Henri Herz; Piano Concerto No.6 (with chorus) in A min, Op.192 (1858) скачать в хорошем качестве

Henri Herz; Piano Concerto No.6 (with chorus) in A min, Op.192 (1858)

Henri Herz (1803-1888) was a French/Austrian composer. If the name is familiar to you, you probably know him as one of the collaborators on the Hexameron, a grand theme and variations arranged by Franz Liszt, also featuring Frederic Chopin, Sigismond Thalberg, Carl Czerny, and Johann Peter Pixis. Early on in the channel I posted his 5th concerto, not realizing I'd been scooped by the release of Howard Shelley's performance on Hyperion just a month earlier. You can still find it in the archives, but I'd recommend looking for Mr. Shelley's recording instead. He performed all of Herz's 8 piano concertos - except for this one. The reasons for this may be first that it requires a chorus in its 3rd movement, but more importantly, the orchestra parts were thought to be lost until quite recently. How recent? I was working on a reconstruction of it around the same time I posted the 5th, a project I put on hold when I heard the real thing had just been found. So this is hot off the presses, folks. (Thanks again to Tsou Yan Jiet.) Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Herz IMSLP: https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Herz%... Movements: 0:00 - I. Allegro Maestoso 7:44 - II. Andante 12:02 - III. Rondo Oriental avec Chœr So about that chorus - obviously the synthesized performance is not capable of articulating words, so you're just going to hear non-verbal "oohs" and "ahhs". The text is visible in the score, so you can read along. The choice of text turns out to be a Muslim prayer, interesting as Herz was not Muslim. He was at least nominally Jewish, though I don't know how ardent a practitioner of any faith he was. I would really like to know the story behind why he chose this particular text. I suspect that it is simply a case of "orientalism", or a fascination with exotic cultures outside of Europe that was growing at the time. Compare Saint-Saens' "Egyptian Concerto" a few decades later as a similar example. Aside from the actual words, there is nothing particularly Muslim or "oriental" about the style of this piece. The finale does feature somewhat more percussion that is usual, which was sometimes associated with that culture at the time (mostly Turkish) but that's not a first for Herz. He had a full military band in the finale of his 3rd concerto (which I was also working on at the time but did not release; again, Shelley's version is better.) I have transcribed it below. (Some punctuation removed because YouTube won't allow italics on anything ending in punctuation for some reason?) ---- Fils du prophète, Allons, que l'on s'éveille A l'horizon le soleil apparaît La brise est douce et l'aurore vermeille D'un ciel clément nous promet le bienfait Comme le serpent, la longue caravane Dans le désert s'en va se déroulant Sinistre et noir là haut le vautour plane Espérant de nous un festin sanglant De nos vois, entends le concert O Mahomet divin prophète Que tout péril dans le désert soit écarté de notre tête Tous à genoux Nous t'implorons protége-nous O Mahomet veille sur nous Mais, oublions et dangers et misère Non, ce n'est pas un mirage trompeur Et l'oasis, refuge tutélaire Va nous offrir son abri protecteur A nous, à nous son onde A nous son frais ombrage Encore un pas. Nous y voilà Oui nous touchons au terme du voyage Gloire au prophète! Allah [last few lines repeat until the end] In English: Son of the Prophet, Come, let us awaken On the horizon the sun appears The breeze is gentle and the dawn is vermilion From a clement sky promises us blessings Like the serpent, the long caravan In the desert it departs, uncoiling Sinister and black, the vulture soars above Hoping for a bloody feast from us Hear the concert from our voices O Muhammad, divine prophet May all peril in the desert be removed from our heads All on our knees We implore you, protect us O Muhammad, watch over us But let us forget both dangers and misery No, it is not a deceptive mirage And the oasis, a tutelary refuge will offer us its protective shelter To us, to us, its wave To us, its cool shade One more step. Here we are Yes, we are reaching the end of the journey Glory to the Prophet! Allah ---- Disclaimer: Yes, it's synthesized. Obviously real musicians with real instruments would be vastly superior, but this simulated performance is better than nothing at all, which is what existed previously. My greatest wish is that these videos will inspire someone with the means to arrange a real performance and hopefully record and publish it so we can hear them in their full glory. If that someone is you, or you know of an existing recording of this, please let me know and I may add a link to this description. Addendum to usual disclaimer: If you know of a chorus that would like to collaborate on this, I could make a version sans-chorus to sing along with so I could release this properly with words and everything.