Prague-born Ignaz Moscheles, widely
regarded by contemporaries as the
greatest virtuoso pianist of the 1820s,
wrote eight piano concertos in an
era when the form was developing by
leaps and bounds from the model established
by Mozart.
The growth of the Romantic movement
in all fields of the arts - and simultaneous
developments in piano construction
- both encouraged composers to explore
new techniques with the form and offered
them the means of doing so.
Thus, in the course of writing his
concertos between 1818 and 1838, Moscheles
can be seen gradually freeing himself
from the structural straitjacket of
the strictly classical model. He was,
by the 1830s, composing with far more
freedom, flexibility and imagination,
even appending Romantic titles to
his last three concertos: the Fantastique,
the Pathétique and the Pastorale,
though the last is sadly lost.
The Hyperion label's decision to include
all the early concertos - recorded
by Howard Shelley as both soloist
and conductor of the Tasmanian Symphony
Orchestra - in its Romantic Piano
Concerto series ought thus to be rather
questionable, although it is, of course,
still interesting to follow Moscheles's
relationship to the Zeitgeist and
to his contemporaries and to chart
his development as a composer.
Certainly, there is nothing in the
two concertos on the disc under consideration
that would frighten the horses. Even
though the Emperor concerto was more
than a decade old when he was composing,
Moscheles was clearly no Beethoven.
He was clearly no Chopin either, being
apparently unable to resist putting
an excess of fussy detail in his adagio
movements and so failing to achieve
the limpid purity and simplicity that
the Polish composer so successfully
attains.
These are both, though, very well
constructed, tuneful and engaging
works that were understandably popular
with contemporary concert-goers in
search of an undemanding evening's
entertainment. As with many other
composers at that time - not least
Beethoven himself - Moscheles attempted
to ingratiate himself even further
with those audiences by working popular
and easily recognisable melodies into
his own work. Thus, the fourth concerto's
last movement gives, at some length,
the full virtuoso concertante treatment
to the well known regimental quick
march The British Grenadiers, a tune
that Moscheles no doubt got to know
when living in London for 21 years
following his 1825 marriage.
Ian Hobson was, of course, winner
of the Leeds International Piano Competition
in 1981, actually beating Peter Donohoe
into sixth place that year, so his
credentials are in no doubt. He combines,
as required, glittering finger-work
and tender sentiment and throughout
pays the long-neglected composer his
due respect.
Comparison with his rival Howard Shelley,
on the Hyperion label, is, I think,
instructive - see Jonathan Woolf's
review of concerto no.2 at and John
France's of concerto no.4.
Both pianists, it seems to me, see
Moscheles in different historical
perspectives. To Hobson, the composer
of the 1820s is still looking back
to the Mozart model. Shelley, on the
other hand, sees him as far more susceptible
to early - if admittedly infrequent
and slight - intimations of modernity
and emphasises those moments where
the music can bear a more Romantic
interpretation, so justifying that
"romantic piano concerto"
tag after all.
Thus, Hobson is, to my ears, more
consistently reserved and reticent,
though his interpretation is perfectly
acceptable and of its era. The gains
to be made by Shelley's approach are,
though, well demonstrated in, for
example, the polonaise finale of the
second concerto - well up there with
Chopin this time - where his application
of a little extra rhythmic and stylistic
flexibility brings far more life and
interest to the music.
The University of Illinois's Sinfonia
da Camera was founded by Ian Hobson
himself more than twenty years ago
and now describes itself as "the
prairie states' premier chamber orchestra".
It plays the generally undemanding
orchestral part well but is not particularly
flattered by a bass-heavy emphasis.
The sound on the rival Hyperion discs
positively coruscates in comparison.
Enjoyable and interesting music, well
performed, but probably not an out-and-out
must-have for the CD library!
Rob Maynard
Ian Hobson
(piano & conductor) 
