Hilding Rosenberg - Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 2

Hilding ROSENBERG (1892-1985) 

The Piano Concertos 

Piano Concerto No. 1 (1930) 

Piano Concerto No. 2 (1950)  

Mats Widlund (piano) 

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Petter Sundkvist  

 rec Berwaldhallen, Stockholm, 12-15 Sept 1997 No. 1; 19-21 Aug 1997 (No. 2)

Review:

Daphne are a small label whose catalogue holds some considerable and unique treasures. Their selection of repertoire is unerring and has resulted in three discs of piano music by Swedish composer, Hilding Rosenberg. The present disc of the two piano concertos is joined by two discs of Rosenberg's solo piano music. The pianist providing the unifying approach is the fiercely virtuosic Mats Widlund (familiar from the Chandos CD of the Stenhammar piano concerto No. 1 - a very different work from the Rosenbergs) as adept at the motoric cross-rhythms of the first concerto as he is at the coolly impressionistic aspects of the solo piano music.

The two-movement first concerto was written for Sven Brandel and given to him (probably for appraisal). The work seems never to have been performed until 1992 shortly after it was discovered amongst Brandel's papers. The first movement is rhythmically active - torrentially so! There is, for me more than a touch of the convulsive martellato of Shostakovich's Piano Concertos 1 and 2 and the Khachaturyan Concerto-Rhapsody in this steam-hammer blizzard. There is some relief in the middle of the movement and here and there a reassuring touch of the Scandinavian romantic school. The 15 minute adagio espressivo combines calming honeyed string textures and some patent romanticism (at times with a slightly vinegary skew) with strolling clangorous piano chords marching up and down the scale. If you think of Alwyn with a touch of midnight sun and a twist of Bergian harmony you have the picture. Interesting to note William Alwyn's first piano concerto, Ireland's concerto being exactly contemporaneous while Bax's Winter Legends and John Foulds' Dynamic Triptych date from 1929. There is no third movement - it seems that none was written so, rather like Schubert's Eighth, the work ends 'unfinished'.

The second concerto (for years thought of as the only Rosenberg piano concerto) is in three movements - the usual fast-slow-fast. The style is somewhat Bartókian. The 'fast' first movement finds plentiful time to dream (2.10) amid the corn-stooks - a sort of 'Nights in the Fields of Sweden'. This mood is blown away by a storm-blown gale of strings before we return to the delectable fields. Ends in a lissom fast-beating anthem recalling Hindemith's more emotionally engaged string writing. The opalescent piano writing made me think of Bax's Morning Song: Maytime in Sussex.

The second movement is at once both quieter and tougher of comprehension though again it is crowned by the disruption of one of those torrential passages for orchestra and soloist. This is more Bartókian and also has quite a dash of what I recognise as Rawsthorne whose own two piano concertos 1942 and 1951 (if we ignore the two piano concerto) would make an interesting contrasting study. There is also a hint of Frank Bridge's Phantasm about the music.

The third movement, Allegro Giusto, is catchy, with romantic elements synthesised into the faintly off-key harmony: Sibelius with a hint of Prokofiev in the Russian composer's least accommodating language.

It was good, at long last, to make acquaintance with this concerto in a good recording. The performance is every bit as atmospheric as the radio tape by which I came to know this piece. The tape features Käbi Laretai (who premiered the piece) and the Swedish RSO conducted by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt.

Speaking of Laretai and Swedish piano concertos, you might like to explore the single movement piano concerto (Concerto Ricercante, 1959) of fellow Swede, Gösta Nystroem (1890-1966). Laretai recorded this on a Swedish Philips LP (839.277) with the Stockholm PO conducted by Sixten Ehrling. This is several degrees more gristly and dissonant than the Rosenberg works but quite rewarding and very atmospheric especially in the broken mirror 'La Valse' of the central section. Come on BIS and Paavo Järvi - let's have this on a CD with the same composer's Sinfonia Del Mare or perhaps Daphne will beat them to it?

Excellent notes (English and Swedish). Two intriguing concertos - rewarding particularly for those who like the piano concertos of Bartók, Rawsthorne, David Diamond or Schuman - all served with Swedish relish.

These concertos are not for those who seek out Rachmaninov style works: for that you need to delve into the British Rachmaninov scion, Reginald Sacheverell Coke (1912-1975, six piano concertos, 1920s, 1933, 1938, 1940, 1947, 1951), Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952, at least three concertos - perhaps four if you believe some sources) and Ivan Dzerzhinsky (1909-1978, now when is some going to record the Dzerzhinsky three piano concertos 1932, 1934 and 1945?). Apart from Bhagwan Thadani's disc of the second and third Bortkiewicz concertos these works remain obstinately un-recorded.

A most successful effort all round and testament to the firmness of resolve of Daphne's MD, Björn Uddén, as well as to Widlund's dedication and the skilled sympathy of orchestra, conductor and engineers.

Rob Barnett (Music Web)