Henri Herz - Grande polonaise brillante for piano and orchestra, Op. 30

0:00 I. Introduction: Larghetto
3:05 II. Allegro non troppo

The Grande polonaise brillante, Op 30 was published in 1827. This is intriguing, since to many ears there are a number of passages, not least the main theme of the polonaise, that sound distinctly Chopinesque (the only piece here which could be so described). Yet the Polish composer, Herz’s junior by only seven years, did not compose his popular Grande polonaise, Op 22, until 1830, shortly before arriving on Herz’s Parisian home patch in mid-September 1831 (the Andante spianato which precedes Chopin’s work was not added until 1834). Coincidence, serendipity or simply the inevitable result of cross-fertilization? On the other hand, Ignaz Moscheles, who befriended Herz in 1821 and whose style had a profound influence on the younger man, had composed several years earlier a Polonaise précédée d’une Introduction pour piano, Op 19. We can only speculate as to who heard what and when, and whether any of the works influenced the others. Herz’s Grande polonaise, typical of the scintillating crowd-pleasing Parisian style of the day, deserves a place in the repertoire just as much as Chopin’s—and it could achieve that if only more artists, concert promoters and audiences looked beyond the ‘brand names’ of nineteenth-century piano music.
(from Hyperion)

Howard Shelley, pianist and conductor
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra