Search for “Paderewski” on YouTube and
you’ll find a fascinating little movie clip from the year
1928 that shows the great man at home at his Swiss chateau,
Riond Bosson. That stunning mansion at Morges, above Lake
Geneva, offers literally concrete proof of the material
success achieved by the greatest virtuoso pianist of his
era who had begun life in relative poverty 68 years earlier.
But, like many other musicians who ultimately
found themselves pigeonholed primarily in
re-creative musical
activities – often as conductors or instrumental soloists
- Paderewski had initially regarded himself as a
creative artist
and had devoted a great deal of time and effort to composing.
This disc usefully offers us both of Paderewski’s
large-scale works for piano and orchestra: his only concerto
- the premiere performance of which he somewhat grudgingly
conceded to Annette Essipoff in gratitude for her earlier
promotion of his music - and the colourful
Polish Fantasy.
I am not sure where Jan Popis, the writer
of the accompanying booklet notes comes from, but, given
that he suggests that the concerto and the Fantasy “have
won the recognition of concert pianists,
who never fail
to include these works in their repertoires” (my emphasis),
I cannot believe it is Planet Earth.
A more accurate assessment on the concerto’s
current status was given by Jeremy Nicholas in his 1991
notes for the inaugural volume of Hyperion’s
Romantic
Piano Concerto series (
see
review). While describing the Paderewski - and its
companion Moszkowski concerto - as “appealing, well-crafted
and imaginative… with… high spirits and luscious tunes”,
he conceded – though to his personal disappointment and
mystification – that it had disappeared virtually completely
from the concert hall.
I am not so sure, though, that there is
any real mystery. Quite simply, the concerto – and particularly
its first movement when the audience’s attention needs
to be firmly seized – lacks the memorable Big Tune that
is a virtual prerequisite in elevating a Romantic era concerto
to public affection and thus into the regular repertoire.
And when such a melody
does eventually
come
along – notably in the very attractive central
Romanza – it
is largely given to the strings while the piano enjoys
an essentially decorative role. One can certainly
admire Paderewski’s
compositional skills – although, oddly enough, I find him
more impressive when he writes for the orchestra than for
the soloist – but I cannot see many listeners
loving this
concerto as a whole.
The
Polish Fantasy - originally
entitled
“Fantasie polonaise sur des thèmes originaux
pour piano et orchestra” - is a more overtly tuneful
piece and a thoroughly jolly romp, though one that has
been rightly assessed elsewhere on this website by Glyn
Pursglove as “musically rather slight” (
see
review). It does, though, effectively showcase Paderewski
in full Polish nationalist mode. His only symphony was
subtitled “Polonia” and he was Prime Minister of the newly-created
Republic of Poland in 1919. It’s not-quite-a-full-concerto
length might make programming it in concert a little problematic,
but on CD it becomes a more practical – and quite attractive – proposition.
Comparing this version of the concerto
with Piers Lane’s Hyperion performance - see the first
link above - I definitely enjoyed Ian Hobson’s interpretation
far more. He employs an extra – and, in context, quite
appropriate – degree of
rubato throughout and produces
a far more idiomatic result. It is interesting to discover
that Madame Essipoff’s interpretation was criticised by
contemporaries as “exaggerated in its expressiveness” – but
Hobson demonstrates conclusively that an extra degree of
expressiveness is exactly what is this concerto needs to
make its greatest possible impact. Just to take a single
example, the full-blooded way that he and Jerzy Maksymiuk
- also the conductor for Piers Lane - attack the opening
of the finale serves the score far better than Lane’s more
controlled approach.
Maksymiuk - who, quite appropriately, himself
won First Prize in the 1964 Paderewski Piano Competition
- is common to both Hobson’s and Lane’s discs. Hobson also
enjoys the support of a genuinely Polish orchestra and
the Sinfonia Varsovia - presumably rather more familiar
with Paderewski on a regular basis than the BBC Scottish – plays
with idiomatic flair and enthusiasm.
Quite significantly, too, Hobson’s disc
was recorded at a slightly higher level and with a greater
degree of reverberation. As a result, it has an acoustic
that suits a grandly romantic piano concerto down to the
ground.
One small gripe, though … Zephyr’s marketing
people have created - and not for the first time - a drearily
monochromatic booklet cover. It would be very sad if the
impression that gave were to deter any impulse buyer from
sampling the extremely colourful piano playing on this
disc.
Rob Maynard
Ian Hobson
(piano) 
