Does anyone else find it odd...

[phil13]

...that the Scriabin Concerto in F# minor and the Franck Concerto No.2 in B minor are both missing from the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series? I understand that the set leaves out concerti that are played all too often, like the Grieg, Schumann, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff concerti. But, these two are nowhere NEAR that level of exposure at all? What gives? Are there other concerti that are more well-known than, for example, Henselt, Dreyschcock and Glazunov, that were excluded?

Phil


(P.S.- I know the Franck was discovered much more recently, but I don't know when, and the Hyperion series came out around 2000. If someone could enlighten me on that matter...)

[jre58591]

the scriabin concerto and franck concerto no 2 have both received a decent amount of exposure, i think, so why would they need to be rereleased on the hyperion series? yes, even the franck has received a decent amount of exposure since its discovery. it has had more attention in 10-20 years than some of the other concertos have had in 100 years. same with the scriabin. even though there arent many recordings of it out there, its by a very popular composer and it has never been forgotten. the hyperion set is dedicated to forgotten concertos by forgotten composers. in the case of more popular albums, like the saint-saëns, all were released because only some of the composer's output is obscure (everyone knows that saint-saëns 2 is NOT obscure, but the saint-saëns rhapsodie d'auvergne is). and actually, the hyperion set came out around 1990, not 2000.

also, the henselt, dreyschock, and glazunov concertos arent that popular, either. for example, the henselt concert variations were not played for the past 100 years or so before hamelin recorded them. the glazunovs had been recorded by other mediocre pianists, except for richter with the 1st, so a new, more decent recording was needed. the dreyschock was practically all but forgotten before piers lane laid hands on it.

as you can tell, im a huge fan of this series.