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Piano Concertos 1 & 2 on CD

Volume 57 in Hyperion's inexhaustible Romantic Piano Concerto series turns up another discovery - the music of Swedish composer Adolf Wiklund. These little-known but lusciously tuneful works are characterized by big-boned symphonic gestures reminiscent of Rachmaninov, all tempered with the Nordic clarity of Grieg. Wiklund's two piano concertos are central to his output, and in fact they enjoyed considerable popularity in Sweden until as recently as fifty years ago, when modernist sensibilities deemed them unfashionable. These glittering performances from Martin Sturfeñlt and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, directed by brilliant violinist-turned-conductor Andrew Manze, are bound to bring this unfairly neglected music back into general currency.