RECORDINGS

Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series has highlighted some viable alternatives to the never-ending rehash of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff concertos. This 18th volume features Korngold’s Left-Hand Concerto, written for one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein. A strenuous, Straussian affair, full of sugar and sweep, saturated harmonies and instrumental hyperactivity, it leaves you wondering what all its fuss is about--is there an unstated lurid scenario?--but it never bores. The “‘Romantisches” Concerto by the forgotten Joseph Marx (1882-1964), heard here in its first recording, comes as welcome relief initially, but it’s soon clear that the composer freely alternates between passages of genuine beauty and generic yada-yada. Canadian virtuoso Hamelin impresses with his energetic acuity and the BBC Scottish romps and thunders as needed.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).