BaL 20.04.19/11.01.20 - Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor

[MickyD]

Staier, coupled with Coin in the cello concerto, would be my first choice.

I'd agree with you - it's a gorgeous disc.

[vinteuil]

Staier, coupled with Coin in the cello concerto, would be my first choice.

... yes.

And the CD is ridiculously cheap :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00005B6RU

.

[jayne lee wilson]

What is it with BaL these days? Brahms and Mahler masterpieces yes, all very well, but the Schumann Piano Concerto?!
.... can't they go more off-piste in the symphonic/concerto repertoire? Berwald, say, or Roussel, Martinu, Honegger, Enescu, the less well-trodden paths of Sibelius or Nielsen....

Offering surveys of Gubalidulina or Kurtag or something now and then doesn't make up for it, really...

If I had to choose it would be (as I've often said) the HM series of all the Schumann Concertos/piano trios, including Melnikov (1837 Erard in the Concerto)/Freiburg Baroque/Heras-Casado, but...

All those untouched possibilities...!
A BaL on Mahler 10 including different arrangements say, or a survey of Rameau Suites on record....
Roussel-on-record based on the latest Erato edition....

[visualnickmos]

What is it with BaL these days? Brahms and Mahler masterpieces yes, all very well, but the Schumann Piano Concerto?!
.... can't they go more off-piste in the symphonic/concerto repertoire? Berwald, say, or Roussel, Martinu, Honegger, Enescu, the less well-trodden paths of Sibelius or Nielsen....

Offering surveys of Gubalidulina or Kurtag or something now and then doesn't make up for it, really...

If I had to choose it would be (as I've often said) the HM series of all the Schumann Concertos/piano trios, including Melnikov (1837 Erard in the Concerto)/Freiburg Baroque/Heras-Casado, but...

All those untouched possibilities...!
A BaL on Mahler 10 including different arrangements say, or a survey of Rameau Suites on record....
Roussel-on-record based on the latest Erato edition....

There will always be some people who are not happy with the choices of music for BaL, and by the same token, many who are extremely happy with the choices....

Take it or leave it, I suppose is the answer.

[pastoralguy]

This is a question that's been asked many times before. Who is BAL aimed at? Is it for the absolute beginner who really doesn't know where to start or for dyed in the wool collectors/listeners/connoisseurs who know the catalogue inside out?

I got to know a lot of music through BAL as a teenager although if a recommendation was too expensive, (which was most of the time!), then I'd go for the cheapest recording. Forty years later, I enjoy BAL if there's a contributor who can illuminate facets of the work I'd never heard before. And for us here it's interesting to see the reaction it provokes and to realise that one persons Desert Island Disc wouldn't be given house room by another listener.

Should it be all things to all people?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

So what’s wrong with Schumann’s Piano Concerto?

My only beef is that it took so many hours to uncover and list such a huge number of recordings.

But it’s a great work.

[silvestrione]

So what’s wrong with Schumann’s Piano Concerto?

My only beef is that it took so many hours to uncover and list such a huge number of recordings.

But it’s a great work.

Thanks you so much for doing so. It is always fascinating to read these lists!

[visualnickmos]

Hello Mr PG, (see message no. 20)

Very much my experience, too....

I suppose that when the concept was first aired, it was a time when recorded music was very much a luxury, and the idea of multiple versions was sheer indulgent decadncy, so to be 'guided' to one's choice of a given oeuvre, was no bad thing. The target demographic has certainly changed, but the essence of BaL has not changed that much. This is by no means a criticism - merely a personal observation.

[pastoralguy]

Hello Mr PG, (see message no. 20)

Very much my experience, too....

I suppose that when the concept was first aired, it was a time when recorded music was very much a luxury, and the idea of multiple versions was sheer indulgent decadncy, so to be 'guided' to one's choice of a given oeuvre, was no bad thing. The target demographic has certainly changed, but the essence of BaL has not changed that much. This is by no means a criticism - merely a personal observation.

I think that's true, Mr. VN. As a kid, I can remember my parents discussing the fact that they had TWO Lps of Rodrigos' Guitar Concerto! One was a cheap CfP and the other was a full price EMI Lp. Obviously, the more expensive Lp was considered the 'best' and it always seemed obvious to me that the more one paid for a record then the better it would be. Hence, I spent my hours in my local record shop drooling over the Deutsche Grammophon records since they MUST be the best 'cause they were the most expensive, right?

It took a few years before I realised that things were not necessarily as they seemed...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I suppose that when the concept was first aired, it was a time when recorded music was very much a luxury, and the idea of multiple versions was sheer indulgent decadncy, so to be 'guided' to one's choice of a given oeuvre, was no bad thing.

