Ernest Bloch’s Concerto symphonique remains one of the 20th century’s great undiscovered works for piano and orchestra. Imagine a composition of symphonic dimensions and Franckian cyclical form, wedded to a piano part such as we find in, say, Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto (minus that insane first-movement cadenza, of course). The tunes are terrific and instantly memorable, and the replacement of the slow movement with an enormous scherzo virtually guarantees 40 minutes of non-stop excitement. Why do we never hear this masterpiece in performance?
It has been recorded twice previously, first for Vanguard by Marjorie Mitchell with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra under Vladimir Golschman, and a little more than a decade ago by Micah Yui with the London Symphony Orchestra under David Amos for Laurel Records. Sad to say, this newcomer does not eclipse either of them, though it’s very well recorded and the balances between solo and orchestra are excellent. Halida Dinova plays quite respectably, but the overall impression remains one of heaviness; the finale in particular lumbers along with insufficient contrast between sections, set to tempos that always sound just a bit held back. The Symphony Orchestra of the State Academic Capella of St. Petersburg plays respectably, but it’s no LSO, particularly in the brass department–and the same observations apply to the less than ideally energetic rendition of the Scherzo fantasque.
The early diptych of tone poems Hiver-Printemps fares much better under Alexander Tchernushenko’s more sympathetic direction, but it hardly offers an important reason to purchase the disc. Still, anyone coming new to these works likely would not realize what is missing; but what the Concerto symphonique really needs is a first-rate virtuoso to take it up with a world-class orchestra and simply play the living daylights out of it. Perhaps Marc-André Hamelin could consider it as part of Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series. Until then, the excellent Laurel recording is the one to get, and if you can’t find it, this will do as a stop-gap until something better comes along. --classicstoday.com
The early diptych of tone poems Hiver-Printemps fares much better under Alexander Tchernushenko’s more sympathetic direction, but it hardly offers an important reason to purchase the disc. Still, anyone coming new to these works likely would not realize what is missing; but what the Concerto symphonique really needs is a first-rate virtuoso to take it up with a world-class orchestra and simply play the living daylights out of it. Perhaps Marc-André Hamelin could consider it as part of Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series. Until then, the excellent Laurel recording is the one to get, and if you can’t find it, this will do as a stop-gap until something better comes along. --classicstoday.com
