Dupont & Benoit: Piano Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 80)

Featuring

Howard Shelley
Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen
Auguste Dupont
Peter Benoit

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Composer Biography

Auguste Dupont, after his father's premature death, returned home to Ensival and memorized all 48 preludes and fugues of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

Recording & Production

For this recording, Howard Shelley plays Peter Benoit's original version of the Symphonic poem, despite the composer having approved later virtuosic adaptations by Arthur De Greef.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Peter Benoit, considered the founding father of the Flemish music movement in Belgium, devoted much energy to Flemish musical nationalism, inspired by Herder's theory of Volksgeist.

Historical Context

Auguste Dupont and Peter Benoit, though little known beyond Belgium, were instrumental in fostering a new national musical identity in their country, which was only founded in 1830.

Composition History

Dupont's Piano Concerto No. 3 in F minor, Op. 49, was written around the early 1870s, revised in 1880, and published in 1882.

Composition History

Peter Benoit's Symphonic poem for piano and orchestra, Op. 43, was originally completed as a piano concerto in August 1865 and premiered in Antwerp in 1866.

Composer Biography

Auguste Dupont was appointed Professor of Pianoforte at the Brussels Conservatoire and later published a pedagogical system, the École de piano du Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles.