ITALIAN INSPIRATIONS s Variation XVIII [0.30] d Variation XIX [0.23] f Variation XX [0.50] in D minor after Alessando Marcello, BWV 974 g Coda [1.44] (1685-1750) Quaderno musicale di Annalibera 1 I. Andante Spiccato [2.27] Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975) 2 II. Adagio [3.34] h I. Simbolo [2.36] 3 III. Presto [3.49] j II. Accenti [0.30] Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 k III. Contrapunctus primus [1.08] Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) l IV. Linee [0.47] 4 Theme [0.54] ; V. Contrapunctus secondus [0.19] 5 Variation I [0.44] VI. Fregi [1.23] 6 Variation II [0.35] z VII. Andantino amoroso e contrapunctus tertius [1.22] 7 Variation III [0.32] x VIII. Ritmi [1.10] 8 Variations IV & V [1.13] c IX. Colore [1.11] 9 Variation VI [0.19] v X. Ombre [1.47] 0 Variation VII [0.23] b XI. Quartina [1.34] q Variation VIII [0.58] n St. François d’Assise: La prédication aux oiseaux, S. 175 No. 1 [8.50] w Variation IX [0.55] Franz Liszt (1811-1886) e Variation X [0.32] r Variation XI [0.22] m Après une Lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi sonata, S. 161 No. 7 [14.59] t Variation XII [0.35] Franz Liszt y Variation XIII [0.28] u Intermezzo [1.13] Total timings: [64.33] i Variation XIV [1.00] o Variation XV [1.30] p Variation XVI [0.31] a Variation XVII [0.53] ALESSIO BAX PIANO

www.signumrecords.com Artist’s Note Johann Sebastian Bach E minor, Op. 1, No. 2; and the Concerto in (Born March 21, 1685, Eisenach; D minor after Alessandro Marcello’s Oboe As a pianist, one has to be very creative when works connected to by the subject matter died July 28, 1750, Leipzig) Concerto (frequently misattributed to Benedetto). thinking of an Italian program. There is almost that inspired them: St. François d’Assise: La Concerto in D minor, BWV 974 (1713–14), a total dearth of Romantic piano music from prédication aux oiseaux is at once stunning after , S D935, While presumably drawn to the expressive Italy, most likely because of the prominence of and elusive, while – in only around 15 minutes by Alessandro Marcello character of his Italian counterparts’ music opera during that period. – Après une Lecture du Dante: Fantasia (one surmises that the Brandenburg Concerti, quasi Sonata takes both listener and pianist The influence of JS Bach’s contemporaries on in their dramatic power and instrumental However, Italy has always had great music and on a multi-legged journey through hell, purgatory his compositional output is in ample evidence panache, owe a debt to L’estro armonico), Bach’s has always inspired people. I open my program and heaven, with so much beauty and drama throughout his vast oeuvre. The composer’s keyboard arrangements are more than mere with a transcription – by none other than along the way. It’s always a thrilling ride! son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, lists a number of homage. The consummate keyboard virtuoso, Johann Sebastian Bach – of an oboe concerto these in his correspondence with Johann Bach demonstrates in these transcriptions by the Venetian composer Alessandro Marcello, Alessio Bax Nikolaus Forkel, Sebastian’s biographer, in 1775: great imagination and originality in writing which not only showcases this wonderful music Caldara, Fux, Handel, Hasse, Telemann, Zelenka, for his instrument. From the Marcello Oboe but also reveals deep insight into Bach’s among many others. Concerto’s Andante e spiccato first movement, mind. I follow it with Rachmaninov’s last Bach unlocks a kaleidoscopic variety of solo piano piece, a set of amazing variations Strangely missing from CPE Bach’s list are keyboard textures, from razor-sharp two-part on Corelli’s La Folia. This very simple theme and both Marcellos, the counterpoint to the dense fusillade of seven- (originally of Portuguese origins) becomes brothers Alessandro and Benedetto: Italian and eight-voice chords that precedes its the vehicle for an incredible exploration of the masters in whose music Bach undoubtedly final cadence. Marcello’s luxuriously mournful piano’s dramatic potential. As Rachmaninov’s took keen interest. Yet Bach (the elder) himself Adagio is transfigured into an introspective last solo work, it is perhaps his most eloquent, made explicit his penchant for the music of soliloquy; notably, where Marcello provides introspective and personal. The Dallapiccola these composers through his arrangements melodic scaffolding for the oboist’s is a beautifully crafted work. While strictly of their concerti for solo keyboard: a set of ornamentation, Bach notates his trills, turns, abiding to the rules of dodecaphonism, it sixteen (BWV 972-987) composed and flourishes, offering a lens into his art as a manages to create a stunning sound world, between 1713 and 1714 exclusively comprises keyboard player. The Concerto’s Presto finale made of subtle gestures, pauses, colors and arrangements of other composers’ work, blazes with the Italianate fire that so entranced highly expressive harmonies which draw in including six by Vivaldi; one, in C Minor, Bach: an element exquisitely translated in his the listener. I complete my program with two after ’s Violin Concerto in Bach’s version.

