David Lively - J. Marx: Piano Concerto in E Major "Romantic" & Castelli Romani (2019)

Joseph Marx was an excellent pianist: the hugely demanding solo part of his Romantic Piano Concerto, a ‘symphonic duet’ between piano and orchestra, marks him as a true virtuoso who had also absorbed the heady impressionism of Debussy, Scriabin and Delius. While having no connection with film music, Marx left a multitude of intoxicating melodies that eclipsed the wildest of Hollywood’s dreams. His second piano concerto, Castelli Romani, was inspired by ancient ruins in the wooded hills outside Rome, and is a magical, pyrotechnic display of Mediterranean emotions and masterfully orchestrated atmospheric pictures.