I was stunned to discover that I have only one recording of this phenomenally famous concerto: Gieseking/Furtwangler. I did have Stephen Bishop (as he was then known)/Colin Davis on LP, but they've all gone to a good home now. So I'll be listening with great interest.

[CallMePaul]

What is it with BaL these days? Brahms and Mahler masterpieces yes, all very well, but the Schumann Piano Concerto?!
.... can't they go more off-piste in the symphonic/concerto repertoire? Berwald, say, or Roussel, Martinu, Honegger, Enescu, the less well-trodden paths of Sibelius or Nielsen....

Offering surveys of Gubalidulina or Kurtag or something now and then doesn't make up for it, really...

If I had to choose it would be (as I've often said) the HM series of all the Schumann Concertos/piano trios, including Melnikov (1837 Erard in the Concerto)/Freiburg Baroque/Heras-Casado, but...

All those untouched possibilities...!
A BaL on Mahler 10 including different arrangements say, or a survey of Rameau Suites on record....
Roussel-on-record based on the latest Erato edition....

My problem is the timing of this BAL. As it is Holy Saturday, why not do what used to be the norm and review a seasonal piece. My suggestion would be one ot more of the passions of Heinrich Schütz, which to my knowledge have never been considered before. Or is the programme now intended for people who have never heard of Schütz and the production/ planning team now made up solely of atheists who think that Easter is to do with bunnies and chocolate eggs and has no religious meaning whatsoever?

[cloughie]

What is it with BaL these days? Brahms and Mahler masterpieces yes, all very well, but the Schumann Piano Concerto?!
.... can't they go more off-piste in the symphonic/concerto repertoire? Berwald, say, or Roussel, Martinu, Honegger, Enescu, the less well-trodden paths of Sibelius or Nielsen....

Offering surveys of Gubalidulina or Kurtag or something now and then doesn't make up for it, really...

If I had to choose it would be (as I've often said) the HM series of all the Schumann Concertos/piano trios, including Melnikov (1837 Erard in the Concerto)/Freiburg Baroque/Heras-Casado, but...

All those untouched possibilities...!
A BaL on Mahler 10 including different arrangements say, or a survey of Rameau Suites on record....
Roussel-on-record based on the latest Erato edition....

Jayne, where’s your soul? Schumann PC - just the thing for a (hopefully) sunny Spring morning.

[Stanfordian]

So what’s wrong with Schumann’s Piano Concerto?

My only beef is that it took so many hours to uncover and list such a huge number of recordings.

But it’s a great work.

Totally agree, it's great work.

[jayne lee wilson]

Jayne, where’s your soul? Schumann PC - just the thing for a (hopefully) sunny Spring morning.

Well today I had Rameau playing in the sunny kitchen at first coffee-time - now there's some perfect April music... (Hippolyte et Aricie and Surprises d'Amour..)

As should have been self-evident given my frequently-expressed adoration of the composer, it isn't Schumann's (beautiful, original & inspired) Piano Concerto I object to but the BaL choice of it... with such a large field, you could choose so many it really is a Hobson's BaL.
(What about.. a BaL on the Violin Concerto, or the Cello Concerto including the version for Violin...)

There are so many things they could do with this slot (things never done or very rarely), it just seems a wasted resource sometimes, is all.
(Personally though it doesn't help that the Schumann/Grieg c/w was one of the few early LPs in our household, so was played and played and played and...)

(It was in fact the Melnikov Erard/Freiburg Baroque recording which brought the piece to life for me again just a few years ago... I betcha that figures somewhere in the shortlist...)

***
Lucy Parham could liven things up by discussing the original version of the Concerto, the single-movement allegro affetuoso Fantasy in A Minor for Piano/Orchestra...it dates from 1841; the familiar Piano Concerto was the 1845 result of three later revisions.

[Edgy 2]

Well today I had Rameau playing in the sunny kitchen at first coffee-time - now there's some perfect April music... (Hippolyte et Aricie and Surprises d'Amour..)

As should have been self-evident given my frequently-expressed adoration of the composer, it isn't Schumann's (beautiful, original & inspired) Piano Concerto I object to but the BaL choice of it... with such a large field, you could choose so many it really is a Hobson's BaL.
(What about.. a BaL on the Violin Concerto, or the Cello Concerto including the version for Violin...)

There are so many things they could do with this slot (things never done or very rarely), it just seems a wasted resource sometimes, is all.

I couldn’t agree more with that last sentence