- 4 - - 5 - Sergei Rachmaninov twenty-first century finds Rachmaninov’s image his essentially neo-Romantic language, their The music remains in stern D minor almost (Born March 20/April 1, 1873, Oneg; rehabilitated, and, indeed, his artistic legacy textural clarity, piquant rhythmic character, and exclusively. One of the work’s most remarkable died March 28, 1943, Beverly Hills, CA) more compelling than ever before. While the chromatic harmonies are strikingly modern. moments comes with the cadenza-like Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 (1931) pop-star sheen of his performing career has long (In these respects, and also in their unforgiving Intermezzo between Variations 13 and 14 – since faded, Rachmaninov endures as one of virtuosic demands, the Variations prefigure after which a gentle chorale, piano, cantabile In the years following his death, with manifold the repertoire’s most cherished, and most the famous Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, (Variation 14) and a dolcissimo lullaby strains of modernism animating an increasingly performed, composers. His catalogue of solo Op. 43, for piano and orchestra, composed (Variation 15) appear in D-flat major. Following contentious musical landscape, the unabashed works for his own instrument rests at the three years later.) the unrelenting D-minor severity of the previous Romanticism of Rachmaninov’s compositional center of that legacy, and likewise occupies thirteen variations, these feel like a warm embrace. language did his legacy no favors. Writing in a place of distinction in the piano literature, Witness the first variation: immediately after the 1954 edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music representing a benchmark of pianistic technique presenting the theme, simply, ruminatively, piano Variation 16 (Allegro vivace) marks a jarring and Musicians, Eric Blom infamously asserted and virtuosity. e cantabile, Rachmaninov sets it against a reentry into D minor, and the work remains in that Rachmaninov, belying the celebrity he rumble of sixteenth notes, unsettled by that wintry key through the increasingly achieved in his lifetime as composer, pianist, In his Variations on a Theme of Corelli, syncopated accents in the bass. Variation adrenalized subsequent variations culminating and conductor, “did not have the individuality Op. 42 – which would be his final work for 3, ostensibly a minuet, likewise features in the twentieth variation’s thunderous cannon of Taneyev or Medtner.” Blom went on to predict, solo piano, despite being completed in 1931, offbeat accents and rhythmic chicanery. fire. The set ends with an introspective Andante “The enormous popular success some few of twelve years before the composer’s death – coda, colored by evocative harmonies en route Rakhmaninov’s works had in his lifetime is Rachmaninov seems indeed to eschew the Crystalline textures reflect Rachmaninov’s to a haunting, pianissimo conclusion. not likely to last, and musicians never regarded it early twentieth century’s modernist impulses, incisive understanding of his instrument, with much favour.” drawing from historical material. The whether in the dreamlike haze of the Andante Luigi Dallapiccola variations are not actually based on an original fourth variation and the Adagio misterioso (Born February 3, 1904, Pisino d’Istria; Hindsight half a century hence has reinforced Corelli theme, but on La folia, a traditional eighth variation; in quick marcato, staccato died February 19, 1975, Florence) the music critic Harold C Schonberg’s acute tune adopted by Corelli in his Sonata, Op. 5, passagework, as in Variations 5, 6, and 12; Quaderno musicale di Annalibera (1952) dismissal of Blom’s assessment as “one of No. 12, as well as by numerous other composers or in the lithe Mendelssohnian runs of Variation the most outrageously snobbish and even stupid throughout history (including Vivaldi; Brahms, 10 Allegro scherzando. More than two centuries after Johann Sebastian statements in a work that is supposed to be in his Sextet in B-flat Major, Op. 18; et al.). Bach based his 16 Concertos, BWV 972-987, an objective reference.” (Schonberg did Indeed, it is primarily via textural, rather on his Italian contemporaries Vivaldi, Torelli, acknowledge that Blom was only articulating Yet Rachmaninov’s Variations nevertheless than harmonic, contrast that Rachmaninov and Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello, a leading the day’s prevailing critical thought.) The early are distinctly of their time. While reflecting achieves variety of character throughout. voice in Italian music would return the salute.

