Thalberg - L’Art du chant
£26.55
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Label: BIS
Cat No: BIS2515
Format: Hybrid SACD
Number of Discs: 2
Genre: Instrumental
Release Date: 6th November 2020
Contents
About
A giant in nineteenth-century pianism, Thalberg was born in 1812, the year after Franz Liszt, his greatest rival on the international concert circuit. In comparison to the latter, Thalberg was often singled out for his ability to make the piano sing, an art which he himself highlighted in a collection of transcriptions aptly named The Art of Singing Applied to the Piano. Published between 1853 and 1863, the collection included Thalberg’s adaptations of popular arias by Bellini, Rossini and Weber and songs by Beethoven and Schubert, but also other vocal works, such as Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem. This nowadays little-known but fascinating chapter in the history of pianism is presented by Paul Wee, together with a substantial booklet which includes his own liner notes as well as Thalberg’s foreword, with the master’s advice to those who want their keyboards to sing.
Sound/Video
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1L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series I (1853): 1. A te, o cara (Bellini: I puritani)
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2L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series I (1853): 2. Tre giorni (Pergolesi)
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3L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series I (1853): 3. Adelaïde (Beethoven)
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4L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series I (1853): 4. Pietà, signore (attr. Stradella)
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5L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series I (1853): 5a. Lacrimosa (Mozart: Requiem)
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6L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series I (1853): 5b. Sull’aria (Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro)
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7L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series I (1853): 6. Perchè mi guardi e piangi (Rossini: Zelmira)
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8L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series II (1853–54): 7. Bella adorate incognita (Mercadante: Il giuramento)
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9L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series II (1853–54): 8. Nel silenzio fra l’orror (Meyerbeer: Il crociato in Egitto)
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10L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series II (1853–54): 9. Einsam bin ich nicht alleine (Weber: Preciosa)
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11L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series II (1853–54): 10. Der Müller und der Bach (Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin)
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12L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series II (1853–54): 11. Schelm, halt fest! (Weber: Der Freischütz)
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13L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series II (1853–54): 12. Il mio tesoro (Mozart: Don Giovanni)
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14L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series III (1861): 13. Sérénade (Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia)
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15L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series III (1861): 14. La dove prende [Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen] (Mozart: Die Zauberflöte)
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16L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series III (1861): 15. Barcarolle (Donizetti: Gianni di Calais)
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17L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series III (1861): 16a. Protegga il giusto cielo (Mozart: Don Giovanni)
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18L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series III (1861): 16b. Là ci darem la mano (Mozart: Don Giovanni)
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19L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series III (1861): 17. Sérénade (Grétry: L’Amant jaloux)
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20L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series III (1861): 18. Assisa a’ piè d’un salice (Rossini: Otello)
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21L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series IV (1863): 19. Casta diva (Bellini: Norma)
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22L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series IV (1863): 20. Voi che sapete (Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro)
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23L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series IV (1863): 21. Fröhliche Klänge, Tänze, Gesänge (Weber: Euryanthe)
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24L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series IV (1863): 22. Dafydd y garreg wen (ancient bardic aria)
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25L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series IV (1863): 23. Ein Mädchen, das auf Ehre hielt (Haydn: Die Jahreszeiten)
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26L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, op.7 – Series IV (1863): 24. Fenesta vascia (Neapoliatn song)
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273 Schubert Lieder, op.79a: 1. Täuschung (Winterreise)
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283 Schubert Lieder, op.79a: 2. Der Neugierige (Die schöne Müllerin)
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293 Schubert Lieder, op.79a: 3. Die Post (Winterreise)
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30Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (Mendelssohn) (1863)
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3110 Piano Pieces, op.36 (1839): 3. Mi manca la voce (Rossini: Mosè in Egitto)
Europadisc Review
Wee has already attracted great critical acclaim for his dazzling disc of Alkan’s Symphony and Concerto for solo piano. Now he turns a serious spotlight onto Thalberg, centring on the four series of transcriptions that make up L’Art du Chant appliqué au Piano (1853–63) (‘The Art of Singing applied to the Piano’). Thalberg’s greatest talents in composition were as a transcriber of works of the great masters, rather than creating original works of his own (those that survive are of negligible interest). But although he made a lucrative career as a virtuoso, it is significant that some of the most positive contemporary assessments of his playing praised its beauty of tone and cantabile tone: ‘so full, so round, so velvety, so sweet, and still so strong!’ as one writer put it in 1857. That combination of beauty and strength emerges fully in this recording, in transcriptions that are remarkable more for their tasteful restraint and fidelity to the originals, as well as their brilliantly realised illusion of making the piano (essentially a percussive instrument) ‘sing’.
