classical music: Howard Shelley

classical music: Howard Shelley

classical music:

Howard Shelley

Cyril Scott: Symphony No. 3 "The Muses"; Piano Concerto No. 2; Neptune

Cyril Scott, Shelley, ...

Chandos, 2004

This brought me out of 'retirement'!
I have not written a review of a CD for a few years now, largely due to work commitments but also due to the fact that I have not felt moved to say anything about any new CDs coming on stream. However, this CD deserves a strong recommendation to anyone who appreciates ...

The Romantic Piano Concerto 29 - Moscheles 2, 3

Moscheles, Shelley, ...

Hyperion UK, 2002

Charming and Brilliant Works for the Piano
The music of Ignaz Moscheles was new to me, although I have heard the name before. He wrote 8 piano concertos in all, and numbers 2 and 3 were published around 1825. They are charming works in the classical tradition of Mozart but do not have the drama of Beethoven's ...

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 9 / Piano Concerto - Bryden Thomson

Ralph Vaughan Williams, Bryden Thomson, ...

Chandos, 1992

Fascinating Performances
I love the music of Ralph Vaughn Williams! His harmonies are lush and gorgeous, and the results are divine. Here we have the last of the RVW Symphonies, #9 (naturally, this gives people more reason to believe the "Curse of the Ninth"). In this symphony, he employs not ...

Hummel: Piano Concerto, Op. 113 / Concertino, Op. 73 / Gesellschafts-Rondo, Op. 117 - Howard Shelley / London ...

Johann Nepomuk Hummel, London Mozart Players, ...

Chandos, 1997

Hummel's Last and Most Ambitious Piano Concerto
I'm surprised while Hummel's two most famous piano concerti (the A minor and B minor, which Liszt played to astounded audiences at the age of 11) garnered such enthusiastic reponse from listeners enamoured with this great predecessor and in many ways, a direct ...

Kalkbrenner: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4

Frederic Kalkbrenner, Howard Shelley, ...

Hyperion UK, 2006

Dazzling Concertos
I ordered this CD after reading Bryce Morrison's review in Gramophone. I had not heard any of Kalkbrenner's music until this disc but am pleased that I got to know these concertos. Friedrich Kalkbrenner was a prodigy, performing Haydn concertos at the age of 5-1/2. ...

Mozart: Violin Concertos; Wind Concertos

Klaus Thunemann, Michael Chapman, ...

Philips, 2006

Mozart at his best
Excellent recording; As good as the Christopher Hogwood interpretation I oredered in the first place.

Hiller: Piano Concertos 1-3

Ferdinand Hiller, Howard Shelley, ...

Hyperion UK, 2008

Arguably the best volume of a single composer in the series
I have never held a very high regard or was very fond of the piano concertos by the three great Romantics - namely Schumann, Liszt and Chopin. While their genius and originality shone indelibly through their solo masterworks, somehow their works for their chosen ...

Rachmaninoff: Complete Songs

Sergei Leiferkus, Sergey Rachmaninov, ...

Brilliant Classics, 2008

The best recording of the Rachmaninov songs at an unbeatably low price
If one loves Rachmaninov and doesn't know his songs, one is missing a LOT! They are every bit as important, richly detailed and appealing as anything in his oeuvre. As is the case with all composers of "art song," only a handful of Rachmaninov's 85 songs are performed ...

Herz: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 7 & 8

Henri Herz, Howard Shelley, ...

Hyperion UK, 2004

More Neglected Concerti
Henri Herz was evidently a very popular composer in the middle of the 19th century. Even Schumann complained about how much money Herz made from the music he wrote, while more 'worthy' composers had to suffer low prices paid for their music. To be sure, the piano ...

Moscheles: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5; Recollections of Ireland

Ignaz Moscheles, Howard Shelley, ...

Hyperion UK, 2005

URBANE
Moscheles was a contemporary of Weber and Schubert who outlived Berlioz. Among his pupils was Mendelssohn, but his concertos here are still to Mozart's full-scale plan in their first movements before Mendelssohn introduced his simplifications. The liner-note seems to ...

Vaughan Williams: Piano Concertos; John Foulds: Dynamic Triptych
John Foulds, Ralph Vaughan Williams, ...

Lyrita, 2007

"To my mind there are four unequivocal masterpieces for piano and orchestra in English twentieth-century music: Bax's Winter Legends ... Bridge's Phantasm and the two works presented here... an altogether outstanding reissue." -- GRAMOPHONE John Foulds (1880-1939) is a name not widely familiar today, but he was one of the most fascinating ...

Doreen Carwithen: Concerto for piano & strings; Bishop Rock; ODTAA; Suffolk Suite

Doreen Carwithen, Richard Hickox, ...

Chandos, 2006

a very fine, unjustly neglected composer.....
Carwithen's Piano Concerto is worth the price of this CD alone, with a very passionate first movement followed by a serene second section with delicate piano writing.. The third movement is probably the weakest, with more bluster than actual musical substance. ...

Sterndale Bennett: Piano Concerto No. 4; Caprice in E major; Bache: Piano Concerto

F. Edward Bache, William Sterndale Bennett, ...

Hyperion UK, 2007

Delightful
As this wonderful CD demonstrates, there was much going on in the middle of the 19th Century that is not reflected in today's standard repertoire. The two works by William Sterndale Bennett are tuneful, beautifully constructed, and full of bravura passages for the ...

The Romantic Piano Concerto Vol. 40 - Herz: Piano Concertos Nos. 3-5

Henri Herz, Howard Shelley, ...

Hyperion UK, 2006

Sparkling Performances
Henri Herz, along with Kalkbrenner and Mosceles, was a spectacular virtuoso and composer who dazzled audiences during the early and mid-19th century. Often lampooned by Schumann and Mendelssohn was dubious but Herz gave his audiences what they wanted and was the ...

Hummel: Mandolin Concerto, Trumpet Concerto, Ballet Music

Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Howard Shelley, ...

Chandos, 2001

Bortolazzi would be proud.
The orchestral works are beautifully performed and recorded, but, as I regard much of Hummel's purely orchestral output, not particularly memorable. I do like the nod to popular music in the Freudenfest Overture. Where this recording truly shines is in the concerti. ...