The Romantic Piano Concerto - 42 EYVIND ALNÆS (1872-1932): Piano Concerto in D, Op. 27, CHRISTIAN SINDING (1856-1941): Piano Concerto in D Flat, Op. 6.

Description: An organist, pianist and administrator, Alnæs left only two symphonies and a set of symphonic variations as his complete orchestral œuvre, this concerto coming from 1914. Very conservative, it contains audible reminders of both Brahms and Rachmaninov in its big first movement while the rapt Lento, which begins as a quasi-funeral march, is more original while the finale is a glittering tribute to the Viennese waltz. Sinding's concerto (1889, revised in 1901 but here using some of the original version's intricate piano writing), like his symphonies, is more influenced by Liszt and Wagner than by Grieg or Norwegian folk-music (of which there is none in this work), and is bound together in cyclic fashion by thematic interrelationships through all three movements. Piers Lane (piano), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; Andrew Litton.