Search - John [Composer] Field, Charles Mackerras, Scottish Chamber Orchestra :: John Field: Piano Concertos, Nos. 2 & 3

Beautiful, lyrical, if somewhat shallow concertos

Timmy | New York, Ny United States | 01/31/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"John Field was a pupil of Muzio Clementi and a precursor to Chopin's style of piano playing (Chopin modelled his nocturnes on those by Field). In his concertos, Field combines virtuosity with incredible lyricism. While Beethoven was writing concertos that could very well be called symphonies with piano obbligato (in fact, that is precisely what ETA Hoffman called the concertos of Beethoven and Mozart), Field was striking out in an entirely different direction. More a poet than anything else, Field's concertos sound almost improvisational, with the composer going wherever the piano seems to take him. At the same time however, Field's concertos are a little devoid of depth, with an rather uninventive left hand acompaniment for the right hand's exciting runs.In addition, the orchestra has a rather small role when compared with the piano's complete dominance of the piece. Either way, these two concertos are a joy to listen to, with wonderful performance by both John O'Connor and Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra."

Is it Mozart? Is it Chopin? No, it's a hybrid: John Field

a reader | texas | 01/24/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A lyrical rendition of Field's 2nd and 3rd concertos. The middle movements of both, gorgeous nocturnes that are as good as any Chopin wrote later, are perfection, while the last movement of the 2nd is absolutely marvelous. O'Connor is dazzling throughout.



John Field is a fresh delight, a composer whose works should be played a lot more often than they are.



And, please, would someone tell me where I can get my hands on the scores of the piano concertos outside of the expensive Britannica Musica Volume 17?"