Czerny & Viotti: Piano Concertos (Full Album)

Tracklist below.
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Carl Czerny has yet to emerge fully from his established place in the shadow of Beethoven as principally a composer of punishing studies for young and developing pianists, but this release should help him on his way. The A minor Concerto Op.214 is a full-scale essay of early Romanticism, composed in Vienna in 1829, full of the technical challenges he understood so well but distinguished by moments of high drama, especially in the brilliant concluding Rondo.

A Rossinian influence comes to the fore in the concerto for two pianos Op.153 from four years earlier. It is as though Czerny conceived of this concerto as a way of testing the entire expressive potential of a piano entrusted to four hands. Ranging from almost imperceptible pianissimi to deafening fortissimo, the two pianists weave a tapestry of surprising complexity over the struts of the orchestral accompaniment.

If anything the works by Viotti are even less often encountered, but no less charming to the ear. The composer is well-known as a founder of the Italian virtuoso violin tradition – just a little before Paganini – but he was also a skilled pianist. David Boldrini has recorded here contemporaneous arrangements (probably not made by the composer) of a pair of Viotti’s violin concertos, No.19 and No.9, in which parts of the solo violin part survive as an important concertante element.
This 2 CD set contains some seldom heard early 19th century concertos in which the piano plays the leading role.
Carl Czerny, a famous pianist and teacher, student of Beethoven, wrote an immense oeuvre for the piano, in which his prodigious technique could be shown to the greatest advantage. This recording features a Piano Concerto in A minor and a Concerto for Piano 4-hands: good tunes, brilliant pianism: highly attractive!
Giovanni Viotti made world fame as a violinist, his many concertos for this instrument are standard repertoire. Viotti arranged one of his most famous concertos, the G minor, for piano solo and orchestra. Also featured is the double concerto for piano, violin and orchestra in A major.
Played with obvious zest and “Spielfreude” by David Boldrini as soloist, the Rami Musicali Orchestra is conducted by Massimo Belli.

Tracklist:
00:00:00 Piano Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 214: I. Allegro moderato
00:16:34 Piano Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 214: II. Adagio con moto
00:20:43 Piano Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 214: Rondo, allegro con anima
00:32:16 Concerto No. 19 in G Minor: I. Maestoso e grandioso
00:49:27 Concerto No. 19 in G Minor: II. Andante sostenuto
00:57:59 Concerto No. 19 in G Minor: III. Allegretto con moto
01:09:16 Concerto for Piano 4 Hands and Orchestra in C Major, Op. 153: I. Allegro con brio
01:21:36 Concerto for Piano 4 Hands and Orchestra in C Major, Op. 153: II. Adagio espressivo
01:28:51 Concerto for Piano 4 Hands and Orchestra in C Major, Op. 153: III. Rondo alla polacca, Vivace
01:41:25 Violin Concerto No. 3 in A Major, WI:9: I. Allegro
01:51:47 Violin Concerto No. 3 in A Major, WI:9: II. Rondo, allegro

Artist:
David Boldrini piano
Rami Musicali Orchestra
Massimo Bell conductor