Paderewski’s two romantic gewgaws for piano and orchestra are neatly coupled and performed by Ewa Kupiec and the Frankfurt RSO under Hugh Wolff. Alas, such music, despite Josef Manhart’s quaint claims in his accompanying essay (he sees Paderewski as ‘the legitimate heir to Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Liszt’, notes how ‘the iron hand of economy is everywhere in force, which should not be interpreted to mean a lack of ideas’ and later compares his hero’s music to ‘Schumann’s manner of design, somewhat’) needs the sort of skill and advocacy that can turn charming, if faded, period pieces to scintillating advantage. Kupiec’s rubato (her first entry in the Piano Concerto) is more wilting than winning and, throughout, her small-scaled if affectionate performance lacks the brio and conviction that made Earl Wild’s identical coupling a classic of the romantic catalogue (RCA, 5/71 – nla). Kupiec’s cantabile in the concerto’s beguiling central Romanze is without the ‘full-throated ease’ that can make something memorable out of such unabashed romanticism or the sort of technique that can set the finale dancing and glinting with a thousand lights, rather than outstaying its welcome. The concluding meno mosso climax is sadly undernourished from all concerned and the overall sense of a pleasant but lacklustre performance is emphasized by an unsatisfactory balance between piano and accompaniment.
Wild’s incomparable recording of the concerto has been reissued on Elan but both his performances should have found their rightful place on Philips’s ‘Great Pianists’ series. In conclusion I can only suggest that all true lovers of minor romantic masters resuscitated with transcendental virtuosity should beg, borrow or steal that legendary Earl Wild/Arthur Fiedler LP.'