Album insights
Henri Herz is often dismissed in reference works as a completely insignificant figure who would have deserved to be forgotten as a composer. Despite being recognized as an exceptionally skilled pianist, his works, numbering over 200, are deemed unworthy. It raises questions about how Herz's works can be judged when they have not been printed or performed for over a century, suggesting opinions are sourced from commentators of the 19th century with different aesthetic ideals.
Today, we reside in a time eager to rediscover forgotten music from the past. Access to many long-lost musical scores has been restored, free from German dominance that once dictated musical tastes and norms. The six out of his total eight piano concertos recorded by Howard Shelley for Hyperion provide a broad view of an imaginative composer with a distinctive style.
Born on January 6, 1803 (some sources claim 1806) in Vienna as Heinrich Herz, he studied at the Paris Conservatory from 1816 where he won the first prize in piano in his first year. Transforming into a true Parisian, Henri became the focus of his life in the French capital. He led a creative, active, and successful career as a pianist, composer, teacher, inventor, and piano maker. While Herz was akin to a circus performer as a pianist, his compositions were so triumphant that he outperformed all his colleagues for twelve years until the late 1830s. Though his music style became outdated in the 1840s, his works still hold value, as demonstrated by Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concertos series.
Henri's success led him to stay in the United States until 1851, traveling as far as California and the West Indies before returning as a successful man to Paris. Dying in 1888, the same year as Alkan's passing and the creation of Mahler's 1st Symphony, Franck's D minor Symphony, and Richard Strauss's Don Juan, Herz's musical era had passed. However, his music remains of value, as evidenced in the series Romantic Piano Concertos at Hyperion.
Jeremy Nicholas © 2015