Auber Overtures Volume 5 goes beyond overtures

One thing I like about Dario Salvi's Auber series is the variety. Yes, This release's title is "Overtures 5." But, like the previous volumes, it's more than just a collection of overtures. This time the focus is on two Auber operas: Zanetta, and Zerline. 

Zanetta premiered in 1840. The opera's heroine is the innocent daughter of the royal gardener. She's caught up in a romantic scheme among the nobles that ends happily. 

Auber's overture conveys that youthful innocence. It opens with a simple theme, lightly scored. And even at its climax, the music is spritely and animated. 

Salvi includes a quadrille on the opera's themes. The selection by a contemporary of Auber, Philippe Musard. It's fun hearing how Musard tweaks the themes to fit the dance forms. And the work itself is a testament to Zanetta's popularity at the time. 

Orchestral excerpts from Zerline make up the bulk of the release. The opera tells the story of Zerline's search for her long-lost daughter. And also her efforts to ensure the daughter's well-being by wedding well. 

The story is set in Palmero, which seemed to inspire Auber. The music has an Italiante character to it that works rather well. Several passages reminded me of Rossini. 

The program includes the overture and entr'acte music for the second and third acts. The show-stopper, though, is the third act's Airs de Ballet. 

This is a set piece featuring eight different dances. The airs include a Chinese dance, a children's dance, a folk dance, and a quadrille. Auber gives each dance a very distinct character. I'd love to see this performed on stage.

For conductor Dario Salvi, this series is a labor of love. Not only has made a study of Auber's music but he's also edited it for publication. That knowledge shows in his performances. 

Zanetta and Zerline, though both opera comiques, tell different stories from different perspectives. Salvi brings out those differences. It makes for an engaging program if you listen straight through (as I did). 

Can't wait for volume 6.

Daniel-François-Esprit Auber: Overtures 5
Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra; Dario Salvi, conductor
Naxos 

Paul Lansky Angles -- great chamber music

This is volume 17 of Bridge's Paul Lansky series. It presents four recent compositions by Lansky. And it's an album I really like. The works vary in forces and show this composer at the top of his game. 

"Four's Company" (2018) was composed for David Starobin's guitar class. The work takes four very simple concepts and creates an engaging -- and complex -- movement out of each. The interplay of the lines and development of those simple concepts makes this an engaging listen

The Weis, Kaplan, Stumpf Trio perform Lansky's "Angles." They commissioned the work, and play it with authority and energy. Lansky once again uses simple concepts to build his music. The work is mostly tonal. When the hard-driving rhythms kick in, it almost sounds minimalist. But it isn't. Lansky's ideas develop too quickly and dramatically.

"Springs," for percussion quartet was composed for the artists who perform it here -- the So Quartet. According to Lansky, the music builds up kinetic energy before springing into action. So Percussion is one of the best percussion ensembles in the world. This is a first-rate performance. And speaking as a percussionist, I think the music is first-rate, too.

For the "Color Codas" Lansky presents three works that can be performed individually or as a group. Red, purple, and blue are the inspirations. Lansky composed the work for the Quattro Mani, who perform it here. To me, it sounded like the piano duo was having fun. And why not? 

Lanksy wrote these works in his seventies. But there's nothing old-fashioned about them. To me, they sounded fresh, and in a way, timeless. This volume was a pleasure to explore.

Paul Lansky: Angles
Various Artists
Bridge Records

HyeJin Kim beautifully performs early Clementi

Consider this the origin story. Muzio Clementi had a long and (mostly) successful musical career. He was a pianist, composer, publisher, and piano manufacturer. His popularity at times rivaled that of Haydn and Beethoven, both as a performer and composer. 

There is no shortage of Clementi piano sonata recordings. Most focus on his mid-to-late period works. I've always been curious about what his earliest sonatas sounded like. Where did he start from as a composer?

This release presents some of Clementi's Opus 1 sonatas, published in 1771. They might not be the very first pieces he wrote, but they were the first published. Close enough for this origin story.

By 1771, the fortepiano had almost supplanted the harpsichord. The Galante style was all the rage. And Clementi's Opus 1 sonatas fill the bill. His melodies are simple and tuneful -- like Johann Christian Bach's. The voicing is light, often just two notes at a time -- like Franz Joseph Haydn's.

HyeJin Kim plays these sonatas with a light touch. Her phrasing shapes the music beautifully. Simple scales and arpeggiated chords become meaningful. Subtle changes in volume and attacks add depth.

