No critic in his/her right mind would assert that Ferdinand Ries' piano concertos are in the same aesthetic class as Beethoven's works in the same form. Like the concertos of his early Romantic contemporary Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ries' works are far more about showing off the soloist and entertaining the audience than are Beethoven's more nobly conceived and executed masterpieces. Still, one would have to have a critical heart of stone not to be beguiled by Ries' thoroughly attractive concertos. As played here by pianist
Christopher Hinterhuber with
Uwe Grodd leading the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, three of Ries' works for piano and orchestra receive splendidly performed and wholly persuasive readings. Though the imposing three-movement concerto called "Farewell to England" is the most substantial work here and the Introduction et Variations Brillantes is the most overtly virtuosic, perhaps the best work to start with is the Grand Variations on "Rule Britannia." In a work with a theme familiar to almost every listener,
Hinterhuber's crisp articulation and burley technique are shown to excellent advantage, and the result is the most immediately attractive piece on the disc. Recorded in clean, slightly too close sound, this disc will likely tickle the musical funny bone of listeners already familiar with Beethoven's concertos.