The Hyperion label's massive series devoted to the Romantic piano concerto (this is volume 62 and counting) has had a few entries of dubious value. But the purpose of a comprehensive series is to uncover some lost gems by sheer force of numbers, and that's just what happens here. The pedal piano is an almost-forgotten relic of the 19th century, but it was fairly popular in its own time, and even as august a work as Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, may have been composed with one in mind. It's worth a ...
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The Hyperion label's massive series devoted to the Romantic piano concerto (this is volume 62 and counting) has had a few entries of dubious value. But the purpose of a comprehensive series is to uncover some lost gems by sheer force of numbers, and that's just what happens here. The pedal piano is an almost-forgotten relic of the 19th century, but it was fairly popular in its own time, and even as august a work as Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, may have been composed with one in mind. It's worth a revival, and Italian pianist Roberto Prosseda had to cobble one together here: no original instrument was readily at hand. As the name suggests, it is essentially a piano with an organ keyboard. Charles Gounod, who is a composer too much known for just a few big hits, wrote four works for the instrument, all in the late 1880s, and they're delightful. There are two four-movement concertos, one of them denoted a Suite concertante in A major. The Concerto for pedal piano in E flat major is a...
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