Jan Ladislav Dussek: Piano Concertos / Concerto Köln/ Andreas Staier

Dussek: Klavierkonzerte

Concerto Köln (Orchestra), Andreas Staier (Performer)

Re-Posted

1. Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 49 (C. 187): I. Allegro    

2. Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 49 (C. 187): II. Adagio    

3. Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 49 (C. 187): III. Rondo: Allegro non troppo    

4. Piano Concerto in B flat major, Op. 22 (C. 97): I. Allegro non troppo    

5. Piano Concerto in B flat major, Op. 22 (C. 97): II. Larghetto non tanto    

6. Piano Concerto in B flat major, Op. 22 (C. 97): III. Rondo: Allegro non tanto (Introduction: A. Staier)    

7. The Sufferings of the Queen of France, for piano, Op. 23 (C. 98)

When classics that seem to reflect less intimations of their age garner a timeless reputation and place with music lovers through the ages, the real barnstormers of music that usher in new horizons on the brink of new styles seem to be consigned to oblivion with the passing of time.

Such can hardly be an overstatement with regards to Dussek's monumental oeuvre for piano and orchestra, the Concerto in G minor, Opus 49.

Only four years junior to Mozart and ten years Beethoven's senior, this master of the pianoforte seemed to have struck at his own chords in his own language, away from the refined Rococo Classicism that pervade Viennese music around the end of the 18th century.

Yet perhaps it was little more than coincidence or out of respect that the introduction to Dussek's Concerto in G minor should sound strikingly familiar to Mozart's Concerto in C minor, with its mysterious question and answer style. Pianistically it expands the technique already set in place by Mozart and C.P.E. Bach to portend the innovations by a composer that has since acquired more fame than Dussek himself - J. N. Hummel.

While structurally the G minor concerto might have been less cohesive than Beethoven's, the drama inspired is notwithstanding. Perhaps Dussek would have much more in common with his contemporary Hummel in terms of orchestration, when one compares the former's Concerto in G minor to the latter's B minor - the passionate outbursts with interpolating themes of gentle longing and unabashed romanticism perhaps join them in unison with regards to their influence on the Early Romantics, more than Beethoven himself could have ever imagined.

In contrast, the B flat major Concerto is much more conventional, bearing striking similarities with Beethoven's own concerto of the same key that is somewhat contemporaneous. Having said, Dussek's masterpiece begins unconventionally in the minor mode, an innovation that somewhat misleads the listener.

The Marie Antoinette Tableau is notable for its tone painting prior to the Early Romantics, and is a commendable effort at programmatic music. There is even a section that offers a quasi-quotation from Mozart's Non piu andrai, casting the ill-fated Queen in a somewhat heroic light that has been defended by historians of recent.

This disc is a definitive collection for connoisseurs of Classical period pianoforte music as well as similar enthusiasts of piano music contemporaneous to Mozart and Beethoven, no less in the light of masters such as Hummel and Dussek.