In 1990, a meeting between Hyperion Records and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra discussed recording plans. The results were three discs with Jerzy Maksymiuk conducting, Piers Lane in piano concertos by Moskowski and Paderewski, Nikolai Demidenko in piano concertos by Medtner, and Stephen Coombs and Ian Munro in Mendelssohn’s concertos for two pianos. Hyperion’s The Romantic Piano was born. The project’s modest initial aim had been only to restore to the public a few glories of the Romantic concerto repertoire. By its close it covered 235 works, 185 of them piano concertos. By 2023, volume 87 featured pianist Simon Callaghan, in his fourth disc for the project, in concertos by Reinecke and Sauer with Sinfonieorchester St Gallen, conductor Modestas Pitrėnas.
Now Hyperion Records is planning to issue two 50CD boxed sets to bring together the discs from the series. The first release, The Romantic Piano Concerto 1991–2007 Edition, lands on 10 April 2026, with a second set following on 16 October 2026.
The project brought about a renewal of the repertoire which has helped works to return to global concert programmes after long absences and for the narrowed canon of concerto works to be widened, enabling the public to appreciate, for example, all five of the Saint-Saëns Piano Concertos [recorded by Stephen Hough with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conductor Sakari Oramo along with four other concertante works on volume 27] rather than just the 2nd and occasionally the 5th. Or for Busoni’s vast Piano Concerto [recorded by Marc-André Hamelin with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conductor Mark Elder on volume 22] to be successfully programmed at the London Proms.
Bearing this out, the pianist Piers Lane, whose Moszkowski and Paderewski Piano Concerti formed the very first album in the series and who made seven discs, recalls that he has since regularly played the Moszkowski in concert. He comments: “This epic series of recordings is a glorious testament to Hyperion’s curatorial and archaeological approach to less-known repertoire, and also to Mike Spring’s boundless enthusiasm, instinct, knowledge and curiosity about all things piano.”
The 1991–2007 Edition brings together Volumes 1 to 43 of the series, alongside a handful of bonus concerto recordings from the same period. Artists featured include Sir Stephen Hough, Marc-André Hamelin, Piers Lane, Steven Osborne, Howard Shelley and Martin Roscoe, performing with orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Each boxed set is presented as a 50 CD original-jackets collection with a newly compiled booklet. Alongside introductory texts by Stephen Hough and Piers Lane, new essays by producer Andrew Keener and series founder Mike Spring reflect on the project’s origins, its practical challenges, and the painstaking research involved in manually locating and preparing rare orchestral materials.
One of the series’ champions, Sir Stephen Hough [who recorded four volumes including not only the Saint-Saëns volume, but complete Tchaikovsky concertos, and works by Sauer, Schwarenka, Mendelssohn], reflects on the symbiotic expansion in the size and power of the instrument and the music composed for it in the Romantic era: “Hyperion’s celebrated series of recordings highlighted this phenomenon with enormous enthusiasm and zest over the past decades, with scores of scores unearthed, revealing some astonishing yet unknown works. As they are gathered together in a box it gives us another opportunity to marvel at the sheer variety and fecundity of the form.“
The Romantic Piano Concerto 1991–2007 Edition – Hyperion Records, see website for further details.
