POTTER Piano Concertos Nos.2&4
Variations di Bravura
HOWARD SHELLEY, Piano
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Hyperion 68151 / ****1/2
The
English composer Philip Cipriani Hambley Potter (1792-1871), or known as just
Cipriani Potter, is so obscure that these are the first recordings of any of
his piano concertos. A highly-regarded piano virtuoso during his time, he was
responsible for the first performances in the British Isles of Beethoven's Third
and Fourth Piano Concertos and the London
Being a close associate of Beethoven and admirer of Rossini, his music
reflected the tastes of the late classical period with a predilection for the bel
canto idiom.
His
Second Piano Concerto in D minor (1832) opens with the same urgency as
Mozart's famous piano concerto in the same key, and develops in the manner of
many early Romantic composers who were keyboard showmen. Hummel, Weber, Field
and Mendelssohn all come to mind.
The Fourth Piano Concerto in E major
(1835) is no more modern in innovation of piano writing, but both concertos
possess sumptuous slow movements which share similar inspirations as the
earlier Nocturnes of Chopin.
The Variations Di Bravura (1829),
based on an aria from the almost-forgotten opera Mathilde Di Shabran by
Rossini, completes this virtuoso showcase which British pianist Howard Shelley
(leading from the piano) pursues with characteristic vigour and scintillating
aplomb.
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