Album Booklet
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A Salon Opera Flauguissimo Duo A Salon Opera Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840) Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829) 1. Cantabile in D major, MS 109, Op. 17 [3:26] Grande Serenade, Op. 82 10. Theme & Variaons [4:22] Franz Schubert (1797–1828) 11. Menueo & Trio [3:18] 2. Frühlingstraum, D.911, Op. 89 No. 11 [3:00] 12. Marcia [4:19] from Die Winterreise, arr. Flauguissimo Duo 13. Allegro brillante [4:57] Flauguissimo Duo 3. An die Nachgall, D.497, Op. 98 No. 1 [1:54] arr. Flauguissimo Duo 4. Heidenröslein, D.257, Op. 3 No. 3 [1:44] Total playing me [51:03] Yu-Wei Hu flute arr. Flauguissimo Duo Johan Löfving guitar Francesco Molino (1768/75–1847) Nourno II, Op. 38 for flute or violin and guitar Original French Tribout guitar, 1850, anonymous, restored by James Westbrook 5. Andante cantabile [2:36] Eight-keyed flute by Marn Wenner, 2011, aer August Grenser, c. 1790 6. Rondo: Allegro [2:59] Fernando Sor (1778–1839) 7. Introducon and Variaons on a Theme of Mozart, Op. 9 [8:40] Introducon: Andante Largo – Theme: Andante Moderato – Variaon I – Variaon II – Variaon III – Variaon IV – Più mosso – Variaon V – Più mosso – Coda Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787) 8. Dance of the Blessed Spirits [5:30] from Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. 30 arr. Flauguissimo Duo About Flauguissimo Duo: Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806–1856) [4:11] ‘Flaust Yu-Wei Hu was sublime and her handling of Gluck and Paganini, 9. Tarantelle, Op. 13 No. 6 accompanied sensively by guitarist Johan Löfving, was my personal highlight’ Early Music Today ‘[...] Young arsts Flauguissimo Duo shine [...] They gave a fine performance that held our aenon throughout’ Classical Guitar Magazine A Salon Opera had their real career in the army. The inspiraon for this album stemmed Interesngly, many composers associated from the prevailing culture of salons where with other instruments at the me were new ideas of polics, science, music and also competent guitarists, such as the literature flourished during the eighteenth diabolical violinist Niccolo Paganini (1782– and nineteenth centuries. Ladies and 1840). He composed a huge amount of gentlemen brought popular tunes from solo and chamber music for guitar with the opera house into their own drawing other instruments and Cantabile in D major, rooms rearranging the music for their Op. 17 is certainly one of the most beloved. own entertainment. The gorgeous, sweeping melody was set to a simple accompaniment; there could The inmate combinaon of flute and hardly be a more suitable overture to guitar was at the very heart of this domesc a salon opera! music-making. Transverse flutes had been established orchestral and chamber Franz Schubert (1797–1828) was one of music instruments since the eighteenth the greatest musical minds of his me and century when many virtuosos travelled all a pivotal figure of the ‘lieder’ repertoire. over the European connent. The newly Franz spent his relavely short life in his developed six-stringed guitar, on the other nave Vienna and performed mostly in hand, had received an unexpected small inmate gatherings known as renaissance and its popularity can easily ‘Schuberades’. These evenings were an be compared to that of the lute three oasis of freedom amongst friends where centuries earlier. However, while its noble music, poetry and thoughts could be ancestor was foremost an instrument of exchanged in a safe and frivolous the courts, the guitar was an instrument environment. of the people. Compared to the highly Yu-Wei Hu Johan Löfving ornate harpsichords and fortepianos, For this disc we have selected and arranged many guitars were cheap, easy to three short songs from different parts of transport and could be used for a his life and it is extraordinary how directly variety of musical entertainments. In the music speaks even without the poetry. fact, during the Napoleonic wars a As a proficient guitarist himself, it is said significant amount of guitar composers that Franz always had a guitar hanging above his bed. It is highly plausible that the guitar’ for a reason. His Variaons on a From one dance to another, the Tarantelle, where noble court dances were oen many of the songs were composed with theme by Mozart, Op. 9, is one of the Op. 13 No. 6 by Johann Kaspar Mertz swily succeeded by rowdier vignees, a guitar in hand, which also explains why most frequently played pieces in the (1806–1856) provides a sharp contrast. just as Don Giovanni himself would have they are so suitable for the instrument. guitar repertoire. The music combines Although the Austro-Hungarian composer had it! The ‘Marcia’ alludes to the dramac operac effects with virtuosic had never set foot on Spanish soil during outdoor qualies of guitars menoned Although Biedermeier Vienna might have brilliancy and