Piano Concertos

Amazon.co.uk For the Amazon generation of punters, Myra Hess will strike little or no resonance. Active in the earlier part of the 20th century, her fame reached its peak in the years around World War Two, when her regular lunch-time concerts at the National Gallery in London were a beacon of culture in an age of austerity. These two performances date from the twilight of her career in the late 1950s and, in technical terms, leave a lot to be desired. Yet Hess was consciously not a virtuoso pianist, and her conviction that music was above all an enlightening and civilising force comes through strongly. The Emperor Concerto has terrific strength of purpose, yet also a humanity lost in more high-powered accounts. The Second Concerto emerges as first cousin to Mozart's 1784 concertos: a witty and conversational interpretation, despite the steady tempos employed. Malcolm Sargent, a stalwart of the British concert scene at this time, accompanies faithfully if not especially imaginatively--this is clearly Dame Myra's show and she invariably makes the running. A touching conversation track rounds off a disc worth investigating for music making like it used to be. -- Richard Whitehouse

Number of Discs: 1

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.