Ferdinand Ries - Piano Concerto No.6, Op. 123 (1806)

Ferdinand Ries (28 November 1784 [baptised] – 13 January 1838) was a German composer. Ries was a friend, pupil and secretary of Ludwig van Beethoven. He composed eight symphonies, a violin concerto, eight piano concertos, three operas, and numerous other works in many genres, including 26 string quartets. In 1838 he published a collection of reminiscences of his teacher Beethoven, co-written with Franz Wegeler. The symphonies, some chamber works —most of them with piano— his violin concerto and his piano concertos have been recorded, demonstrating a style which is, unsurprising due to his connection to Beethoven, somewhere between those of the Classical and early Romantic eras. Piano Concerto No. 6 in C major, Op. 123 . Bonn, Dedication à Mademoiselle La Barronne Marie D’Eskelles I. Allegro con spirito (0:00) II. Larghetto quasi andante (15:10) III. Introduzione. Adagio maestoso — Rondo. Allegro vivace (21:39) Christopher Hinterhuber, piano and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Uwe Grodd The Piano Concerto No. 6 in C major, Op. 123, by Ferdinand Ries was composed around 1806. Composed in a proto-Romantic style, similar to the concertos of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, it also shows evidence of the influence of Beethoven’s C minor Piano Concerto, Op. 37 which Ries had performed at his public debut in 1804. The manuscript bears the notation “Bonn 1806“, suggesting it was completed there. Allan Badley, in the notes to the Naxos recording comments that this would most likely make it the first of Ries’s eight piano concertos to be written. Further evidence for this lies in the fact that this is the only piano concerto by Ries to provide for a cadenza at the end of the first movement, as was traditional. Publication, as the composers Op. 123 by firm of Sauer & Leidesdorf did not take place until around 1823/24. Details by Allan Badley The C major Concerto was composed not long after Ries completed his studies with Beethoven. The same year he wrote a Piano Sonata in C which, together with a Piano Sonata in A minor, composed two years earlier, in 1804, he published as his Op. 1 with a dedication to Beethoven. The C major Sonata represents a considerable advance over the earlier work and opens with a theme that has some similarities to that of the first movement of the concerto. Unsurprisingly, the imprint of Beethoven can be heard very strongly in both works with echoes of the Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 15, and the C minor Concerto which Ries clearly knew well. Nonetheless, the work is very different in some respects none more so than in the quality of the piano writing, which suggests Hummel rather than Beethoven in much of its detail. Ries’s handling of large-scale musical structures is confident and although he does not develop thematic material with the rigorous concentration of his teacher, he invests the music with great interest and variety through sensitive reworkings, the frequent introduction of new melodic material and the virtuoso’s flair for brilliant decoration. The lovely slow movement has a Mozartian poise and the striking opening with wind alone is a nice touch. The finale opens rather surprisingly with a cadenza before launching off into a cheerful, energetic Rondo that owes a good deal to the finale of Beethoven’s First Concerto.