Concerto for Four-Handed Piano & Orchestra

The three CDs arrived together in the same envelope, but I had to go and collect them from the sorting office in the next village some 7 miles away. I had to pay £6.11 VAT and £8.00 Royal Mail International Handling Fee = £14.11. I shall think twice before ordering from Amazon again as these charges make the purchases uneconomical.

lately I have been collecting Czerny --- 6 cd's of sonatas also the nonet and concert which is fabulous and in fact caused my ordering up this cd ... I am sure it will be as good as his other stuff that I own.... I hope more artists will publish interpretations of this sadly overlooked genius....

This was actually supposed to be about another Czerny, and I can't figure out how to delete this.

One of the best piano concerts for four hands. The more I hear it, the more I enjoy it.

This was purchased as a Christmas gift and the recipient LOVES this CD.

I've been pleasantly surprised by Czerny's Symphonies No. 1 & 5, also performed by Nikos Athinäos on Signum ( Czerny: Symphonies 1 & 5 ) or Christophorus ( Czerny: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5 ), and decided to explore more. I knew already, from the recently CD-reissued recordings made by Christoph Eschenbach in the 1970s for DG-Japan ( CZERNY 30  and  CZERNY 40 ), that Czerny's Etudes were much better than the bad reputation they suffer in some circles, and offered genuine musical pleasures. But Czerny is too often subsumed to his piano Studies. His output is in fact immense, and the pedagogical exercises are only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more piano pieces of "salon" nature and potpourri from operas in vogue in Vienna, and, Czerny himself divided his output in four categories: Studies and exercises, easy pieces for students, brilliant pieces for concerts, "serious music". Czerny's Wikipedia entry adds that "the majority of the pieces called by Czerny as [sic] `serious music' (masses, choral music, quartets, orchestral and chamber music) remained unpublished. The manuscripts are held by Vienna's Society for the Friends of Music, to which Czerny (a childless bachelor) willed his estate." According to info gleaned from the liner notes of Athinäos' CD of Symphonies No. 1 & 5, there are some 300 of such "serious" works.Czerny was born (in Vienna) in 1791 (the year of Mozart's death) and died in 1857 (a year after Schumann), which makes him Beethoven's younger by 21 years and the exact contemporary of Meyerbeer (1791-1864), and of the same generation as a throng of Austro-German early-romantic composers, Ferdinand Ries (1784-1847), Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859), Weber (1786-1826), Heinrich Marschner (1795-1861) to name but a few... and Schubert of course (1797-1828), with the shadow of Beethoven looming large over all of them. No wonder then that Czerny's Symphonies should be indebted to his master - with more echoes of Beethoven's first two in the Second, but there are reminiscences of the Eroica as well in Symphony No. 5, and the Scherzo of the 6th MUST have been inspired by Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream.The Second Symphony has enjoyed two recordings so far. This one, made in 1996 for Signum,  Czerny: Symphony in D No 2, Op 781; Piano Concerto in C Op 153  and here reissued by Christophorus, was first. The other one was made in 2005/2006 and is conducted by Grzegorz Nowak on Hanssler, and paired with the 6th Symphony ( Czerny: Symphonies No. 2 & 6 ). I find Nowak's version preferable to Athinäos's, less solemn and more flowing in the slow introduction to the first movement, more dynamic and spirited in the Allegro proper, giving an impression of being slightly more flowing in the slow movement (more on account of a greater transparency in the orchestral texture than actual tempo). And while I can see space for an even more "molto vivace" Scherzo than what Nowak plays, Athinäos' trudging gait is a near-disaster there. There is also, either by dint of the recording or the orchestra itself, a metallic edge to Athinäos' Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, and Nowak's Kaiserslautern group sounds better, with more transparency.The flaws in sonics and interpretation in the Symphony aren't really redeemed by the Concerto for Four-hand Piano op. 153. Again it is reminiscent of Beethoven, but it would be here the Beethoven of the early works without opus number (WoO), the 1784 Piano Concerto WoO 4 or Rondo WoO 6 from 1793. The music is playful, boisterous and very superficial, music for demonstration and the salon, music to belie Czerny's own claim that his piano playing "always lacked that brilliant and well-prepared charlatanism that is so necessary to traveling virtuosos" and confirm Czerny's bad reputation of a churner of notes with not much of substance to say.TT 72:30, no complaint on that front. But for an introduction to the "serious" Czerny, better go to the CDs of Nowak and of Symphonies 1 & 5 by Athinäos.

Carl Czerny a Romantic Era composer(best remembered for his studies extensively used by piano students), has been rather neglected. Although his music may not be quite as profound as his more often played contemporaries, like, say, Schubert; nonetheless it has charm, beauty, and interest. He certainly rivals Pagganini for virtuosity, style and musicality. A too long absence from the concert halls has brought these pieces to me with a freshness that I have enjoyed discovering.Liu Xiao Ming & Horst Göbel use their four very accomplished hands. They are accompanied by the Brandenburisches Staatsorchesrter Frankfurt under the baton of Nikos Athinäos in the double Piano Concerto. The playing is well balanced and the recording is crisp and clear. A most enjoyable uplifting piece of music.Nikos Athinäos & Brandenburisches Staatsorchesrter Frankfurt follow this concerto with Czerny's second symphony in D. Although I would not describe this work as derivative, I hear some sounds reminiscent of the younger Beethoven here (Czerny was a pupil of Beethoven amongst others). An interesting symphony in standard four-movement form. The playng, again is very fine. The recording, although good, sometimes lacks a little clarity due to reduced stereo separation and not quite optimal mixing. Nonetheless, well worth several listenings.This budget priced little gem is well worth ading to your collection of Romantic Era standards.

Bought for the 4 hand concerto so this comment only applies to that. If you heard one movement only on the radio it probably sounded good but for me the whole work is just too much of the same thing.

Lovely music, rather a dated recording however, so sound could be richer. However, sparkling play. needs more recordings to be made!

LOVED IT , and great to hear such talented pianists,, Cerny forever Four hand marvesl..

Excellent music, excellent recording