The Romantic Piano Concerto 68 – Ludmil Angelov

   in Piano International (Sep, 2016)
This is the 68th disc in Hyperion’s superb series The Romantic Piano Concerto, and it features two first recordings. Charting the history of Moszkowski’s ‘other’ concerto Jeremy Nicholas tells us in his engagingly enthusiastic notes that it lay undiscovered until 2008, and that after its premiere in 1875 remained in limbo (despite Liszt’s praise) until 2014 when it was performed by Ludmil Angelov, Hyperion’s present soloist. Fascinating as such disclosures are, the piece compares unfavourably with Moszkowski’s more familiar and scintillating Op 59 concerto – mature (Op 59) rather than student (Op 3) music.

The surprisingly sombre opening of Op 3 should not surprise us when you consider the second of …