- 6 - - 7 - In 1952, Luigi Dallapiccola, Italy’s leading secondus, Contrapunctus tertius (the last in Liszt’s extensive oeuvre of piano music second volume of his Années de pèlerinage proponent of twelve-note serialism, composed of these a canon cancrizans, in which the main utterly transformed composers’ approach to (Years of Pilgrimage). These were inspired by Quaderno musicale di Annalibera (Annalibera’s theme is taken up by a second voice in reverse). the instrument for subsequent generations. artworks of Michelangelo and Raphael, the musical notebook), a collection of eleven Liszt’s music for solo piano not only redefined sonnets of Petrarch, and, in the case of the miniatures for solo piano, dedicated to his Upon cursory listening, the Quaderno musicale the standard of keyboard virtuosity; it volume’s final work,Aprés une Lecture du daughter Annalibera on her eighth birthday. While di Annalibera appears severe in character, yet equally demonstrates a bold compositional Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata, Dante’s Divine its title page immediately evokes the time spent within its pages reveals lyricism imagination, serving as a laboratory for Comedy. Liszt completed the Dante Sonata Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach, the and tenderness beneath its macho veneer. Liszt’s radical new methods of thematic (as it is commonly known) in 1849, taking Baroque master’s gift to his second wife, the Moreover, as with Bach’s music, the Quaderno development and experiments with harmony its formal title from a poem by Victor Hugo. music of Quaderno musicale does not musicale makes a virtue of marrying technical and form – innovations that made Liszt the It is essentially a single-movement piano immediately conjure the composer’s familial rigor with expressive depth. In this, Dallapiccola most influential composer of the New German sonata, comprising two main subjects: first, affection. Here is music representative of has fashioned a work as reverent of his School, the progressive vanguard of Western a slithering chromatic theme in D minor, a Dallapiccola’s most uncompromising artistic ancestry as it is affectionate towards his music in the latter half of the nineteenth key rich with infernal associations (cf. dodecaphonic technique. Likewise does it pay own progeny. century that included Wagner and Berlioz. Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Requiem, Schubert’s explicit homage to Bach: the fi rst movement, Der Tod und das Mädchen, Liszt’s own “Simbolo” (Symbol), begins with a statement of Franz Liszt It was Liszt’s and the New German School’s Totentanz, et al.), and built on a descending Bach’s musical cipher – the notes B–A–C–H (the (Born Raiding, October 22, 1811; conviction that “new wine demands new tritone, the dreaded diabolus in musica. Here, German notational spelling for B-fl at–A–C–B- died Bayreuth, July 31, 1886) bottles” – that the traditional forms of in no uncertain terms, is Liszt’s depiction natural) – over an oscillating staccatissimo bass St. François d’Assise: Le prédication aux oiseaux, sonata, string quartet, and symphony were of damnation. The proceedings feature devilish line. That motif recurs throughout the haunting S. 175/1 (1863) no longer sufficient to contain the sweep of virtuosity indeed. The counterbalance of movement. Aprés une Lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi their musical vision. In place of symphonies, Paradise comes in the form of the second Sonata, S. 161 (1849) Liszt created “symphonic poems”: single- theme, a chorale in F-sharp major – according Subsequent movements alternate between movement orchestral works based on to biographer Alan Walker, Liszt’s “beatific” hyper-expressionist vignettes – the thorny Few composer-virtuosi have influenced the narrative programs (eg, Tasso, Hamlet, Orpheus, key, shared with his Bénédiction de Dieu dans Accenti; the broad Fregi (Friezes), marked literature for their instrument as consequentially Prometheus – heroic figures with whom, nota la solitude and Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este. dolcissimo, ma intenso – and ephemeral as Franz Liszt. For while, certainly, the sonatas bene, Liszt surely identified). His piano music, displays of contrapuntal ingenuity, given and concerti of Mozart and Beethoven endure likewise, responded to extramusical prompts. The seraphic serenity of the Dante Sonata’s names redolent of Bach’s Die Kunst der as the foundation of the Western piano Between 1838 and 1861, Liszt created a cycle Paradise theme surfaces again in the first of Fuge: Contapunctus primus, Contrapunctus literature, the startling originality demonstrated of seven works that would constitute the Liszt’s Deux légendes, composed in 1863.

