JOSEPH WÖLFL (1773-1812): Piano Concertos No. 1 in G, Op. 20, No. 5 in C, Op. 43 "Grand Military", and No. 6 in D, Op. 49 "The Cuckoo", Andante "The Calm" from "Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Op. 36".

Description: Collectors of Classical piano concertos will be delighted to make the acquaintance of Wölfl (whose solo piano and piano chamber works have had a handful of recordings in the past), who combines a Mozartian elegance with a sense of humor unusual for the period. All seven of his piano concertos were written between 1802 and 1812; the half-hour long First is the most Mozartian of this lot and notable for Wölfl's extreme thematic economy and creation of motivic connections within the material. The Grand Military is a good example of the "martial music" so popular in the period while The Cuckoo uses a bird-call as one of the motifs of its finale, although otherwise being very much in the character of the First. The Calm is an alternate slow movement for No. 1 (the same concerto, with this substitution and two mild revisions in the finale, was republished in England under the opus number 34 - something which also occurred with the Grand Military, if you like confusing yourself as to how many piano concertos Wölfl actually wrote). Yorck Kronenberg (piano), Kaiserslautern Radio Orchestra; Johannes Moesus.