Search - Hans Werner Henze, Gerhard Markson, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie :: Hans Werner Henze: Piano Concerto No. 2; Telemanniana

Brahms of the 20th Century

Charles Voogd | Underwaterland | 11/15/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you're looking for a mega-pianoconcerto by a modern composer, which can be loved and understood, this is it. Roughly taking as long as Brahms's concertos it can be learned as being a cousin of it. Not that this will happen the very first time you'll hear it, but it gets more and more rewarding the more you play it and you'll hear the parallels between a big Romantic concerto and an equally big 20th-Century work for roughly the same forces.Performance and soloist are very good; slightly adjust the volume-level so you'll be able to hear every nuance of this work (pay attention to the woodwinds communicating with the piano please).Telemaniana is pastiche but so very well done that it's possible to think that it has been invented by Henze instead of Teleman. Let's hope CPO will have the guts (and the money) to pay more attention to Henze's compositions, there's so much to explore and this is a composer everybody can learn to understand. He's modern AND communicates with his listeners."