Thank you all for your kind and generous comments! This was an extremely challenging concerto to learn but it was a thrilling experience to play it with TON and Maestro Botstein!
The Henselt has been my favorite concerto for 50 years. I never thought I would see a live performance due to its difficulty and the fact it is ignored by most pianists. I certainly never thought a bunch of youngsters would perform it. Your performance was flawless. You have the beauty of tone that it requires as well as the technique to do it. Are you from the United States? How did you happen onto this concerto? How long have you worked on it? I read it many years ago. The choral section left hand didn’t ever come together. If you can play this concerto you can play any romantic period concerto.
I'd just like to say that this is the best performance I have ever heard of this concerto! I know of only three "official" recordings of it. What makes your performance so special is the sheer poetry of your playing. Obviously, I have no wish to belittle others in anyway, but the ones I am familiar with seem to treat the concerto purely as a virtuoso vehicle. In other words: "This is a really difficult piece, so let's show off the effort it took us to learn it by playing it even faster." Your performance shows that it is a big mistake to equate Henselt's piano style with the virtuoso approach of Liszt (although they were friends). Liszt wanted people to gasp at his showmanship. Henselt did not write piano music to make people "ooh and aah" but, like Chopin, to enthrall with its poetic imagination. In effect, this means that the complexities of this work are far less obvious than some of the more overtly "showy" piano concertos. But, Henselt wasn't about that and your incredibly insightful interpretation kept me totally engaged throughout. Congratulations😀
The Henselt is a concerto well known to concert pianists but little known to audiences because so rarely performed. Apparently, its popularity waned around the turn of the 20th century and pianists were not sorry to let it die a quiet death because of the enormous difficulties it presents. One theory I have read is that its virtual demise coincided with the advent of recording. You see, the Henselt is a very easy concerto to fake but a very hard concerto to perform as the composer wrote. It is conceivable that once recording techniques had been discovered pianistic faking could also be detected. How wonderful, therefore, that here we have a superb young pianist that not only plays all the notes that Henselt wrote but also with total engagement. The result is an interpretation that had me totally captivated throughout. Full congratulations also to the conductor and young orchestra who clearly, like the pianist, were totally committed to the music!
Lewenthal wrote somewhere that one of the problems with Henselt's concerto which may have contributed to its falling out of popularity with pianists is that its difficulties are not immediately obvious to the casual listener, so the poor pianist is working his/her socks off but the audience are not gasping in admiration at his/her technique!
Interesting, where did you hear that theory about recording being the demise of the Henselt? I have been saying that forever, but I didn't know it was out there as a general theory. Maybe it just so obvious that anyone who thinks about it comes to that conclusion. It is a wonderful work. I did it at MusicaNova with Janice Weber in 2008, and I studied the piano part myself. I found I could play any individual passage, but that I couldn't reliably play it through because there is literally no rest-every passage is really difficult, and you never get a few seconds to coast. I don't think I ever realized how important that is until I worked on the Henselt. Under the hands it feels a lot like Rachmaninoff, which should not be a surprise, but frankly it is harder than anything I know by Rachmaninoff.
without wishing to be uncharitable another factor is that the invention is somewhat square/ impersonal ?....that's how it has always hit my ears atleast. Superbly played here and i'm glad to have this rather than masterpieces like the Grieg or Schumann for the umpteenth time. In the B/C list category of piano concertos I think Moszowski no.2 ,Hummel no.2 and Scharwenka 1 have more going for them.
@@erronblack5015 Because Henselt's concerto is purported to be on a level with Tchaikovsky's 1st p. concerto (or others, like Brahms' 1st p. concerto (in d minor) and Beethoven's "Emperor" 5th p. concerto). That's why!
This masterful concert was played masterfully. Finally something different than the old Beethoven Rachmaninof etc. that have already been played 1000 times ... tribute for this beautiful performance
The Henselt concerto is bizarrely difficult, yet also incredibly beautiful, and I applaud Mr. Ozel for being the brave soul who first recorded it on video. Excellent recording by the way, and that comes from someone who knows the versions by Raymond Lewenthal, Michael Ponti, and Marc-André Hamelin inside out.
Huge applause for resurrecting Henselt's rarely heard concerto into the concert hall! It's so good to see brave programming like this - and in such high quality too. I may wish for more fire and drive in the playing, like in Lewenthal's, Ponti's or Hamelin's recordings, but any rare concert outing for this and lesser-known concertos is a real coup, so I'm certainly not complaining! Bravo to pianist and ensemble alike, not to mention their maestro! And thank you for linking the programme notes too!
