances have been described as ‘electrifying’ (classicfm.com), ‘absolutely stunning’ (Fanfare) and ‘a Beethoven experience you will not want to miss’ (ClassicsToday.com). For the final release in their cycle, Sudbin and Vänskä have travelled to Helsinki to team up with Tapiola Sinfonietta, one of the top Nordic ensembles, and well suited for these earlier and more classical of Beethoven’s concertos. Of the two, the one we now know as the Second was actually begun several years before Concerto No. 1, and indeed even before Beethoven left Bonn for Vienna. During the following decade, Beethoven returned to the score repeatedly and made substantial revisions – including composing a new final movement – and ultimately the C major concerto reached publication first. Both concertos were conceived long before Beethoven's involvement with the symphonic genre, and the influence of Mozart and Haydn is evident in the interaction between the orchestra and the soloist – but Beethoven's individual spirit is nevertheless unmistakeable.
2017 release. Following the release of his stunning Venetian Concertos, composer/pianist David Chesky has written two new concertos, this time for piano. Inspired by the chaos of his adopted New York City, these virtuosic concertos are a mixture of energy, rhythmic drive and serenity. Like most of his recent work, they combine modern compositional styles with both jazz and reverence to classical forms in Chesky's own unique manner. Like his Venetian Concertos, Chesky's Piano Concerto No. 2 can be described as a "collision of atonal harmonies in counterpoint". The first movement contains many fugal sections including a contrapuntal interplay among the flute, piano and strings. The entire movement is a moto perpetuo, which ends in a frenzy. The quiet second movement, the heart of this concerto, is one of the most tranquil, mesmerizing and sublime music in all of Chesky's compositions. In contrast, the third movement seems violent and builds to a powerful climactic ending. With it's celebration of jazz, which he combines with a little ragtime in the finale, Chesky has referred to his third concerto as his "jazz piano concerto". The first movement combines South American dance with fugue, blues, and jazz. The second movement prominently features interaction among the piano, glockenspiel and vibraphone. The third movement contains a syncopated section in the middle, where Chesky adapts his 2013 Second New York Rag "The Bernstein" as an homage to Leonard Bernstein. The entire movement from the beginning to it's propulsive coda is a tour de force for all the performers. Ten years after his last piano concerto, Chesky has now given us two more extremely impressive ones. In these works, Chesky's fans will not only recognize his distinctive style, but also the huge creative leap made by this talented musician.
Saint-Saens: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 "The Egyptian"
Linn Records
CD
$20.99Aug 28, 2026
Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski continues his critically acclaimed piano concertos series on Linn Records with a 'spectacular' (Bachtrack) live recording of Saint-Saens' Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5, both performed at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with Thomas Sondergard conducting the colourful and energetic Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It took Saint-Saens just seventeen days to compose the Second Concerto and practice for the premiere under the baton of Anton Rubinstein! A feat as impressive as the quality of the work itself whose well-balanced movements look back on Faure and Bach. The Fifth Concerto is the composer's answer to Wagner mania. Indeed, the work can almost be taken as a hint to his compatriots that there were plenty of other sources of inspiration available, such as the Nubian love song that Saint-Saens had heard sung by boatmen on the Nile and the sound of croaking frogs, which feature in the second movement and give the work it's title: 'The Egyptian'. This Concerto is a showcase of virtuosity for both composer and pianist.
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Goerner, Otaka, NHK Symphony
Alpha
CD
$13.99Apr 06, 2018
Recorded live in Tokyo on 20 May 2009 with the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tadaaki Otaka, this concert provides a new opportunity to take the full measure of the poetry deployed by Nelson Goerner. This poetic approach has come to be seen as the pianist’s trademark in his recordings of Chopin or Debussy. Yet his interpretation also shows unfailing virtuosity, with a precision and power that place him among the most eminent pianists of our time. This recording is one that Nelson Goerner was particularly keen to make, for he views Brahms’s Second Concerto as an immense masterpiece. Premiered in Budapest in 1881 with Brahms himself at the piano, the work enjoyed immediate success with critics and public alike. Now, more than 200 years later, the piece is receiving new life.
