COMPOSERS: Liszt/Macdowell
LABELS: Telarc
WORKS: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat; Piano Concerto No. 2 in A; Piano Concerto No. 2
PERFORMER: André Watts (piano); Dallas SO/Andrew Litton
CATALOGUE NO: CD-80429 DDD
A conventional coupling of the two Liszt concertos, delivered with ease and sparkling aplomb by Watts, and accompanied with scrupulous sympathy by Litton and the Dallas SO. But there is more, in the form of US composer Edward MacDowell’s Second Piano Concerto. Less diabolic, less stormy, less unconventional than the Liszt, this work, composed in Germany in 1884-5, is nevertheless inventive and Romantically alluring. Watts and the orchestra relish its Germanic ripeness to the full. Stephen Pettitt
Liszt/Macdowell
A conventional coupling of the two Liszt concertos, delivered with ease and sparkling aplomb by Watts, and accompanied with scrupulous sympathy by Litton and the Dallas SO. But there is more, in the form of US composer Edward MacDowell’s Second Piano Concerto. Less diabolic, less stormy, less unconventional than the Liszt, this work, composed in Germany in 1884-5, is nevertheless inventive and Romantically alluring. Watts and the orchestra relish its Germanic ripeness to the full. Stephen Pettitt
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:08 pm