One of my favourite piano concertos, I first heard this on a new releases program played by Raymond Lewenthal and subsequently bought the record. It is renowned for being formidably difficult though I'll wager there are many others from the Romantic era that are just as or even more difficult to play. This was an excellent performance and it was gratifying to see it with a young pianist and an equally young orchestra do the work proud. (Side note: it has a great timpani part.) The melodies are memorable, the influence it had on Rachmaninov is striking (as Lewenthal points out on the accompanying 7 inch disk) and it certainly deserves to be heard in concert more frequently.
Absolutely splendid performance, bless you all! (Liszt once sent a visiting card on which he wrote the theme of Henselt's second movement, remarking on its beauty, and lamenting that he did not compose it himself!)
Respect, young man. One of my favorite concertos. That last movement gets pretty hectic towards the end and you were on top of it. Well done and thank you!
Très beau piano je ne connaissais pas ce musicien, le chef très élégants avec des gestes justes très bel ensemble très bon moment. J'aime beaucoup ce concerto.
It brings peerless joy to witness this outstanding performance of a magnificent concert, brought about by such young talents. The soloist's performance was impeccable even compared to the best known 70's recording. One wishes that Scharwenka no. 3 may follow some day.
There are only a handful of concert pianists who can play this work. Even Rubinstein was beaten by it. A large hand is needed to span the notes. That is probably why the work is seldom performed. Congratulations to the pianist for mastering this work and for a fine interpretation. I remember attending a recital by the great virtuoso, Michael Ponti, who introduced this work through his premiere recording of this work.
@@marcorval As Lewenthal points out in the small lecture on a 7 inch LP that accompanied the recording, since uploaded to TH-cam: th-cam.com/video/EqiSuYm_uOw/w-d-xo.html
A correction is in order. Raymond Lewenthal’s recording of the Henselt Piano Concerto was released in 1969. Michael Ponti’s recording, on the other hand, was released in 1973.
The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College is a performance hall located in the Hudson Valley hamlet of Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. No need to mention this as at least 98 % of the savvy audience of that continent know this....
Some additional information: Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 16. The opening moment is marked Allegro patetico - Religioso - (Reprise), not just Allegro.
What a treat and a first to my knowledge. There has never been a previous video or film of a performance of this important and hugely challenging concerto. Bravo indeed! I speak as one who has conducted a performance and has known the work all my life. Thanks for posting!
I never thought I'd hear this performed live. Notoriously difficult, gives the pianist lots of challenges though probably not as much as the Rach 3 which is played by everyone and their grandmother. I first got familiar with this concerto via Lewenthal's recording many years ago. I think Lewenthal was more responsible than anyone for bringing this gem to the consciousness of the public, pretty much forgotten before that recording. Still waiting to hear live performances of many "forgotten" concertos like the Brull Concerto No 2 in C, The Saint-Saens No 1 in D and the Reinecke No 1 in F# minor among many. Pianist Evren Ozel delivers an admirable performance. Fine pianist. I hope he becomes the next Michael Ponti or Frank Cooper and brings more of these forgotten masterpieces to the concert halls, although the costs these days of putting on such a piano concerto performance runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in many cases. I know because I've priced out my own Piano Concerto No 2 in C Minor (here on TH-cam in case anyone is curious) for a public performance and have gotten estimates on the low end of $100K and on the high end of $250K and that was 10 years ago. Must have doubled by now. It really helps to have a pianist like Mr. Ozel who knows the concerto already and can be invited to an established orchestra to play it in one of their subscription concerts. That greatly cuts down on the cost. Keep up the good work, Evren. You're extremely talented.
Thank you all for your kind and generous comments! This was an extremely challenging concerto to learn but it was a thrilling experience to play it with TON and Maestro Botstein!
Awesome
The Henselt has been my favorite concerto for 50 years. I never thought I would see a live performance due to its difficulty and the fact it is ignored by most pianists. I certainly never thought a bunch of youngsters would perform it. Your performance was flawless. You have the beauty of tone that it requires as well as the technique to do it. Are you from the United States? How did you happen onto this concerto? How long have you worked on it? I read it many years ago. The choral section left hand didn’t ever come together. If you can play this concerto you can play any romantic period concerto.
