Same Violinist and Orchestra VIOTTI Violin Concertos, Vol

A3 Fanfare V.8 - V.2 Nos. 22-25-26 - Same Violinist and Orchestra VIOTTI Violin Concertos, Vol. 8 • Franco Mezzena (vn, cond); Symphonia Perusina • DYNAMIC CDS 364 (72:44) Concertos: No. 25 in A; No. 26 in B♭; No. 10 in B♭ Unbelievable as it may seem, Viotti's influence as a performer waned even during his lifetime. There can be no doubt about his contribution to violin-playing; but John Huber's dissertation on the development of the violin at the turn of the 19th century reveals how difficult a time Viotti had of it (according to him, Viotti was himself very much a figure of his own time and pointed toward, rather than exemplifying, modern violin-playing). Although the hold of his compositions on students relaxed more slowly, today the parts to his concertos have become difficult to find (although the 22nd and 23rd remain in print). Now in its eighth volume, Dynamic's survey of Viotti's violin concertos is almost complete. It's building to an imposing climax, however, with some of the best coming at the end of the series. Danilo Prefumo's notes relate that 10 of the 29 concertos are in a minor key; so, then, should be roughly one concerto on every recording. Volume 8 appears on the surface of it to be an exception, but the 25th Concerto could as justifiably be identified as minor despite its major designation. (The notes state that the last movement is major; but its minor theme, which, perhaps inspiring that of Paganini's Second Concerto, dances to the accompaniment of a triangle—actually, it's the first movement proper, which really is in A Major, that must have earned the Concerto's key designation.) Except for its slow introduction, individual sections of that 25th Concerto might be mapped into the 22nd, which, despite Brahms's affection, hardly seems superior, if even equal, to it. In general, few shadows darken Viotti's concertos; minors frolic in as bright a sun as do majors. Some concertos, such as No. 26 in B♭ Major, may be more austere than others (although some cleverly piquant figuration enlivens its finale); but none is somber. The 10th Concerto, a more straightforward affair, nevertheless features Viotti's characteristic exuberant passagework. Nobody has ever projected the violin's tone more elegantly against an orchestral backdrop; eminent successors that owe their style of passagework to Viotti's include Beethoven (sublimed, of course) and Paganini (tweaked in an entirely different way). Once again in the eighth volume, Franco Mezzena proves a paradigmatic re- creator of Viotti. In fact, his cadenzas demonstrate just how fully he has assimilated the composer's lyrical and technical manners (the latter with an occasional added twist). His cantilena glows warmly; his passages, like old Fezziwig's legs in the dance, positively wink; and his elegant way with Viotti's melodies smiles ingratiatingly. The Symphonia Perusina, numbering only 27 even with the triangle, conveys the richness of Viotti's symphonic conceptions; and Dynamic's recorded sound, revealingly clear, focuses just enough on the soloist to show who's boss. One of the most appealing volumes in the series, the eighth deserves an even more enthusiastic endorsement—largely due to Mezzena's way with the striking 25th Concerto—than even the sixth and seventh volumes, both of which came "strongly recommended." Robert Maxham This article originally appeared in Issue 24:6 (July/Aug 2001) of Fanfare Magazine. VIOTTI Violin Concertos, Vol. 6 • Franco Mezzena (vn, cond); Symphonia Perusina • DYNAMIC CDS 238 (64:50) Concertos: No. 23 in G; No. 5 in C; No. 6 in E Viotti's concertos, complementing his own distinctive, joyfully singing passagework with the full resources of Haydn's symphonic orchestration, represented an epoch-making synthesis that rivals (dwarfs?) even Corelli's and Paganini 's in its influence on modern violin playing and the development of the solo violin concerto. Unfortunately, only his 22nd Concerto has survived—and that, hanging by its fingernails—on the concert stage. And the 23rd, although still in print, has served principally in the classroom to consolidate musically the fundamental technique acquired from Kreutzer 's studies (Itzhak Perlman once confessed that he chose it for his audition at Juilliard because it was safer than the 22nd). Students who feel they've suffered inordinately in the 23rd Concerto's first movement solo may be surprised to hear how gracefully it intertwines with smaller groups within the orchestra, and what impressive staging the full-scale tuttis provide. Of course, all these lyric and dramatic effects lose their force if the soloist plays academically. Lola Bobesco's account of the 22nd and 23rd Concertos (Talent DOM 29013) sounded as unconvincing as the line "Viotti is good for you" dutifully written 100 times on a chalkboard; and in Fanfare 22:1,1 noted that, despite the advantages of its