Mats Widlund - Hilding Rosenberg: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (1998)

The two piano concertos recorded here are central to Hilding Rosenberg's output and receive illustrious performances by Mats Widlund (who also gave the world premier performance of the first concerto, a work that was rediscovered in 1991).
The Piano Concerto no 1 opens with Brahmsian fervor. Enveloped in an unabashed late Romantic idiom the glittering cascade of piano runs that governs the opening movement, this work is surely one of the most powerful pieces of Swedish music. By contrast, the second movement, Andante expressivo, is contemplative in character. Calm and processional, the movement moves in a majestic pace, slowly building to an intense degree of power before fading out on a wisp of violins.
The Second Piano Concerto also begins in a bold manner but this time the music evokes Bartók. After giving way to a lyrical passage for strings the first movement moves into a lovely cantabile theme played by the piano before ending in a forthright blaze from the full orchestra. The Andante continues in a Bartókian vein but laced with Rosenberg's irresistible Romantic proclivities while the final and exhilarating Allegro giusto revisits the bracing momentum that was established in the first movement.