Outstanding and very mature performance, even more amazing by a 21 yo! Congratulations!
I'd just like to say that this is the best performance I have ever heard of this concerto! I know of only three "official" recordings of it. What makes your performance so special is the sheer poetry of your playing. Obviously, I have no wish to belittle others in anyway, but the ones I am familiar with seem to treat the concerto purely as a virtuoso vehicle. In other words: "This is a really difficult piece, so let's show off the effort it took us to learn it by playing it even faster." Your performance shows that it is a big mistake to equate Henselt's piano style with the virtuoso approach of Liszt (although they were friends). Liszt wanted people to gasp at his showmanship. Henselt did not write piano music to make people "ooh and aah" but, like Chopin, to enthrall with its poetic imagination. In effect, this means that the complexities of this work are far less obvious than some of the more overtly "showy" piano concertos. But, Henselt wasn't about that and your incredibly insightful interpretation kept me totally engaged throughout. Congratulations😀
He plays it carefully.
Lovely to have a video performance of this delightful concerto.
The Henselt is a concerto well known to concert pianists but little known to audiences because so rarely performed. Apparently, its popularity waned around the turn of the 20th century and pianists were not sorry to let it die a quiet death because of the enormous difficulties it presents. One theory I have read is that its virtual demise coincided with the advent of recording. You see, the Henselt is a very easy concerto to fake but a very hard concerto to perform as the composer wrote. It is conceivable that once recording techniques had been discovered pianistic faking could also be detected. How wonderful, therefore, that here we have a superb young pianist that not only plays all the notes that Henselt wrote but also with total engagement. The result is an interpretation that had me totally captivated throughout. Full congratulations also to the conductor and young orchestra who clearly, like the pianist, were totally committed to the music!
Lewenthal wrote somewhere that one of the problems with Henselt's concerto which may have contributed to its falling out of popularity with pianists is that its difficulties are not immediately obvious to the casual listener, so the poor pianist is working his/her socks off but the audience are not gasping in admiration at his/her technique!
Interesting, where did you hear that theory about recording being the demise of the Henselt? I have been saying that forever, but I didn't know it was out there as a general theory. Maybe it just so obvious that anyone who thinks about it comes to that conclusion. It is a wonderful work. I did it at MusicaNova with Janice Weber in 2008, and I studied the piano part myself. I found I could play any individual passage, but that I couldn't reliably play it through because there is literally no rest-every passage is really difficult, and you never get a few seconds to coast. I don't think I ever realized how important that is until I worked on the Henselt. Under the hands it feels a lot like Rachmaninoff, which should not be a surprise, but frankly it is harder than anything I know by Rachmaninoff.
without wishing to be uncharitable another factor is that the invention is somewhat square/ impersonal ?....that's how it has always hit my ears atleast. Superbly played here and i'm glad to have this rather than masterpieces like the Grieg or Schumann for the umpteenth time. In the B/C list category of piano concertos I think Moszowski no.2 ,Hummel no.2 and Scharwenka 1 have more going for them.
Bravo! This concerto deserves so much more attention! A forgotten gem!
Why exactly?
It's very difficult. If several big name (I wish they were also the best) pianists played this work regularly it would no doubt catch on.
@@erronblack5015 Because Henselt's concerto is purported to be on a level with Tchaikovsky's 1st p. concerto (or others, like Brahms' 1st p. concerto (in d minor) and Beethoven's "Emperor" 5th p. concerto). That's why!
This masterful concert was played masterfully. Finally something different than the old Beethoven Rachmaninof etc. that have already been played 1000 times ... tribute for this beautiful performance
A great concert that should be performed more often in concert halls.
Well done to the Evren Oze.
Have you see the piano score!? THIS is a gargantuan monster of a concerto! Evren Ozel was TERRIFIC ♥♥♥♥
The Henselt concerto is bizarrely difficult, yet also incredibly beautiful, and I applaud Mr. Ozel for being the brave soul who first recorded it on video. Excellent recording by the way, and that comes from someone who knows the versions by Raymond Lewenthal, Michael Ponti, and Marc-André Hamelin inside out.
Happy to be the one here to praise this beautiful concert wich I learnt from Radio Stephansdom-Wien recently❤..thanks to the uploader
Predivno! Hvala promenadi radio Beograda, sto mi je preporucila ovaj koncert.
I wish I could like this more than once. Thank you so much to the pianist and the orchestra for performing this piece.
