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While everyone else is scrambling to outdo each other, we decided to do something no one else would do and that few here will be interested in, although I have been heartened by the comments received for the others we've done in this series. This release has some stunningly beautiful music, most of which would have fit comfortably in any number of movies. So, read about it and above all listen to the audio samples.
Kritzerland is proud to present another classical release, three incredibly beautiful works on one CD:
THREE PIANO CONCERTOS
Marc Blitzstein, Lee Hoiby, Robert Ward
It’s surprising how many wonderful American piano concertos there are, and how woefully unknown and underperformed they are. And the three concertos presented on this CD are three of the best and most interesting, for differing reasons. Two of them, the Robert Ward and Lee Hoiby are loaded with stunningly beautiful melodies, real tunes, and that real American sound. The third, by Marc Blitzstein, is a little different but equally wonderful in its own way.
The Robert Ward Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is filled with gorgeous melodies and played stunningly by the pianist who debuted the work, Margaret Mitchell, with William Strickland conducting the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra. It was commissioned by the Powder River Foundation for pianist Margaret Mitchell. Mr. Ward’s music is instantly accessible, and the piano concerto is one of his finest works. The concerto was featured on the very first Bay Cities release back in 1989 – it has been newly remastered for this release and sounds more amazing than ever.
The first performance of Lee Hoiby’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra featured John Atkins, the wonderful soloist on this recording. First issued on CD back in 1989, the third album released on Bay Cities. The Lee Hoiby concerto has beautiful and haunting themes throughout, beautifully orchestrated and sounding like a distant cousin of Rachmaninov, but with a distinctly American quality. It has also been newly remastered for this release.
And finally we have the oldest concerto of the three – Marc Blitzstein’s Piano Concerto, written in 1931 when he was only twenty-five. The piece was not premiered until 1986, when the Brooklyn Philharmonic finally brought it to the public. Prior to that it had been heard only twice and both times in a two-piano reduction. And so it remained unperformed while Blitzstein found success in musical theatre and opera. The concerto is a unique and original work, one filled with interesting ideas and unusual touches but one that is still extremely accessible and attractive. Released on CD by CRI, this has also been newly and lovingly remastered with much improved sound.
So, here we have three piano concertos, three American piano concertos, and three completely addictive piano concertos brimming with invention and beauty, in great and definitive performances.
Three Piano Concertos is limited to 500 copies only and priced at $19.98, plus shipping. CDs will ship by the first week of January, but never fear, we’ve actually been averaging three to five weeks early in terms of shipping ahead of the official ship date and we’ll definitely have it to you before Christmas. To place an order, see the cover, or hear audio samples, just visit www.kritzerland.com.
ATTENTION INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTORS: IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE THIS RELEASE YOU MUST OPT-IN BY SENDING US AN E-MAIL – SEND TO kritzerland@gmail.com. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE IT, YOU DON”T NEED TO DO ANYTHING. IF YOU ARE NOT AN INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTOR, ORDER AS YOU NORMALLY WOULD. THANK YOU.
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I am forever grateful to the handful of film music fans who've been taking chances on these releases and showing that they know there are wonderful musical worlds outside of film music, but worlds that are occasionally, and especially the case with our recent classical releases, only a minute away from film music. So to those brave individuals a profound thank you for your open minds and thinking outside the box 
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I agree with Mr. Kimmel that it is strange when folks who love film music seem to have a strong aversion to classical music pieces which, as he notes tongue in cheek (hence the smiley-face), are "only a minute away from film music." I find it odd that anyone would take offence at his post. Just IMHO.
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I agree with Mr. Kimmel that it is strange when folks who love film music seem to have a strong aversion to classical music pieces which, as he notes tongue in cheek (hence the smiley-face), are "only a minute away from film music." I find it odd that anyone would take offence at his post. Just IMHO.
I totally agree - looking forward to this new release.
As someone else once said, "Must be alot of work to take random posts at face value, out of context, and tack on some useless comment."
NK
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I am forever grateful to the handful of film music fans who've been taking chances on these releases and showing that they know there are wonderful musical worlds outside of film music, but worlds that are occasionally, and especially the case with our recent classical releases, only a minute away from film music. So to those brave individuals a profound thank you for your open minds and thinking outside the box
so the rest of us must be cowardly troglodites if we dont buy this product (which is your personal choice of re-releases). Cant wait for the Kritzerland Girl Scout Cookies we'll be obliged to order.
Let's parse this, shall we? I made a post thanking people who think outside the box, take chances, and end up making lovely musical discoveries that are not so far afield from film music. And somehow from this you divine that I think the rest of you must be cowardly troglodytes if you don't buy. You would think by now that you'd know that had I wanted to make THAT post I would have and would have gleefully. I do like the idea of Kritzerland Girl Scout cookies, however, and will look into that. Meanwhile, we'll look forward to more posts from you when we get around to our next Golden Age release - we have a few in the pipeline now, but I'm enjoying confounding everyone. Oh, and finally, do you know what this emoji means?
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Well it wouldn't be out of the box for me, consider the number of piano concertos I already own recordings of...
But I'll be honest these don't really 'do it' for me based on the samples. They are nice but at least the samples don't convey enough to warrent me wanting to buy it (the Blitzstein especially)
But I do hope you're successful with this.
At 500 units it's all good. And thankfully they are all doing well, especially The Crucible, which only has about 100 left and that was a lucky no charge licensing deal so we've more than made profit from it, as we really only had to sell about 150 to break even.
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I love the samples - especially the Ward. I'm going to have to do some serious budget examination to try to squeeze this one in.
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I do like the idea of Kritzerland Girl Scout cookies, however, and will look into that.
Please do! How about a run of 500 units of Wild Strawberries flavor or maybe Fried Green Tomatoes?
NK
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I want to give this threat a bump to recommend these three piano concertos. This is a magnificent Kritzerland release and I salute Bruce for making them available. All three concertos are tuneful, dramatic, kinetic, lyrical - in short, catnip for your given film score enthusiast (or just plain fan of superlative orchestral music!). I've been playing this disc to death for the last several weeks and have yet to tire of it.
Thanks, Bruce!
The other classical releases, especially The Crucible and Claus Ogerman, have done very well. I knew this one would be slower, but there is no way I wasn't doing it, especially for the Blitzstein, where we improved the sound of the previous release about 1000%. There are more classical releases coming in a couple of months. I love being able to do them, and people do seem to somehow find them. The Rachmaninov/Stokowski has also done surprisingly well, and the big shocker is The Red Shoes, which is almost sold out.
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