Also included are sonatas from Clementi's Opus 10 and Opus 12 sets, published in 1783 and 1784. The Classical Era by well underway by this time. Mozart had published his 12th piano sonata. 

Clementi's sonatas acknowledge the bar Mozart raised. These are much more complex pieces, with more fully-developed themes. 

Clementi was still composing with the amateur market in mind. But these works require a higher degree of skill than the beginner. 

Kim shines in these later works. With more substantial material to work with, her innate musicality takes wing. Clementi isn't Beethoven. Even at their most dramatic, these sonatas require a little restraint. Kim manages that, without blunting the impact of double-forte crescendos. 

A nice addition to Naxos' library of Clementi sonatas.  

Muzio Clementi: Keyboard Sonatas
Op. 1, Nos. 1, 2, 4, and 5; Op. 10, Nos. 20 and 3; Op. 12, Nos. 2 and 3
HyeJin Kim, piano
Naxos 8.574171

#ClassicsaDay #WomensHistoryMonth Week 4 2022

The Classics a Day team chose Women's History Month as the theme for March. Actually, it's been the March theme for the past five years. And there are still many composers to explore.

As always, I try to shore works I haven't posted before. And as always for this month, I'm posting works by composers I've just discovered (both past and present). Here are my #ClassicsaDay posts for the fourth week of #WomensHistoryMonth.

03/21/22 Ina Boyle (1889-1967) - The Magic Harp

Circumstances forced Boyle to remain home-bound for most of her life. Nevertheless, she composed every day and continually corresponded with conductors and orchestras for performances. This orchestral rhapsody is one of the few works published during her lifetime.

03/22/22/ Dora Pejacevic (1885-1923) - Symphony in F sharp minor, Op. 41

This work was the first modern symphony by a Croatian composer. Pejacevic is considered not just an important female composer in Croatia, but one ot he country's most important composers, full stop.

08/23/22 Maddalena Casulana (c.1540–c.1590) - O notte o ciel o mar

Casulana holds the distinction of being the first femal to have an entire book of her music published (in western classical music history). In fact, she published two collections of her music.

03/24/22 Julie Pinel (fl.1710-1737) - Printemps

Not much is known about this French composer and harpsicordist. She was part of the Pinel family of court musicians, and published one collection of songs in 1737.

03/25/22 Tekla Badarzewska-Baranowska (1834–1861) - L'Espérance

This Polish composer studied at the Warsaw Institute of Music in 1875. She wrote 35 compositions, all of them for solo piano.

Amy Beach Works for Piano Duo Twice as Nice

Everything is relative. This release features music by a relatively obscure composer. Further, it features a relatively obscure part of her catalog. The result is a program of exceptionally well-crafted music. Music that reveals new depths with repeated listening. 

I wish Amy Cheney Beach was as familiar with audiences as other 20th Century composers. Her revival has been underway for some time now. But she's still not as well-known as her music merits (in my opinion). 

Beach was a concert pianist as well as a composer. So it's no surprise that some of her strongest compositions are for piano. Here the Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo presents some of her least-performed piano works.

The Variations on Balkan Themes, Op. 60 was first published in 1904 for solo piano. It's challenging work. And so is the two-piano version, written in 1942. Beach takes advantage of the second piano to add depth to the music. The harmonies sound fuller, and some of the passages seem weightier. 

Beach maintains the characteristics of the Balkan folk melodies. But they're filtered through late-Romantic sensibilities. It's a blend that works quite effectively. 

Her Suite for Two Pianos Founded on Old Irish Melodies, Op. 104 does the same. The source material provides inspiration, which Beach develops in a free, rhapsodic manner. I wouldn't program it for St. Patrick's Day, but it's fine music for the rest of the year. 

The album includes two works for piano four-hands. Beach wrote this music for domestic rather than public performances. The music is less demanding for the performers than her piano duo works. But they're no less enjoyable. 

Summer Dreams, Op. 47 is suitably evocative, with light-hearted melodies and some back-and-forth between the players. 

Beach wrote the Three Pieces for Piano Four Hands when she was sixteen. The music shows a composer with a fully-formed sense of style. And a performer with well-developed technique. 

The Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo have been performing together since 1995. Their playing here is what one would expect. Two artists perfectly in synch, creating music with one vision. If you're seeking out music by women, American music, or music for piano duos, check out this release.  You won't be disappointed. I wasn't.

Amy Beach: Complete Works for Piano Duo
Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo
CPO 555 453-2