1. Sonata for violin and piano in G major, I Allegretto
2. Sonata for violin and piano in G major, II Scherzo, Presto con brio
3. Sonata for violin and piano in G major, III Andante cantabile
4. Sonata for violin and piano in G major, IV Allegro giojoso
5. Dumka for violin and piano
6. Trio for piano, violin and cello in G minor Op. 2, I Moderato
7. Trio for piano, violin and cello in G minor Op. 2, II Andante con moto
8. Trio for piano, violin and cello in G minor Op. 2, III Vivace
9. Trio for piano, violin and cello in G minor Op. 2, IV Allegro con fuoco

Warsaw Trio:
Andrzej Gebski  (violin) 
Jaroslaw Domzal (cello)
Joanna Lawrynowicz (piano)

Henryk Melcer was born near Warsaw in 1869. He was a highly talented pianist who won competitions and toured extensively, eventually studying with Leschetizky. As a result of the renown generated by his playing he accepted a pedagogic position in Helsinki before, as the new century dawned, he moved to Lvov, firstly as pianist and thereafter as a conductor. A Viennese interlude (at the Meisterschule – Melcer was an inveterate traveller) was followed by return to Warsaw and a gradual ascent of the professorial ladder until he became director of the Conservatory. He and the entire teaching team resigned in 1926 protesting at political interference and into this void came Szymanowski to take Melcer’s place. He retained his piano professorship however but died in 1928 during a lesson.

Whilst piano music was clearly an important facet of his compositional life Melcer also turned his hand to chamber music. In this enterprising disc we have three world premieres and two big works. The 1907 Violin Sonata is steeped in cleverly integrated Polish dance rhythms. The Oberek galvanises the first movement and the folksy scherzo is flavoursome. Pure lyricism is the Adagio’s creed, a lied, increasingly passionate and embracing some fulsome double-stopping. The finale is frolicsome and clean limbed. The ethos here is strongly influenced by Grieg – it’s the Polish equivalent of the Second and Third sonatas rolled together, though without the immediacy of ideas or the mastery of form and texture. Little of Brahms, maybe some sense of Franco-Belgian cyclical form – Franck in other words, though the predominant influence is Grieg.

The trio is a much earlier work – his Op.2 in fact – written when Melcer was in his early to mid twenties. It’s a big, solid work and Brahmsian. It builds up a strong late-Romantic steam though Melcer tends to rely on repeated figures too much. This is a particular fault of the slow movement, which may be finely lyrical, indeed wistful in places, but is overlong. The most engaging of the four movements is the scherzo, a real rustic affair with a gallant feel to it as well, and thoroughly engaging, taking the trio back to its roots. The finale has terpsichorean twists a-plenty.

There’s the bonus of a Dumka for violin and piano, which turns out to be little more than a paraphrase of an influential song by Stanislaw Moniuszko.

The Warsaw Trio play well. They’re canny enough not to underplay the more passionate outpourings of the Trio and the duo of Andrzej Gębski and Joanna Ławrynowicz do well by the folksiness of the sonata. Very reasonable recording quality and some helpful notes completes the package. If you’re keen to find how far Grieg’s influence spread into continental Europe try the sonata first. ---Jonathan Woolf, musicweb-international.com

download:   uploaded anonfiles mega 4shared mixturecloud yandex

back

Concerto for piano & orchestra, No 1 in E minor  (29:11)
1 Maestoso
2 Andantino
3 Vivo Ma Non Troppo E Poi Molto Accelerando

Piano Concerto No. 2  (37:26)
4  Allegro moderato
5 Andante Non Troppo Lento
6 Allegro con fuoco

Jonathan Plowrigh – piano
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Christoph König - conductor

The latest instalment of Hyperion's The Romantic Piano Concerto series – number forty-four, no less – delves into the music of Henryk Melcer (1869-1928), an esteemed pianist who studied in Vienna with the renowned Theodor Leschetizky before himself becoming one of the most influential piano teachers of his generation in his native Poland. Melcer – along with Scharwenka, Moszkowski, Paderewski and Stojowski – is one of five Polish composers, all born between 1850 and 1869, represented in this series of recordings whose concerti serve to confirm that a country with such a rich pianistic history need not rely solely upon Chopin for nationalistic concertante keyboard repertoire.

Both of the works presented here were prize-winners in their day. The second and third movements of the Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor (1892-4) formed part of Melcer's successful portfolio for the prestigious Second International Anton Rubinstein Competition in 1895. It is easy to see why the panel of jurors looked favourably upon Melcer's Concertstück. The wistful Andantino, full of luscious (if somewhat predictable) harmonic progressions, serves as a wonderfully atmospheric introduction to the restless Vivo ma non troppo e poi molto accelerando. Influenced by the dance tradition of the composer's homeland, the work presents some delightful orchestration alongside a riveting solo part that ranges from the delicate to the demonic. The Maestoso first movement, withheld from the Rubinstein Competition in order to meet requirements, is equally accomplished, with soaring melodies and a captivating (if slightly contrived) fugato shortly before its climax.