- 8 - - 9 - St. François d’Assise: Le prédication aux oiseaux is based on the story of St. Francis of Assisi (subsequently recognized as the patron saint of animals) delivering a sermon to a mass of birds, who remained in rapt attention. Liszt was moved to create a work on this tale after witnessing thousands of sparrows ascend over a hill in the Italian countryside. His music captures the scene’s tranquil air, belying the considerable technical prowess required: the faithful twittering of Francis’s audience of birds requires constant changes between right and left hand to facilitate the trills in the piano’s upper register. A benevolent recitative, the voice of Francis, punctuates the birds’ cacophonous rapture.

© 2019 Patrick Castillo

- 10 - - 11 - ALESSIO BAX He undertakes Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto Auckland Philharmonia debut, concerts in and Choral Fantasy with the Santa Barbara Israel, a Japanese tour featuring dates with Combining exceptional lyricism and insight Symphony; plays the same composer’s complete the Tokyo Symphony, U.S. collaborations with with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is works for cello and piano with the Emerson Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Edo de Waart, a without a doubt “among the most remarkable String Quartet’s Paul Watkins, at Chamber high-profile US tour with Berlin Philharmonic young pianists now before the public” Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) and on principal flutist , and two (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence a forthcoming recording; performs trios solo recitals marking his return to the with First Prize wins at both the Leeds and in Santiago and Rio de Janeiro with Berlin prestigious Mozarteum Argentino series at Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions, Philharmonic concertmaster Buenos Aires’s Teatro Colón. Recent seasons and is now a familiar face on five continents, and French horn virtuoso Radovan Vlatković; also saw Bax make his solo recital debut not only as a recitalist and chamber musician, and embarks on multiple US and European at London’s Wigmore Hall, which aired live but also as a concerto soloist who has appeared recital tours with superstar violinist Joshua on BBC Radio 3, and give concerts at LA’s with more than 100 orchestras, including the Bell. After headlining the North Carolina Disney Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, London, Royal, and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony’s season-opening concerts together, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 2009, he Orchestras, the Boston, , Cincinnati, Bax and his regular piano partner, Lucille was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Chung, give duo recitals in New York, New and four years later he received both the Orchestras, and the NHK Symphony in Japan, Haven, Atlanta, and South America. He Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and the collaborating with such eminent conductors rounds out the season with a full summer Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists. as , Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew highlighted by his fourth season as Artistic Davis, Sir , Yuri Temirkanov, and Director of Tuscany’s Incontri in Terra di Bax’s celebrated Signum Classics discography Jaap van Zweden. Siena festival. includes Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” and “Moonlight” Sonatas (a Gramophone “Editor’s Bax explores many facets of his career in Bax revisited Mozart’s K. 491 and K. 595 Choice”); Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto; the 2019-20 season. This disc is his eleventh concertos, as heard on Alessio Bax Plays Bax & Chung, a duo disc with Lucille Chung; with Signum Classics, the programme of which Mozart, for his debuts with the Boston and Alessio Bax plays Mozart, recorded with will be the vehicle for a solo recital debut Melbourne Symphonies, both with Sir Andrew London’s Southbank Sinfonia; Alessio Bax: at New York’s 92nd Street Y. A further debut Davis, and with the Sydney Symphony, which Scriabin & Mussorgsky (named “Recording of follows with the Milwaukee Symphony, where he led himself from the keyboard. Other the Month and quite possibly of the year” by

