Henri Herz (1803-1888) was yet another one of those virtuoso composer/performers whose music was very popular in its day, but which has disappeared from sight since. He was a great crowd pleaser and entertainer, and the three concertos here would make excellent “pops” program novelties. All are conservatively tuneful, brilliantly laid out for the soloist, and quite brief (14 — 25 minutes). The Seventh Concerto concludes with a lively “Rondo espagnol” that doesn’t in fact sound at all Spanish, but that doesn’t matter. Neither does the fact that none of the slow movements is longer than about five minutes: in short, we are not dealing here with a high level of profundity. This is, instead, good fun and just the kind of thing that’s nice to have on recordings. Schumann, who gets a rather spiteful thrashing in the otherwise excellent booklet notes, detested Herz for his lack of seriousness, which is of course his most endearing quality.
“Endearing” is also a good way to describe these performances, in which Howard Shelley both plays and conducts an enthusiastic Tasmanian Symphony with panache and class. He tosses off the most finger-twisting licks in the finales with aplomb, and finds something close to poetry in the slow movements, particularly the lovely Romance in the B minor Concerto (No. 7). Excellent balances and warm recorded sound cap yet another success in a series that goes from strength to strength. We can only hope that Hyperion keeps ’em coming for the next few decades. God knows there’s probably enough music!