Melcer's second Piano Concerto in C minor (1898), jointly awarded the concerto prize in the Paderewski Competition of the same year, is somewhat more adventurous, both in form and content. This is particularly true of the opening Allegro moderato, a reflective and inward-looking work whose music seems to exist for large periods in the shadows of a looming sinister presence. The movement is not all doom and gloom, however, as it occasionally threatens to break free of its burdensome restraints, not least during the angst-ridden piano cadenza. Though the ensuing Andante non troppo lento has shed some of the predictability of its counterpart in the E minor Concerto, its decidedly agreeable lyricism nevertheless fails to strike one as extraordinary. This is partially due to the infectiousness of the Allegro con fuoco finale, the swirling principal theme of which is as beguiling as any I have heard in this series. It acts as an ideal foil for the sword that is the heroic, chorale-like second subject. Unfortunately, Melcer succumbs to a moment of compositional weakness in the coda, with a rather unconvincing switch to triple metre (though the performers and sound engineers are partially to blame for this perceived Achilles' heel, as both parties seem to momentarily lose their way, making it harder for the listener to adjust).

This relatively minor faux pas is something of an anomaly, as the musicians Hyperion have provided are worthy advocates of this repertoire. Jonathan Plowright provides a masterclass in dexterity at the keyboard, rising to meet all of the composer's challenges with a combination of scintillating virtuosity and deft sensitivity. The end of the C minor Concerto's opening movement is particularly telling, as he delivers the brilliant cadenza with utter authority before gently whisking the music away with a flourish of almost impossibly quick semiquavers. Plowright is adroitly partnered by Christoph König and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, who more than do justice to Melcer's imaginative orchestrations whilst also relishing the frequent interplay between soloist and ensemble.

Of the many sumptuous concerti unearthed thus far by Hyperion in their laudable survey of the romantic piano repertoire, some of the most noteworthy revelations have been the four examples by Scharwenka, the continued absence of which from the concert hall is nothing short of a travesty. Though Melcer's compositions are perhaps not of quite the same calibre as those of his elder countryman, they are nevertheless highly engaging pieces that bear repeated listening. --- William Norris, musicalcriticism.com

download:   uploaded anonfiles mega 4shared mixturecloud yandex mediafire ziddu

back

Trois morceaux caractéristiques op.5
01. № 1 d-moll. Andante con moto. — Allegro. — Tempo I [07:18].
02. № 2 a-moll. Alla menuetto [05:37].
03. № 3 B-dur. Vivo [04:34].

04. Morceau fantastique / Phantasiestück e-moll (1898). Lento [08:37].
05. Etude in D-dur, op. 8 (1898). Allegro molto [02:51].
06. Nocturne in A-dur (1904). Andantino [04:52].
07. Prelude in C-dur (1904). Andante molto tranquillo e cantabile [02:33].
08. Fugue in  cis-moll (1904 — 1905). Andante pensieroso [03:12].
09. Variations sur un theme populaire polonais (1925) [16:56].
10. Quasi mazurka sur le theme W.M.S. e-moll (1903). Allegretto [01:35].
11. Valse à la Chopin e-moll (ок. 1904 — 1905). Tempo di valse. — Poco più mosso. — [Tempo I] [03:03].
12. La Fileuse de l'opéra 'Maria' B-dur (1902/1903) Allegretto [09:06]

Matti Asikainen – piano

Melcer was not a prolific composer. His orchestral works include the two concertos found on this CD, a programmatic symphony in C minor entitled ‘Four Romantic Pictures in the Form of a Symphony’ that was never published and whose score and parts have been lost, and a set of marches for military band. His other compositions include several chamber music pieces, a number of miniatures for solo piano, a couple of song cycles and a handful of choral works, an opera Maria (which won the first prize of 5,000 roubles in a 1903 competition in Warsaw) and an unfinished opera Protesilas i Laodamia, and seven piano arrangements of art songs by Stanislaw Moniuszko. One of the best pianists of his time, Melcer was responsible for training an entire generation of Polish musicians, and it is for his pedagogical work that he is best remembered in his native Poland, where his works are seldom performed today. In Warsaw, the Chopin Academy of Music’s chamber music hall is named in honour of its former rector. --- Joseph A Herter, hyperion-records.co.uk

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

uploaded yandex 4shared mega solidfiles zalivalka cloudmailru filecloudio

back