Starting with Hyperion, they‘ve just released a recording of a wonderful new piano concerto by renowned pianist Stephen Hough. And it really is quite good – better than expected, and certainly enjoyable. It’s contemporary for sure, but definitely tonal, appealingly melodious and harmonically glamorous in a rather Rachmaninoffian way. It would be perfectly fitting as a film score for a classic romance film, and one can sit back and wallow in the splendor of it.
But here’s the rub – it lasts just 20 minutes. And apparently (unbelievably) having nothing in mind to fill out the disc, Hyperion decided to release it anyway – appeasing the collector by adding 2 short solo piano pieces to the CD in hopes no one would notice that the total playing time is a pitiful 39 minutes. And, adding salt to the wound, have the audacity to offer it at full-price. This is completely unacceptable, particularly coming from a fairly major player in the minor Classical label field. It is simply incomprehensible that they had no plans for Mr. Hough to record something else to go with his concerto. He’s recorded dozens of albums for this label; didn’t they have anything in the can, or the pipeline, that could have been ready for this? Or with just the slightest bit of planning and foresight, wouldn’t it have been a great idea to couple this new concerto with Hough’s String Quartet, just recently issued (2023), played by the Takacs Quartet? What a nice album of original compositions that would have been. Or they simply could have marketed this as a single and offered it at half price. But since Hyperion has seen fit to do nothing of the sort, no one should buy this. Instead, go find the concerto on YouTube and listen to it for free. (You can even follow the score.) Which is exactly what I did.
I find it amusing how British reviewers will always find a reason to laud one of their own, even when they’ve been gypped. The most hilarious one I’ve seen says the short playing time allowed him to “enjoy the opportunity it provides to focus on just these compositions.” Oh give me a break.
At the opposite end of the issue comes a ridiculous release from Capriccio – of Bartok’s 3 piano concertos played by Florida-native, body-builder/piano-player John Barto Smith, aka Tzimon Barto. The layout here tells the entire story. Compared to any decent recording of these 3 concertos, which all fit easily onto one CD, this set takes two. The 3 concertos here take 15 minutes longer (!) than Bavouzet on Chandos (who isn’t all that fast) and 8 minutes longer than the slowest, most ponderous recording I know of – the one from Aimard and Salonen in San Francisco on Pentatone (79 minutes total).
Barto drags these out to an astonishing 87+ minutes. The 3rd Concerto alone is extraordinary. Barto takes over 2-1/2 minutes longer in the first movement, and over 4 minutes longer in the Adagio than Bavouzet! It doesn’t even sound like the same piece played this lethargically. And certainly doesn’t sound anything like Bartok. Why Eschenbach went along with this is a complete mystery. Oh wait – it’s not, actually. Eschenbach apparently “discovered” John Barto Smith back in the 80s. And I guess that loyalty still runs strong – music be damned. One wonders though why Capriccio waited 6 years to release this on CD. These “performances” were recorded live in 2018/19 and are just seeing the light of day in 2024.
The marketing blurb for this release is just embarrassing in quoting Mr. Barto: “Even Bartok needs a supple touch. If you bang away at it, without rhythmical buoyancy, of course it will become tedious.” Then Capriccio adds their own insight: “These recordings are his attempt at doing justice to his Bartok-ideal.” I laughed out loud at that and wondered how on earth they come up with such ridiculousness. To imply that every other pianist just bangs away at it and Barto alone truly understands it is preposterous. As is the suggestion that the body-builder pianist’s ideal is a “supple” touch. RIGHT.
And here again, there’s the problem with the cost of it. Capriccio prices it higher than a single disc, but perhaps not unreasonably for a 2-CD set. But considering the second CD is completely unnecessary in the first place, this set is overpriced. Meanwhile, Gramophone touts the good recorded sound. Of course they do. They had to find something to praise, because they pretend Everything is GREAT! no matter what. Because that’s what sells magazines, and more importantly, keeps record labels advertising in its pages. But don’t fall for it. Musically, this recording is about as tiresome as it gets, other than the recorded sound, which is actually very good for a live performance – definitely more dynamic and realistic than the dull San Francisco recording on Pentatone. But that’s not saying much.
