One would assume that by now Hyperion Records, having reached the vertiginous Volume 76 in their ongoing Romantic Piano Concerto series of recordings, would be scraping the bottom of the barrel and coming up with vaporous dregs, but quite the opposite is true. The Piano Concerto in A flat major, Op. 94 by Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901) and the Piano Concerto in B major, Op. 57 by Bernhard Scholz (1835-1916) are two solid works which, despite being slightly conservative in style for composers who lived at the turn of the century, are both substantial examples of the romantic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra movement so widespread during the 19th century. In the Rheinberger one can hear echoes of Beethoven struggling to forge a new structure, whilst the Scholz hints at a slightly less imperturbable Brahms, with traces of Chopin during the more lyrical passages. His Piano Concerto, which is offered here in its world première recording, was highly promoted by Clara Schumann. The opening pages of the first movement are loaded with nobility and buoyancy, and its development never feels laborious. The middle segment of the slow second movement is where he temporarily travels into Chopin territory, in both the leading piano melody and the orchestration, and the final movement demands a combination of nimble, articulate and expressive playing from the pianist.

This is only the second appearance of pianist Simon Callaghan within this Hyperion series of recordings and hopefully there will be more, since he himself has a tendency to seek out rarely performed works. At only 29 years old and already overseeing many opera productions on various acclaimed stages, this seems to be conductor Ben Gernon's first recording. It's encouraging to see a younger coterie of classical musicians picking up the torch and lighting the way into classical music's tenebrous future. I mean how else could the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto cycle of recordings possibly make it to Volume 100. Follow this link for a detailed list of most of the Romantic Piano Concerto series.

Below is a short video of Simon Callaghan playing some of the aforementioned rarely performed works.