this interpretaon is tailored his lifeme, this fiery piece brings our earlier while the final ‘Brillante’ is a had its own classicism, the real capital of for an original nineteenth-century guitar imaginaon to southern Europe where full-blown opera buffa ending with all the guitar music was Paris. As guitars in order to bring out both the rusc and guitar playing is rooted in folk tradions. the joy and excitement more than were in vogue among the newly noble elements of this piece. Surprisingly, Mertz was one of the few enough to fill an opera house let emancipated middle classes, plenty of guitarists of his me inspired by the alone a salon! opportunies emerged for travelling No salon opera would be complete without piano literature; many of his other virtuosos from the south to sele in an actual opera extract and Dance of the composions clearly bear traces of On Interpretaon the French capital. Blessed Spirits from Christoph Willibald Schumann and Mendelssohn. In this Gluck’s (1714–1787) Orfeo ed Euridice, context, the Tarantelle remains unique The wonderful treasure of early-nineteenth- Francesco Molino (1768–1847) was one Wq. 30 is one of the most beauful among his other works. century guitar repertoire of both solo and of them and the Op. 38 Nocturne II operac flute solos. Intriguingly this famous chamber music has long been a source of recorded here represents salon music at piece did not exist in the first edion for Finally we return to Italy, the country inspiraon for us. Fresh, light and joyous its best: charming, sweet and innocent. the Viennese premiere in 1762; it was associated with opera more than any pieces full of gorgeous tunes and The second movement is an unmistakable only added for the performances at the other. Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829) le shimmering virtuosity, they remain at the reference to ‘opera buffa’, with its jaunty Paris Opera in 1774 (along with a new his Italian homeland at an early age in very heart of most guitarists’ repertoire. rondo-mof and soaring melodies. French libreo, high tenor parts and order to make a career in the wealthy more ballet scenes) conforming to the culture capital of Vienna, eventually These hidden gems are mostly operac It is fair to say that Fernando Sor (1778– prevailing tastes in Paris at the me. becoming its leading guitar virtuoso. pieces or folk-inspired dances which might 1839) is one of the most important This opera tells a beauful story of love, Although the operac qualies of Italian have to be approached from a slightly guitar figures not only of the early- life and death in which a mere mortal is ‘bel canto’ remained a major influence different angle to large-scale symphonic Romanc era but of all me. His great determined to confront the immortal throughout his life, Giuliani was also works. This is rhetorical music, based on oeuvre of concert pieces and didacc gods in order to bring back his beloved strongly affected by the Viennese communicaon and shared affects works places him at the heart of the wife from the underworld. The wonderful classicism. This is parcularly apparent between performers and listeners. During guitar repertoire but he was also a music, on the other hand, is a great in the second movement of his Grande the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries composer with wider interests. Ballet, tesmony to a composer who dedicated Serenade, Op. 82 where a simple minuet the musical world was very different to opera and symphonic works by his hand his life to reform the opera scene to a is followed by a trio full of lively scherzo ours; singers were at the centre of all have survived to this day and certainly place of real drama and emoon. character. This musical style was directly musical aracons and even the most earned him the name ‘Beethoven of inspired by the Viennese ballrooms established composers had to accommodate their demands. Obviously not all composers Flauguissimo Duo Yu-Wei Hu (flute) Baroque group Ensemble de Trianon won the were pleased with this state of affairs. Richard III Prize in RCM Early Music One story goes that when famous Flauguissimo Duo was founded by flaust As both a recitalist and orchestral musician, Compeon 2010 and was finalist in the soprano Adelina Pa (1843–1919) sang Yu-Wei Hu and guitarist Johan Löfving in 2008. Yu-Wei has performed baroque and classical Fenton House Compeon 2012. Les Naon one of Rossini’s own arias to him, he Their wide repertoire, spanning from early flutes throughout the UK and Europe, Réunis, the other baroque ensemble she politely asked her who the composer music on period instruments to collaboraons including concerts at MuTh – Konzertsaal co-founded in 2010, is winner of the was! Though we don’t know what kind with new composers, has led to a parcularly der Wiener Sängerknaben, Palace of Internaonal Early Music Compeon of extreme liberes she might have taken diverse performing career.