Con Pno 4 Hands/Orch/Sym 2 [Import]

Carl Czerny has earned his place among the great masters with these two compositions. His mastery of harmony and counterpoint are clearly displayed in this exquisite perfomance by Liu Xiao & Horst Gobel as pianists equal to the task of this composition (pf concerto for 4 hands. OP153) under the direction of Nikos Athinaos with the Staatsorchester Frankfurt. Mozart, if he were able to hear this music, would have highly praised both the composer and the performers. Symphony No2 OP781 is also a remarkable composition with an admirably remarkable performance. Again, rich in harmonics, with great expression and well connected throughout its four flowing movements. This recording is well worth hearing and possessing. Well done Signum!

My piano teacher once told me about this piece and decided to search for the score. Once I found it (in Vienna) I bought this CD. Although this work is not Czerny at his very best, the concerto reminds me of the days where I had to painfully practice his exercises! And yet, he utilizes his "excercises" into this work and produces what is, albeit not his greatest work, a beautiful and more importantly FUN work for pianists!

This recording had its ups and downs. While the technique between Gobel and Ming was impressive, I found that they and the orchestra were not altogether faithful with the tempos of Czerny. Despite this, this recording is a gem to all pianists.

Czerny continues to be associated with the sets of exercises for beginning pianists ("The Little Pianist", Op. 823 being one such) -- even one of the reviewers below makes mention of his early experience in this regard. Czerny himself divided his massive output (over 800 opus numbers-strong) in three categories; "serious," "pedagogic," and "light" or "entertaining." The pieces programmed on this disc are of the first category (which also took in Masses and other orchestral output).

Part of the reason Czerny's serious, concert-music output may be ignored today must be its temporal proximity to Beethoven (who was Czerny's teacher). Viewed in the light of the older master's works, there is something a bit pale about Czerny. Nonetheless, there is a rhythmic virility and intellectual rigor about them, possibly due to Beethoven's influence and teaching.

Czerny's mastery of counterpoint and development, his chief strengths, are always evident, throughout all the symphony's movements. Even when he is working with thematic material that is a bit weak, or at least, forgettable, he is able to build large-scale movements whose logic never folds under their own weight. He is ever the musical craftsman. It is worth considering, as well, the opus number on this work, only his second numbered symphony (out of six, I believe) -- 781. That is, Czerny has waited until rather late in his career to allow publication of a symphonic effort. This caution is reminiscent of another composer in the Beethoven mold -- Brahms.

The Concerto for Piano Four-Hands is, although classified by Czerny himself as "serious," sheer entertainment throughout. The soloists here, Liu Xiao Ming and Horst Gobel, exude life and playfulness. Of particular brilliance is their entry in the third movement, where they drag the timing of the phrase just before the downbeat, only to resume the tempo right at the downbeat. Such timing must be the result of lengthy rehearsal.

Sadly, it appears this album is not available, neither here nor on Arkivmusic.com. Signum Records (are they still around?) is to be praised for its efforts on behalf of Carl Czerny (they have released another album of Czerny's 1st and 5th symphonies, also of high merit). Perhaps this is the beginning of a Czerny renaissance.

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