Following the release of Franz Reizenstein’s Cello Concerto, it is now our pleasure to present to you his Piano Concerto No. 2. Like Berthold Goldschmidt, Reizenstein fled from Berlin to England in 1934, before the immigration laws had been tightened. Generally speaking, Hindemith’s influence dominates in Reizenstein, though his effusive energy producing highly spirited and less sober results clearly distinguishes him from British and American composers like Rawsthorne and Berkeley. Reizenstein himself performed the solo part at the premiere of his Piano Concerto by the BBC Orchestra under Rudolf Schwarz in 1961. What stands out in this concerto is its exuberant virtuosity, which produces brilliant interplay between the soloist and the orchestra. Reizenstein’s Serenade in F numbers among the works adhering more closely to the “New Objectivity” emanating from Germany than to colorful impressionism. The last work heard here is the Cyrano de Bergerac concert overture – a powerful, energetic work and the symphonic portrait of an extremely popular stage figure working with a surprisingly modest orchestral ensemble. Here the composer in no way overlooks Cyrano’s more romantic moments.
