Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 & No. 2 - Romantic Classical Music for Piano Performances, Concerts & Home Listening

I am a huge fan of the ever enterprising Hastedt label; true, many of the releases fall in the grey, continental, mainstream modernism camp, but much of it is extremely worthwhile, at least if you like that kind of thing (and you should). Their releases also come with delectable design and informative booklet notes. Now, I am not going to say that the issue at hand is the most interesting they've released, but it is still worth considering. Kurt Schwaen (1909-2007) was not a symphonist; his output consists mostly of instrumental and chamber music in relatively small formats, and the concertos on this disc are relatively small-scale and also structurally transparent and rather chamber-like. Neither was he a serialist - his music is thoroughly tonal, staying true to his models Bach, Mozart and Stravinsky; in fact the name that most often comes to mind is Eisler. Schwaen's music is full of ideas, twists and turns, nooks and crannies, and he never overuses anything; the music is concise, aphoristic and for the most part trying to pack a single punch. I just wish that the ideas had been more striking or distinguished.The final version of the first concerto for piano (composed 1964), with winds, percussion and double basses has a first movement based on Schwaen's earlier film music; the music is faux heroic with a virtuosic piano part. The second movement is contemplative with the piano in dialogue with the orchestra rather than in conflict with them as in the outer movements, and the third is tempestuous and rhythmically alert. Neither is very memorable, but Siegfried Stöckigt is a brilliant soloist, and the Grosses Rundfunkurchester Leipzig under Adolf-Fritz Guhl provides mostly strong support; the 1973 sound quality is on the gray side, however. The second piano concerto, the Vietnamese, dates from 1987 and was dedicated to the performer here, Tôn Nu Nguyêt Minh. The first movement opens effectively, with the innocent A-H-D-E theme being introduced by reluctant strings which suddenly turns pugnacious and brutal once the piano enters. The second movement is an atmospheric evocation of Vietnam with many rather fine instrumental touches, whereas the third movement is based on an irregular ostinato motive, played with vigour until culminating in ecstasy. Well, if I made the work sound interesting, it is on the whole rather thin gruel, but definitely contains some interesting touches. The performances, from 1989, sound a little rough.The first movement of the violin concerto from 1979 is based on a nine-note theme; it is an animated and rather appealing movement. The following slow movement is described by the booklet as "touching", but I have to say I found it rather dull. The third movement is, however, more appealing with some interesting formal twists and the closest one comes to memorable themes on the disc (the march-like one). Wolfgang Hentrich is an accomplished and committed soloist, but the Robert Schumann-Philharmonie Chemnitz seems to struggle at several occasions. To sum up? Not a disc to set the world alight, and Schwaen's music is, on the evidence of this disc, not as distinguished as that of his contemporaries Cilensek or Röttger. On the other hand, there is a lot to enjoy here as well if you enjoy this kind of dryish, grey, tonal but modernist music (as I do). Recommended for the adventurous.