Xaver Scharwenka - Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 32

- Composer: Franz Xaver Scharwenka (6 January 1850 -- 8 December 1924)
- Orchestra: Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
- Conductor: Neeme Järvi
- Soloist: Alexander Markovich
- Year of recording: 2013

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 32, written in 1876.

00:00 - I. Allegro Patetico
10:44 - II. Allegro assai
17:53 - III. Allegro non tanto

Scharwenka's 1st Piano Concerto in B flat minor (1876) brought Scharwenka great renown. It is dedicated to Liszt, for whom Scharwenka performed it privately. The gestation of the work was not simple. It began life as a two-movement Fantasy for solo piano and Scharwenka worked on it for several years from the early 1870s before it reached its final shape. In three movements, the result is a seemingly conventional structure, yet the content reflects its origins as a solo fantasia. It is famously the only (or perhaps one of the few) concertos that features 3 allegro movements consecutively.

Scharwenka often performed this concerto to great success in programs that also included Beethoven's Emperor concerto. Hans von Bülow called it "original, amiable throughout, perfect in form... [with] admirable intrumentation." Such illustrious pianists as Constantin von Sternberg, Emil von Sauer, Moriz Rosenthal, and Eugen d'Albert had this concerto in their repertory. But it was missing for many decades, until Earl Wild revived the concerto in 1968, and made the first recording of it.

- The stirring opening tutti is cut short by the piano, which wrests the spotlight from the orchestra, and so it remains. What then emerges, rather than a contest, is a constantly evolving elaboration not only on the initial theme but also on more lyrical and introverted ideas, interspersed with moments of bravura. This became a feature of later concertos too. Of particular note is the wistful tone of the Adagio section, introduced by strings, the melody given to the violas.
- As much of the first movement is in reflective mood, it is not surprising that Scharwenka replaces the traditional slow movement with a Scherzo. Its main theme cross-fertilises the triple metre with duple phrasing and the second theme has a simple but beguiling tripping rhythm. The movement shows the strong influence of the style brillant, recalling composers such as Hummel and Chopin, while elsewhere in the concerto parallels may be drawn with Liszt and Grieg.
- It is in the finale that the elements of the fantasia are most pronounced: a mysterious, expectant orchestral opening, a solo peroration ending with a brief allusion to the viola theme from the first movement, echoed by the clarinet. Only then is the movement fully launched, yet it becomes entranced by the recalled theme. Liszt’s cyclic principles are tempered by Scharwenka’s quasi-improvisational approach, which at last gives the soloist a designated Cadenza, marked Maestoso, which also reintroduces the work’s opening theme. A compelling coda ensues.

The piano concerto is dedicated: "Franz Liszt, verehrungsvoll zugeeignet".