Wright Andrew Night at the Opera (CD) (UK IMPORT)

Description: Further DetailsTitle: Night at the OperaCondition: NewFormat: CDDescription: PRODUKTBESCHREIBUNGEN This disc is a collection of operatic transcriptions and paraphrases for piano: some of them famous, some of them almost unknown. These attractive, crowd-pleasing arrangements cover a kaleidoscope of moods, from the height of passion in Isolde's Liebestod to the melancholy of Thalberg's La Traviata fantasy (and it's blazing virtuoso conclusion). 'The focus of this challengingly virtuosic disc is Andrew Wright, a lover and exponent of the Romantic era, and one whose appreciation of nineteenth-century piano transcription saturates the programme. There's something of the Klaviertiger about him, something too of an element of the pianistic throwback. Given his espoused repertoire and his contribution to it, one feels as if he is situating himself in the continuum of that tradition; thus hyphenated Wright takes it's place alongside hyphenated Liszt and Thalberg, and that represents something of a Himalayan challenge to Wright's credentials. It's a measure of his aplomb that his own transcriptions fail to wilt even in the glare of such declamatory historic precedent. ' - Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International '..This fine recital concludes with Wright's own Concert Fantasy on Giacomo Meyerbeer's (1791-1864) Robert le Diable. There is a spectacular opening before continuing with a lively, robust manner in this piece which contains many attractive themes nicely juxtaposed. There are more extremely taxing passages for the pianist, which Wright throws off with panache and abandon. This is a disc to sit back and enjoy whilst marvelling at the many moments of virtuosity. It is nicely recorded at Reid Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland and has excellent booklet notes by Andrew Wright. ' - Bruce Reader, The Classical Reviewer 'Martucci's splendid Fantasy on Verdi's la Forza del Destino, previously unrecorded on disc, is the first in this sequence of operatic piano transcriptions that includes three plausible excursions into the 19 th century genre by Wright himself. His goal has been to bring together those virtuoso 'duellists' Liszt and Sigismund Thalberg, with a special brief for the latter in his bicentenary year (2012). Thalberg's Concert Fantasy on La Traviata makes a gripping centerpiece - not least because of an immensely sustained high trill - alongside Liszt's glorious version of Isolde's Liebestod. And his rendering of Bellini's aria Casta diva sounds like a Chopin nocturne, fascinatingly reversing the direction of influence. ' - Paul Driver, Sunday Times 'Impressive playing as Andrew Wright walks in the footsteps of the 19 th century pianist-composer giants, including some no-holds-barred-creation of his own.' - Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine 5 star review from Muzyka21.com '65 minutes of pure joy' - David Mellor, Classic FM 'There's an increasing tendency for artists to publish their own recordings without benefit of a label. If they were all as good as this, we wouldn't need the record companies.' ... 'The entire programme is superbly and thrillingly played and the music is full of interest, including some unusual repertoire. The excellent recording copes magnificently with the vast range of tone colour and dynamics demanded by the pianist. This is a disc well worth hearing. Highly recommended.' - MusicWeb International (review from June 2013 issue of Download News) Full track listing: 1. Verdi-Martucci Concert Fantasy on La Forza del Destino 2. Bellini-Thalberg A te, o cara 3. Bellini-Wright Fantasy on La Sonnambula 4. Wagner-Liszt Romance and Recitative 'O, du mein holder Abendstern' from Tannhauser 5. Wagner-Liszt Isolde's Liebestod 6. Wright Thalbergiana 7. Verdi-Thalberg Concert Fantasy on La Traviata 8. Bellini-Thalberg Casta diva 9. Meyerbeer-Wright Concert Fantasy on Robert le Diable Sleeve notes: This disc focuses on the recreative art of transcription and paraphrase. In the mid-19th century such works held a much more prominent place in musical life than nowadays, when they have largely been consigned to the realms of historical footnotes. In the developing era of the travelling virtuoso, and predating the gramophone, these pieces served two principal functions. Firstly, they enabled familiar (typically operatic) themes of the day to be heard without the necessity of visiting the opera house itself, and secondly, they provided the pianist with attractive material for public performance. By far the most significant contributors to this area of the repertoire were Franz Liszt (1811-1886) and Sigismund Thalberg (1812-1871). Between them, they wrote well over a hundred such pieces. The rivalry between these two composer-pianists was to have profound implications for the development of pianistic technique and texture as we know it today. Despite the acclaim accorded both men during their lifetime, posterity has awarded fame to Liszt and obscurity to Thalberg, principally due to the former's greater compositional invention and ingenuity. However, in the year of Thalberg's bicentenary, I felt it appropriate to include several rarely-recorded compositions by this forgotten and neglected composer. Firstly, however, we begin with a youthful rarity by the Italian composer-pianist Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909). Martucci was taught piano by Beniamino Cesi, a pupil of Thalberg, and, as a performer, earned praise from Liszt. He was to exchange the role of pianist for that of conductor, performing a wide exploration of the European musical repertory: indeed he gave the Italian premiere of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. In this composition, Martucci's piano writing demonstrates considerable familiarity with the discoveries of his illustrious predecessors: the filigree ornamentation, sharing of melodies between the hands, and interlocking octaves gesture are characteristic. The performance presented here is the first commercial recording of this paraphrase. Paris in the 1830s played host to a remarkable selection of piano virtuosi - Liszt, Chopin, Thalberg, Alkan, Kalkbrenner, Pixis, Dreyschock and many others - and of these it was Thalberg who came to be Liszt's greatest rival for public acclaim, culminating in a celebrated 'piano duel' in 1837. In contrast to the youthful Liszt, who was very much the flamboyant showman, Thalberg's credo was one of calmness and elegance at the keyboard. Despite this, he was possessed of a formidable technique, his particular trademark being the so-called 'three-handed effect' - a textural device whereby the melody would be shared between the hands whilst, typically, the left hand would play rhythmic accompaniment and the right hand heavily ornamented figuration. Thalberg was fascinated by the process of producing singing lines on the piano and his op. 70, L'art du chant appliqué au piano, is a collection of famous vocal melodies rearranged for the piano. A te, o cara, from Bellini's I Puritani, presented here, forms the first piece within this instructive collection. Both Liszt and Thalberg wrote substantial concert pieces on themes from Bellini's La Sonnambula (Liszt's is exceedingly difficult). My own composition is written in a manner which takes stylistic elements from both composers - Lisztian octave and chordal passages in addition to melodic passages embellished with Thalbergian filigree. The arpeggiated accompaniment surrounding the return of the main theme, the famous aria Ah, non credea mirarti, was a favourite device of Thalberg's. Liszt's transcription of the Recitative and Romance O, du mein holder Abendstern from Wagner's Tannhäuser is unusually literal in his recreation of another man's music. Although Liszt had few qualms in embellishing and often expanding on much of the music he paraphrased, it is perhaps a mark of his respect for Wagner that (with the notable exception of the Fantasy on Themes from Rienzi) his arrangements of Wagner's music tended to be fairly straight transcriptions as opposed to fantasies and paraphrases. Liszt wrote piano arrangements of several sections of Tannhäuser whilst mounting a produGenre: ClassicalArtist: Wright AndrewNo Of Discs: 1Record Label: ImportEAN: 0610696085191 Missing Information?Please contact us if any details are missing and where possible we will add the information to our listing.

Price: 24.56 USD

Location: GU14 0GT

End Time: 2024-12-18T19:36:40.000Z

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