Adolf von Henselt: Piano Concerto in F Minor, Op.16, Michael Ponti (piano)

Adolf von Henselt - Piano Concerto in F Minor, Op. 16, Michael Ponti, Philharmonia Hungarica, Othmar Maga (conductor)
I. Allegro patetico - 0:00
II. Larghetto - 13:20
III. Allegro agitato - 20:40
Georg Martin Adolf von Henselt (9 or 12 May 1814 - 10 October 1889) was a German composer and virtuoso pianist.
Henselt was born at Schwabach, in Bavaria. At the age of three he began to learn the violin, and at five the piano under Josephe von Flad (1778-1843). His concert debut was at the Odeon in Munich, where he played the opening Allegro to one of Mozart’s C Major concertos, a free fantasy with variations on a theme from Weber’s Der Freischütz, and a rondo by Kalkbrenner.
„Henselt studied in Weimar with Hummel and had developed an original style of playing to the point where many considered him the equal of Liszt. Wilhelm von Lenz wrote that "Liszt, Chopin and Henselt are continents, Tausig, Rubinstein and Bülow are countries."
In 1838 von Henselt went to St. Petersburg, where he immediately was appointed court pianist.
Henselt ceased nearly all composition by the age of thirty. The reasons are unclear. Chronic stage fright, bordering on paranoia, caused him to withdraw from concert appearances by age thirty-three. He was extremely nervous and seldom played in public.
He certainly did not suffer from a lack of recognition, and Schumann, in an article written in 1838, praised the 12 Etudes, Opus 2, to the skies. "So, we are one excellent work richer and it will certainly be seldom that opinions about the merit of a new publication will be so unanimous. His genuine talent gripped the time from head to foot, and honors have been bestowed upon him of which even a Mozart need not be ashamed. His songs are full of the most fervent love and devotion. His whole being is absorbed in love.”
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in F Minor, Opus 16: The first movement, Allegro patetico, has much in common with the Chopin concerto in the same key except that where Chopin employs a single note, von Henselt uses double octaves. It abounds in lyrical passages full of double-note runs and scales. It sounds simple and easy but is, in reality, fiendishly difficult to play. Probably only pianists who have attempted it will fully appreciate the accomplishment of playing it at all, much less evenly. The Larghetto begins with a strong resemblance to Chopin's D-flat Nocturne from Opus 27. The middle section is very interesting because its full chords in big skips in both hands certainly look forward to the big cadenza in the first movement of Rachmaninoff's third concerto. The first melody theme returns in octaves and more complicated figurations to close quietly with cascades of double notes and great discomfiture for the pianist. The third movement, Allegro agitato, is like a Mendelssohn finale with three times as many notes. It is scherzo-like with some of the most strenuous arpeggios in the whole literature for the piano. There are stretches galore, both hands are flying, and there are melodies running throughout to be played with whatever finger might be left over. To play this piece a pianist has to be able to comfortably stretch a tenth and it is extremely handy if he can play octaves with a 2-5 fingering.
The concerto is sort of super-Romantic music with certainly enough interest and musical content to justify its being played.
It is not the showy Liszt type of virtuosity, but the demands on the player are even greater and this is perhaps one of the reasons that von Henselt's works have disappeared from the active repertory.” (from liner notes by Hugh McGinnis)