In 1990, a gathering between Hyperion Data and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra mentioned recording plans. The outcomes had been three discs with Jerzy Maksymiuk conducting, Piers Lane in piano concertos by Moskowski and Paderewski, Nikolai Demidenko in piano concertos by Medtner, and Stephen Coombs and Ian Munro in Mendelssohn’s concertos for 2 pianos. Hyperion’s The Romantic Piano was born. The undertaking’s modest preliminary intention had been solely to revive to the general public a number of glories of the Romantic concerto repertoire. By its shut it coated 235 works, 185 of them piano concertos. By 2023, quantity 87 featured pianist Simon Callaghan, in his fourth disc for the undertaking, in concertos by Reinecke and Sauer with Sinfonieorchester St Gallen, conductor Modestas Pitrėnas.
Now Hyperion Data is planning to subject two 50CD boxed units to carry collectively the discs from the collection. The primary launch, The Romantic Piano Concerto 1991–2007 Version, lands on 10 April 2026, with a second set following on 16 October 2026.
The undertaking led to a renewal of the repertoire which has helped works to return to international live performance programmes after lengthy absences and for the narrowed canon of concerto works to be widened, enabling the general public to understand, for instance, all 5 of the Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos [recorded by Stephen Hough with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conductor Sakari Oramo along with four other concertante works on volume 27] reasonably than simply the 2nd and infrequently the fifth. Or for Busoni’s huge Piano Concerto [recorded by Marc-André Hamelin with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conductor Mark Elder on volume 22] to be efficiently programmed on the London Proms.
Bearing this out, the pianist Piers Lane, whose Moszkowski and Paderewski Piano Concerti shaped the very first album within the collection and who made seven discs, recollects that he has since often performed the Moszkowski in live performance. He feedback: “This epic collection of recordings is an excellent testomony to Hyperion’s curatorial and archaeological method to less-known repertoire, and likewise to Mike Spring’s boundless enthusiasm, intuition, data and curiosity about all issues piano.”
The 1991–2007 Version brings collectively Volumes 1 to 43 of the collection, alongside a handful of bonus concerto recordings from the identical interval. Artists featured embody Sir Stephen Hough, Marc-André Hamelin, Piers Lane, Steven Osborne, Howard Shelley and Martin Roscoe, performing with orchestras together with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolis of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Every boxed set is offered as a 50 CD original-jackets assortment with a newly compiled booklet. Alongside introductory texts by Stephen Hough and Piers Lane, new essays by producer Andrew Keener and collection founder Mike Spring replicate on the undertaking’s origins, its sensible challenges, and the painstaking analysis concerned in manually finding and making ready uncommon orchestral supplies.
One of many collection’ champions, Sir Stephen Hough [who recorded four volumes including not only the Saint-Saëns volume, but complete Tchaikovsky concertos, and works by Sauer, Schwarenka, Mendelssohn], displays on the symbiotic enlargement within the dimension and energy of the instrument and the music composed for it within the Romantic period: “Hyperion’s celebrated collection of recordings highlighted this phenomenon with huge enthusiasm and zest over the previous many years, with scores of scores unearthed, revealing some astonishing but unknown works. As they’re gathered collectively in a field it offers us one other alternative to marvel on the sheer selection and fecundity of the shape.“
The Romantic Piano Concerto 1991–2007 Version – Hyperion Data, see web site for additional particulars.
