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The Reger concerto has a formidable reputation – dense, harmonically complex and with far too many notes for the average pianist. Who better then to decipher it than Marc-André Hamelin? In his hands this rarely recorded behemoth reveals both passion and a lyricism so often lost in lesser performances. He is wonderfully partnered by Ilan Volkov and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester who share the pianist’s desire to elucidate an often misunderstood work.
While the Reger concerto comes from the end of his career, the Strauss Burleske is a product of that composer’s prodigious youth. This ebullient work has long been a Hamelin ‘party-piece’, and he plays it with an unmatched brilliance which surely captures the essence of this humorous music and will have the listener on the edge of his seat.
Reger: Piano Concerto In F Minor, Op. 114 - 1. Allegro Moderato
Reger: Piano Concerto In F Minor, Op. 114 - 2. Largo Con Gran Espressione
Reger: Piano Concerto In F Minor, Op. 114 - 3. Allegretto Con Spirito
Strauss (R): Burleske In D Minor
May 2011
“even Serkin would surely have marvelled at Hamelin's stunning authority. While an easy majority of pianists would run for cover when faced with such sheerly physical demands, Hamelin relishes every challenge, clarifying and refining Reger's potential for opacity at every point. His first entry, like a thunderclap, makes you leap to attention but so too does his expressive beauty in the subsequent molto tranquillo.”
April 2011
“One of Hamelin's greatest virtues...is his uncanny and apparently effortless ability, in music of this sort, to bring focus to the main lines - and to do so not by playing down the secondary elements but by making sure that they all contribute, harmonically and especially rhythmically...for all the searing virtuosity, this performance [of the Strauss] is even more notable for its with than for its fireworks...Interplay with the orchestra is exceptionally adroit.”
13th April 2011
“A debt to Brahms is acknowledged in both these pieces, brilliantly played by Marc-André Hamelin, who battles manfully through the emotional thicket of Max Reger's sprawling, dramatic piano concerto...Richard Strauss's mercurial Burleske makes a pleasant antidote to Reger's high seriousness, with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in cracking form.”
May 2011
****
“this is one of the most lucid, as well as passionate, readings of the [Reger] I have heard. Hamelin never makes the deep left-hand bass writing in the first movement sound heavy, and he plays the very full chords as crisply as they demand...Hamelin gives one of the most stylish and elegant accounts of [the Strauss] I've heard”
5th May 2011
*****
“Both performances are formidable. Marc-André Hamelin does powerhouse things with the Reger, and is notably harrowing in the great central largo. The skittish charm with which he plays the Burleske, meanwhile, belies its often atrocious difficulty. Ilan Volkov and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra are first rate.”
london24.com
17th June 2011
“The Reger concerto is regarded as difficult to master with its massive harmonic challenges, but Hamelin dispatches it with aplomb. Richard Strauss’ Burleske, though, is the real treat here...Pianist and conductor present it with both charm and efficiency.”
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Reger: Piano Concerto In F Minor, Op. 114 - 1. Allegro Moderato
