Hahn & Massenet: Piano Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto 15)

Featuring

Stephen Coombs
Jean-Yves Ossonce
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Jules Massenet
Reynaldo Hahn

Did you know?

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Composition History

Massenet's Piano Concerto in E flat major remained as sketches for many years, only being completed in a three-month period in 1902 when the composer was sixty years old.

Compositional Technique

The French 'jeu perlé' piano technique, characterized by clean, rapid, and even passage-work, became a hallmark of French piano music.

Recording & Production

This recording presents the first complete version of Hahn's Piano Concerto, restored from a handwritten score that had been heavily cut for a historic 1937 recording.

Composer Biography

Jules Massenet, a renowned opera composer, initially aspired to be a piano virtuoso and won a first prize at the Paris Conservatoire for his piano performance.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Both Massenet and Hahn were drawn to music from the past, with Massenet's opera Manon featuring pastiches of 18th-century music, and Hahn's Piano Sonatine being so convincing it was mistaken for a 17th-century work.

Composer Biography

Reynaldo Hahn, though raised in France from infancy, did not become a naturalized Frenchman until he was thirty-seven years old.

Composer Biography

Massenet's early financial struggles led him to work as a percussionist at the Paris Opéra, where he developed his lifelong interest in opera and gained insight into orchestration.