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REVIEW:
There is something particularly well-thought out about this performance that makes it compelling. Pianists and conductors can often take a very different view of this concerto with the result that the work can feel like two performances rather than a single performance. The intertwining of a narrative between the orchestra and the pianist – the essence of great chamber-music – is particularly strong here, but so, too, is the sense that both Otaka and Goerner are just letting Brahms’s score unfold. It often feels like an event, a rather special experience, but I suspect one that Nelson Goerner would probably play very differently under another conductor and orchestra.
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 - Piano Pieces / Tsybuleva, Reinhardt, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Signum Classics
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%May 28, 2021
Signum Records presents an exciting new collaboration and debut recording with Leeds International Piano Competition Winner (2015), Anna Tsybuleva, of music by Johannes Brahms together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conducted by Ruth Reinhardt. Tsybuleva has been described by as embodying superb pianism and intelligent musicianship (Gramophone Magazine) and A pianist of rare gifts: not since Murray Perahias triumph in 1972 has Leeds had a winner of this musical poise and calibre (International Piano Magazine). Performance highlights have included performances with the Basel Symphony, Mariinsky Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Alongside this, Tsybuleva has given recitals at such prestigious venues as Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Tonhalle Zurich, and the Wigmore Hall, London.
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2; Handel Variations / Vogt, Royal Northern Sinfonia
Ondine
CD
$18.99Apr 03, 2020
The second album in Lars Vogt’s Johannes Brahms concerto series with the Royal Northern Sinfonia includes Brahms’ 2nd Piano Concerto combined with a solo piano work, Handel Variations Op. 24, which was dedicated to Clara Schumann by the composer. Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 is a romantic 4-movement concerto written two decades after its predecessor and one of the cornerstones in the concerto repertoire. This remarkable opus with a great number of beautiful solo passages and with a duration of over 45 minutes has been interpreted by numerous pianists since its premiere in 1881. In this album, Vogt performs the concerto conducting from the keyboard. Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel Op. 24 for solo piano were written by the young composer in his late 20s. This work, which includes some technically demanding passages for the pianists, reveals Brahms’ profound interest in the work of the great masters of the Baroque era which served as a source of inspiration in the composer’s creative work. This set of 25 variations and a fugue shows Brahms as a great successor to the tradition of piano variations exemplified by Mozart and Beethoven.
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REVIEWS:
Together with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Lars Vogt–in his fifth year heading the orchestra across the shore from Newcastle–got to record the Brahms piano concertos for Ondine. Anyone who reads a chamber orchestra’s and Brahms’ name on the same CD cover and might briefly flinch, fearing undernourished, pseudo-historically informed performances with an economically expedient small band–conducted from the piano at that (another couple thousands in savings!)–need not worry.
Yes, this performance of the B-flat major concerto is notably a child of our times: It is svelte Brahms and transparent too, but still with plenty of muscle, which isn’t on display throughout, but comes to the fore where needed. Compared to the kind of Brahms from even just a few decades ago, this is purged of some excess and trimmed of fat, but it comes to a healthy halt before turning anorexic.
In and of itself that’s hardly enough to compete with the innumerable splendid performances out there, historic and more recent. Buchbinder/Harnoncourt sounds more traditional and celebrates Brahms with the (expected?) breadth–and very tastefully at that. The Northern Sinfonia can’t touch the wonderfully dark sound of the Czech Philharmonic with Ivan Moravec under Jirí Belohlávek, which sounds like an old oak chest smells. But then, no other orchestra can. The way Eugen Jochum custom-tailors the Berlin Philharmonic’s playing around that of his soloist, Emil Gilels, also remains unsurpassed.
But it speaks to Vogt–who doesn’t shy away from a robust and stern touch in the outer movements–and his Sinfonia that no amount of comparison makes this recording appear any less attractive. The fresh-sounding orchestra has a natural forward drive but isn’t hectic or jittery. Nor do you hear any exaggerations or the type of self-consciously unsubtle “nuance” that often passes for interpretation these days. This recording–as does that of Marc-André Hamelin with Andrew Litton, to mention a recent and also excellent account–goes to show that good playing without ostentatious fingerprints need not end up sounding anonymous.
In the olden LP and CD days, the Handel Variations on this disc might have been considered the filler. In the streaming-age, playtime has become meaningless–and in any case, this isn’t an afterthought; interpretively, it might well be considered the lead attraction. There is a certain voracity with which Vogt bites into the piece, with a huge bandwidth of attack: from buttery soft to glassy hard. Gentle and gruff touches coexist peacefully; similarly, there are pompous and wildly colorful moments to be had. You can almost hear an orchestra perform behind it. This is more attention-grabbing (in the best sense) than the articulate sheen of the magnificent-yet-slightly-forgettable Murray Perahia (Sony), yet more coherently done than the wild-and-wilful Olga Kern’s take (Harmonia Mundi). In fact, it might just be the new reference alongside Jonathan Plowright (BIS), Leon Fleisher (Sony), and Garrick Ohlsson (Hyperion).
– ClassicsToday (Jens F. Laurson)
Vogt’s approach is robust, shapely and highly rhythmical. He mitigates Brahms’s habitual textural thickness by refusing to pedal through staccato passages. Together with the orchestra, a marvellous plasticity of line is maintained throughout. This pliant rubato is the bedrock of their realisation of the music’s passionate ardour and vast sense of space. What a pleasure to encounter Brahms, so often interpreted as relentlessly earnest, here captured with his eyes brimming with joy.
Brahms: Piano Concerto 2, Tragic Overture / Gilels, Reiner
RCA
CD
$17.99Jun 15, 2007
"Gilels made two recordings of this concerto. The later version was made for DG in the early 1970s with Eugen Jochum and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and has earned a high reputation over the years. This earlier version, made in January 1958, is no less remarkable and very different. Perhaps it was the temporary transatlantic influence of Reiner and his orchestra which persuaded Gilels to see the concerto as a vehicle for a display of brilliant virtuoso playing, with fast tempos and little relaxation except in the third movement. certainly the playing in the overture has the same characteristics. But when this approach was harnessed to Gilel's intellectual strength the result was a performance of great power." -- The Gramophone
This 2-CD release tells the story of Pollinis triumphant reunion with Staatskapelle Dresden in 2011 and 2013 and includes the acclaimed recordings of Brahmss Piano Concertos with Christian Thielemann. Those who admire the intelligent, direct and stylishly lean virtuosity that Maurizio Pollini has long brought to Brahmss Piano Concertos will want to know how the pianists recent recordings with Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden compare with his two earlier versions, both conducted by the late Claudio Abbado.
Taken from the LPO's final concerts with the late Aldo Ciccolini (1925-2015), when he was in his mid-eighties, these performances were much praised at the time. Most notably for Ciccolini's soulful and sensitive interpretation that was 'illuminated from within and sounded fresh, spontaneous and heartfelt' (Classical Source, May 2009). Aldo Ciccolini was a musical legend. Through his teachers he inherited the musical influences of Busoni and Liszt, and he was himself a teacher of many world-famous pianists including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Artur Pizarro and Nicholas Angelich. These live recordings were conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin while he was Principal Guest Conductor (2008-14) and his close relationship with the Orchestra is apparent. Mozart's Piano Concerto marked a shift in tone towards a new, more mature style for the composer. He helped to redefine the piano concerto as a sophisticated and expressive artform, rather than a form of polite public entertainment. Rachmaninoff poured his heart and soul into his Second Piano Concerto, and with it created one of the most beloved works of all time.