he plays Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto. © Marco Borggreve 2018-19 highlights included the pianist’s MusicWeb International); Alessio Bax plays

- 12 - - 13 - Brahms (a Gramophone “Critics’ Choice”); Bach Transcribed; and Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies (an American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice 2011”). Recorded for Warner Classics, his Baroque Reflections album was also a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice.” He performed Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata for Daniel Barenboim in the PBS-TV documentary Barenboim on Beethoven: Masterclass, available Recorded in the Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, Snape, Suffolk, UK from 18th to 20th December 2018 on DVD from EMI. Producer – Anna Barry Recording Engineer – Mike Hatch At age 14, Bax graduated with top honors from Editor – Tom Mungall the conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Cover Image – © Marco Borggreve Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he Design and Artwork – Woven Design www.wovendesign.co.uk moved to the United States in 1994. A P 2020 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Signum Records Ltd Steinway artist, he lives in New York City © 2020 The copyright in this CD booklet, notes and design is owned by Signum Records Ltd with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer liable to an action Mila. He joins the piano faculty of Boston’s by law. Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored New England Conservatory in fall 2019. in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd.

SignumClassics, Signum Records Ltd., Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middlesex, UB6 7LQ, UK. +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 E-mail: [email protected] www.signumrecords.com

- 14 - - 15 - ALSO AVAILABLE on signumclassics

Lullabies for Mila Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 Alessio Bax & Works for Solo Piano SIGCD439 Alessio Bax Southbank Sinfonia, “This unselfconscious and simple playing is the most appealing SIGCD525 to us all, infants and adults alike. I found myself greatly enjoying this calming recording and surprisingly relaxed. A “Bax’s playing is consummately lyrical … this is an impressive beautiful achievement without verging into the saccharine” disc, which repays repeated listening and can stand comparison NE:MM with many of the biggest names.” Gramophone

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- 20 - CTP Template: CD_INL1 COLOURS Compact Disc Back Inlay CYAN Customer SignumClassics MAGENTA YELLOW Catalogue No.SIGCD611 BLACK Job Title: Italian Inspirations SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD611

ITALIAN INSPIRATIONS ALESSIO BAX

ITALIAN INSPIRATIONS

1 - 3 Concerto in D Minor after Alessando Marcello, BWV 974 J S Bach [9.50] 4 - g Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 S Rachmaninov [17.04] h - b Quaderno musicale di Annalibera L Dallapiccola [13.47] n St. François d’Assise: La prédication aux oiseaux, S. 175/1 F Liszt [8.50] m Après une Lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi sonata, S. 161/7 F Liszt [14.59]

Total timings:

ALESSIO BAX ALESSIO ITALIAN INSPIRATIONS [64.33]

ALESSIO BAX PIANO

LC15723 Signum Records Ltd, Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, SIGCD611 Perivale, Middlesex UB6 7LQ, United Kingdom. P 2020 Signum Records DDD SIGCD611 © 2020 Signum Records www.signumrecords.com 24 bit digital recording 6 35212 06112 1 SIGNUM CLASSICS