Huge applause for resurrecting Henselt's rarely heard concerto into the concert hall! It's so good to see brave programming like this - and in such high quality too. I may wish for more fire and drive in the playing, like in Lewenthal's, Ponti's or Hamelin's recordings, but any rare concert outing for this and lesser-known concertos is a real coup, so I'm certainly not complaining! Bravo to pianist and ensemble alike, not to mention their maestro! And thank you for linking the programme notes too!
So relaxed and poised at the piano. A great musician. Obviously started young with the best teachers.
I played this with my school orchestra
OMG! Who was the soloist??
One of my favourite piano concertos, I first heard this on a new releases program played by Raymond Lewenthal and subsequently bought the record. It is renowned for being formidably difficult though I'll wager there are many others from the Romantic era that are just as or even more difficult to play. This was an excellent performance and it was gratifying to see it with a young pianist and an equally young orchestra do the work proud. (Side note: it has a great timpani part.) The melodies are memorable, the influence it had on Rachmaninov is striking (as Lewenthal points out on the accompanying 7 inch disk) and it certainly deserves to be heard in concert more frequently.
Absolutely splendid performance, bless you all! (Liszt once sent a visiting card on which he wrote the theme of Henselt's second movement, remarking on its beauty, and lamenting that he did not compose it himself!)
Respect, young man. One of my favorite concertos. That last movement gets pretty hectic towards the end and you were on top of it. Well done and thank you!
Très beau piano je ne connaissais pas ce musicien, le chef très élégants avec des gestes justes très bel ensemble très bon moment. J'aime beaucoup ce concerto.
It brings peerless joy to witness this outstanding performance of a magnificent concert, brought about by such young talents. The soloist's performance was impeccable even compared to the best known 70's recording. One wishes that Scharwenka no. 3 may follow some day.
There are only a handful of concert pianists who can play this work. Even Rubinstein was beaten by it. A large hand is needed to span the notes. That is probably why the work is seldom performed. Congratulations to the pianist for mastering this work and for a fine interpretation.
I remember attending a recital by the great virtuoso, Michael Ponti, who introduced this work through his premiere recording of this work.
Henselt was a big influence to Rachmaninov.
@@marcorval As Lewenthal points out in the small lecture on a 7 inch LP that accompanied the recording, since uploaded to TH-cam: th-cam.com/video/EqiSuYm_uOw/w-d-xo.html
A correction is in order. Raymond Lewenthal’s recording of the Henselt Piano Concerto was released in 1969. Michael Ponti’s recording, on the other hand, was released in 1973.
How large do you mean ?
The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College is a performance hall located in the Hudson Valley hamlet of Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. No need to mention this as at least 98 % of the savvy audience of that continent know this....
Bravo!
I wish i could find the full orchestral score of this
Some additional information:
Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 16.
The opening moment is marked Allegro patetico - Religioso - (Reprise), not just Allegro.
What a treat and a first to my knowledge. There has never been a previous video or film of a performance of this important and hugely challenging concerto. Bravo indeed! I speak as one who has conducted a performance and has known the work all my life. Thanks for posting!
I never thought I'd hear this performed live. Notoriously difficult, gives the pianist lots of challenges though probably not as much as the Rach 3 which is played by everyone and their grandmother. I first got familiar with this concerto via Lewenthal's recording many years ago. I think Lewenthal was more responsible than anyone for bringing this gem to the consciousness of the public, pretty much forgotten before that recording. Still waiting to hear live performances of many "forgotten" concertos like the Brull Concerto No 2 in C, The Saint-Saens No 1 in D and the Reinecke No 1 in F# minor among many. Pianist Evren Ozel delivers an admirable performance. Fine pianist. I hope he becomes the next Michael Ponti or Frank Cooper and brings more of these forgotten masterpieces to the concert halls, although the costs these days of putting on such a piano concerto performance runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in many cases. I know because I've priced out my own Piano Concerto No 2 in C Minor (here on TH-cam in case anyone is curious) for a public performance and have gotten estimates on the low end of $100K and on the high end of $250K and that was 10 years ago. Must have doubled by now. It really helps to have a pianist like Mr. Ozel who knows the concerto already and can be invited to an established orchestra to play it in one of their subscription concerts. That greatly cuts down on the cost. Keep up the good work, Evren. You're extremely talented.
Perhaps if you didn't know you could imagine it was a lost work of Chopin