spright-lier tempos and warmer geniality, Mauro Ranieri's small-toned performance on Naxos 8.553861 ultimately lacked individuality. Even the notorious 23rd deserves better (there's some reason why, in its own time, the work was rearranged both as a flute concerto and as a piano concerto), and Franco Mezzena seems to be just the violinist to raise it to its proper level. Mezzena wrote his own cadenzas for Dynamic's sixth volume of Viotti 's concertos, and his exuberant commitment glows even through some (very) slightly uneven passagework in the 23rd Concerto's opening movement (he takes advantage of many opportunities, especially in repeated figures, to play "off the string"). The 23rd Concerto itself sounds both dramatic and unforced at those tempos, though (all the movements are faster than Ranieri takes them, the first reaching about MM = 145 in its passagework), and its slow movement sings convincingly. Mezzena is also responsive to the Fifth Concerto's charms, especially in a slow movement as piquant as any of Leclair's and a virtuosic finale, as well as to those of the more sedate but nonetheless demanding Sixth Concerto. His 1996 copy by Giovanni Osvaldo Fiori of a 1721 Stradivari (his own?) sounds commanding and brilliant in the upper registers, in which the finales of the Fifth and Sixth Concertos revel, and Dynamic's engineers have caught violin and violinist close up under the kind of spotlight that generations of students must have dreamed of as they struggled with the 23rd Concerto's passagework. The Symphonia Perusina generates plenty of excitement in these works, all of which explore the blander major keys (Viotti's minor keys sounded as cheerful as, although more nuanced than, his major ones). And, in the 23rd Concerto, they add wind highlights to the body of string sound bright enough to illuminate at last Viotti 's especially keen ear for instrumental combinations. No student who has played a measure of Viotti can ignore Mezzena's recreations of his barnstorming style, nor can general listeners fail to respond to the kind of breadth and energy the composer himself must have brought to these works. Compulsory for violinists and strongly recommended to everyone else. Robert Maxham This article originally appeared in Issue 23:2 (Nov/Dec 1999) of Fanfare Magazine. Fanfare Review: Rainer Dussmaul Nos. 19 & 22 VIOTTI Concertos for Violin and Orchestra: No. 19 in G Minor; No. 22 in A Minor. • Rainer Kussmaul, violin; Johannes Goritzki, conductor; Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss. • cpo 999 324-2 [DDD]; 60:48. Produced by Burkhard Schmilgun. (Distributed by Naxos.) Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824) was one of the most admired violinists of his time, an important teacher, and a highly influential developer of the concerto form. Viotti wrote to please, and the discriminating audiences he pleased were, in both Paris's Concert Sprituel and the Salomon Concerts in London, quite literally the very audiences that so admired Haydn's symphonies. Although as a composer Viotti was largely silent by the time of Beethoven, his influence can be heard in the disparate styles of Beethoven, Weber, Rossini, Paganini, and Spohr; Viotti's concertos (there are twenty-nine for violin) combine certain clichés of the Classical era with more than slight foretastes of early Romanticism, with their robust orchestration (in No. 19 he adds clarinets and flutes to oboes and horns, and No. 22 uses timpani most sensitively), overture-like opening tuttis that stomp around in the Weber/Paganini manner, loosened form (Brahms admired Viotti's simu- lation of improvisation), and Bellini-like slow movements. Viotti's concertos call for dexterity and elegance rather than brute power or the devilish virtuosity of Paganini, and his artistic preferences proved lastingly influential on the French violin school. The Viotti concerto that is best known is No. 22, one of his London concertos from 1794-95 (lavishly praised by Brahms; recorded by Stern, Grumiaux, Menuhin, and others); it and No. 23 are commonly used as teaching pieces today. Concerto No. 16 is sometimes performed because Mozart touched up the orchestration with trumpets and drums. Concerto No. 19 is a Paris concerto, so it dates around 1782. The opening two movements are perhaps something like what Mozart or Haydn could have written, had they chosen to write half-hour violin concertos in the 1780s, but in the quirky and almost “military“ third movement we suddenly get a whiff of Grétry or Donizetti and the early nineteenth century. Kussmaul masters this tricky and often charming writing with fine technical control, a light touch, and an attractively rich tone, and thus is preferable to the Dynamic recording by Franco Mezzena (Fanfare 16:3) where in spite of the soloist's warm Italian sound both soloist and orchestra betray a lack of familiarity.

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