The Romantic Piano Concerto - 66

HENRI HERZ (1803-1888): Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 74, Grande fantaise militaire sur “La fille du regiment”, Op. 163, Fantaisie et variations sur la marche d’ Otello de Rossini, Op. 67, Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 30.

Description: Only the Sixth of Herz’ eight concertos is still lacking in this series which reaches its third volume with the Second, written around 1830 and used for the composer’s concert debut in the U.S. in 1846 (he was the first major European piano virtuoso to tour here and spent more than four years travellling, performing and getting rich). It’s like the rest - all about good-natured fun, catchy tunes and lots of crowd-pleasing virtuoso sallies. And, of course, the two opera aria Fantaisies are even more of the same. Oddly, the 1827 Polonaise is much more along the lines of Chopin’s famous piece - even though Chopin’s is from seven years later. Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra; Howard Shelley (piano).