Pixis/Thalberg : The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 58. Shelley.

Piano International (Jan, 2013)
Johann Peter Pixis (1788–1874) was a respected virtuoso in his day, perhaps best known for his contribution to Liszt’s collaborative work Hexameron (to which Thalberg also contributed). The soundworld of Weber looms large both in Pixis’s Concerto, both in its scintillatingly virtuoso passages and in the dark, forest- like atmosphere of the Adagio cantabile. The music can sound over-decorative in places, but its sheer vivacity holds it all together. The earlier Concertino is extremely charming, with some gloriously imaginative scoring.

Sigismond Thalberg (1812–71) is somewhat better known, and there exist alternatives to this recording by Francesco Nicolosi (Naxos) and Michael Ponti (Vox). Ponti has plenty of charm but the recording and …