Carl Czerny. Works for piano and orchestra.

This is the final release in our edition of works for piano and orchestra by Carl Czerny (1791–1857). It consists entirely of world premiere recordings. Czerny has long been known as a composer of educational keyboard resources, including piano études, methods and exercises, but students and piano connoisseurs have been delighting in discovering through our recordings that Czerny’s output went far beyond this material. The team of pianist Rosemary Tuck and conductor Richard Bonynge have done much to establish this composer as a name of significance, beyond the occasional offerings of chamber music and symphonies already in catalogues.

‘This album is an ideal conclusion to the Czerny series as it highlights three significant discoveries from his early, middle and late work.

The realisation of the orchestration from manuscript for his Fantasie et Variations Op. 3, found in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wein, has considerably heightened the music’s beauty and drama – the Fantasie mirroring the tempestuous writing of his Concerto No. 1, which shares the same key of d minor.

Czerny’s late Concertino Op. 650 takes his familiar form of a sweeping Chopinesque Introduction followed by a scintillating Rondo, though here it becomes even more fiendishly difficult and entertaining than before.

It was, however, finding all three Concertino movements which together make up the Concertstucke Op. 78 that was the biggest discovery for me. Written for lighter forces, I was surprised by the music, full of beautiful melodies and quite exquisite moments, aspects which became fully apparent when we recorded it with the orchestra. Everyone was taken with it! It is unusual in that while each Concertino movement can be performed separately, together they also make up a complete concerto of over 30 minutes – another to add to the three grand concertos and Concertino Op. 210, and something which made this recording especially worthwhile.’

Rosemary Tuck

Rosemary Tuck and Richard Bonynge conclude their series of Czerny's works for piano and orchestra
Rosemary Tuck plays Czerny’s Piano Concertino in C Major, Op. 78 I. Allegro

Carl CZERNY (1791–1857)
Piano Concertinos, Opp. 78 and 650
Fantaisie et Variations brillantes

Rosemary Tuck, Piano
English Chamber Orchestra • Richard Bonynge

Carl Czerny found fame and fortune in 19th-century Vienna by writing fashionable and popular works as well as developing techniques for the newly emerging piano with his numerous études. Much of Czerny’s concert music for piano was considered ‘wild and almost unplayable’ in his day, but these world premiere recordings reveal inspired melodic writing, great skill in orchestration and colourful virtuoso challenges in a programme that includes his final Concertino, Op. 650.

Listen to an extract from Piano Concertino in C Major, Op. 78:
II. Andantino con moto
About the Artists
Pianist Rosemary Tuck has represented her native Australia in a series of recitals in America under the auspices of the Australian-American Bicentennial Foundation, including a recital at Carnegie Hall. She has performed in the Sydney Opera House, the Southbank Centre in London, the National Concert Hall in Dublin and the Musikhuset Aarhus in Denmark in the presence of Queen Margrethe II. In 2001 she gave the first official performance in the William Vincent Wallace ‘Millennium’ Plaza in Waterford, Ireland, and has appeared at the Aarhus, Wexford, Vendsyssel and Liszt en Provence festivals.
Australian conductor Richard Bonynge made his conducting debut in Rome in 1962 with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra and has since conducted at most of the world’s opera houses. He was artistic director of the Vancouver Opera and musical director of Opera Australia. He has recorded over 50 complete operas, made audiovisual recordings of many operas and recorded numerous ballets. Richard Bonynge is acknowledged as a scholar of bel canto in 18th- and 19th-century opera and a devotee of 19th-century ballet music.

The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) has been performing across the UK and globally for over 60 years; it is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world. From its foundation, the ECO has worked consistently with the most significant figures in classical music, starting in 1960 with its first patron Benjamin Britten. The ECO celebrates and builds upon its tradition of maintaining the highest international musical standards, nurturing new talent and focusing on the ‘best of British’ music and musicianship.

Previous releases in Rosemary Tuck’s Czerny series
8.573998
★★★★★
‘This is a sumptuous selection of Czerny’s music that has never appeared in the catalogue before. The pieces are deftly played by pianist Rosemary Tuck who brings her usual energy and focus to Czerny’s superbly written variations.’
MusicWeb International
8.573688
★★★★
★★★★
‘The technical challenges appear huge, but Rosemary Tuck is equal to them with this bravura performance.’
MusicWeb International
8.573254
‘Ms Tuck handles everything Czerny throws at her with aplomb.’
American Record Guide


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