Thalberg cast his net wide in seeking the finest examples of bel canto art to transfer to the piano keyboard. Mozart, Rossini and Bellini are all well represented, but there’s also Pergolesi, Stradella, Grétry, and (in a nod to the Germanic tradition) Weber, Schubert and Haydn, as well as folksong. As Wee himself notes, ‘The transposition of these well-known vocal works into the medium of the piano can throw different aspects of these works into sharper relief’. Certainly the inclusion of Beethoven’s glorious Adelaïde in the first series in such close proximity to Pergolesi, Stradella and Bellini highlights its indebtedness to the Italianate tradition, in a transcription that combines richness with decorum. Stradella’s Pietà, signore is marvellously sonorous and deeply devotional, followed by an exquisite setting of the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem, itself succeeded, in an unlikely but successful segue, by ‘Sull’aria’ from The Marriage of Figaro. Of other operatic excerpts in the first two series, ‘A te, o cara’ from Bellini’s I puritani, which opens the collection, is an exemplary instance of the ‘vocal’ qualities of Thalberg’s art, and of Paul Wee’s fantastically sensitive playing, while ‘Nel silenzio’ from Rossini’s Il Crociato is a rare instance in this cycle of overt virtuosity, building to thunderous climaxes and tremendously entertaining.
Excerpts from Weber’s Preciosa and Der Freischütz, as well as ‘Der Müller und der Bach’ from Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin highlight the very different feel of the German tradition, yet still highlight the marvellously vocal qualities of the originals. Later highlights include a spellbinding transcription of the trio ‘Protegga il giusto cielo’ from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and a version of ‘Là ci darem la mano’ that is notably more faithful to the colours and spirit of the original than more celebrated versions by Chopin and Liszt. The Barcarolle from Donizetti’s Gianni di Calais builds from a gently lapping opening to huge waves of sound, and Wee finds incredible delicacy and fragility of tone for ‘Assisa a’ piè d’un salice’ from Rossini’s Otello. ‘Casta diva’ from Bellini’s Norma is another exquisitely realised number, and a must in any collection of this nature, as is the splendidly colourful yet tasteful ’Voi che sapete’ from Figaro. Welsh and Neapolitan folksongs, together with an aria from Haydn’s The Seasons round out a collection that is a sort of Record of Singing of its time. To have the entire series on disc is a hugely important addition to the catalogue.
Generous bonuses come in the shape of three Schubert songs, Mendelssohn’s perennially popular On Wings of Song, and finally ‘Mi manca la voce’ from Rossini’s Moses, an extraordinary transcription in which the four voices of this quartet are woven into and around the accompaniment (requiring three staves of music for legibility!).
Paul Wee’s own extensive and absorbing booklet notes form an insightful guide to Thalberg and his music as well as to the recording itself, and the helpful inclusion of the full text of Thalberg’s preface to L’Art du Chant will be required reading for pianists and pianophiles of all hues seeking a deeper understanding of the art of making the piano ’sing’. Similarly, these discs are essential listening for lovers of the grand tradition of 19th-century pianism: two hours and twenty minutes of pure delight which can be dipped into at one’s lleisure for limitless enjoyment. It’s a remarkable achievement from this brilliant young pianist – the more so as this is essentially his ‘hobby’: his day job is as a successful lawyer!
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