CD: Herz: Piano Concertos Nos 1, 7 and 8: Shelley/ Tasmanian SO

Few composers that were regarded in their lifetimes as major figures have had quite such a dramatic fall as the Frenchman Henri Herz, born in 1803. A piano virtuoso, he wrote much of his music, including his eight piano concertos, for himself, and not surprisingly they are showy, light and effective.

Herz's success - in Europe and America - attracted the bitter envy of Robert Schumann, who as a music critic delighted in exposing Herz's work as trivial. He was too harsh. While there is little musical weight in these three well-made concertos, superbly performed by Howard Shelley, directing the excellent Tasmanian Orchestra from the keyboard, there is plenty of sparkle and charm, particularly in the dance-finales.

In the previous century, no one would have worried that these works were designed simply to entertain. When Herz died in 1888, on the eve of his 85th birthday, they said his music had predeceased him by several decades.