Emil Hartmann was another product of Denmark’s version of the Bach Dynasty – the Hartmann family of musicians, started by Johann Ernst Hartmann in the 18th century in Copenhagen. His dates were 1836-1898 and some of his early education came from his brother-in-law Niels Gade. In Denmark he was in the shadow of his own father, J.P.E. Hartmann, and was mainly an organist at various locations in his country. However, he toured Europe conducting performances of his own music, and for a period divided his time between Germany and Denmark.
The Violin Concerto dates from 1876 and is a tuneful, Germanic-sounding 25-minute work. Hartmann’s shorter Cello Concerto of 1879 was given to a demanding cello virtuoso of the time, who insisted on a showoff cadenza to the first movement. The work was first performed by another cellist and garnered a good press reception. The Piano Concerto comes from 1890 and sounds like many other late-Romantic piano concertos with nothing very identifiably unique, but it’s a lovely work nevertheless. The Canzonetta second movement is especially gentle and melodic. After a Berlin performance, one reviewer described the concerto as “good German music” with no special Nordic character.
All three soloists are topflight, DaCapo’s hi-res surround cannot be faulted, and one gets a lot of varied concertos for one’s investment in this interesting disc.
– John Sunier
