Benjamin Godard - Piano Concerto No. 1; etc. (Victor Sangiorgio; Martin Yates)

Information

Composer: Benjamin Godard

• (01) Piano Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 31
• (05) Introduction & Allegro for piano & orchestre, Op. 49
• (07) Symphonie orientale, Op. 84

Victor Sangiorgio, piano (1-6)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Martin Yates, conductor

Date: 2011
Label: Dutton Epoch
http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDLX7274

------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

The once popular, very prolific French/Jewish composer Benjamin Godard (1849–95) is vaguely remembered for many salon-style piano pieces, an encore or two for flute, and perhaps the Berceuse from his opera Jocelyn . In fact, he wrote eight operas and many works in larger forms: symphonies, concertos, and violin sonatas. This enjoyable collection of three premiere recordings, along with a 2008 Naxos release of two of his violin concertos, demonstrates that he could handle larger forms with ease. A Godard revival may be in the works, at least on recordings.

All of this music is well crafted, tuneful, and fun, with two individual movements that stand out as being more distinctive than the rest: the scherzo from the 1875 Piano Concerto, and the wonderfully atmospheric first movement, “Arabia: Les Éléphants,” from the 1884 Symphonie Orientale , which is a symphony only in the loosest definition of being a multimovement piece for orchestra. Actually, it sounds like very good ballet music through and through. Each of the work’s five movements takes its title from an “Oriental” country—Arabia, China, Greece, Persia, and Turkey—with little or no reference to their actual folk music other than the all-purpose use of “exotic” scales containing augmented seconds. The Arabian movement is inspired by a Leconte de Lisle poem that describes a procession of elephants being led across the desert by a patriarchal elder. Its walking bass line demands attention in a Berliozian way as the music grows and wanes in intensity.

Godard’s four-movement Piano Concerto is a spirited, showy work that never becomes overly aggressive or bombastic, the downfall of so many 19th-century vehicles in the Lisztian mold. My criterion for evaluating a newly recorded piece like this is to consider whether I would like to hear it in concert, and the answer here is unquestionably yes. It resembles and could easily substitute for a Saint-Saëns piano concerto. The aforementioned scherzo romps along at a restrained Allegretto non troppo and could stand alone as a charming, single-movement showpiece like the Litolff Scherzo or the Saint-Saëns Wedding Cake . The Introduction and Allegro is another good-natured showpiece, a perfect pops selection whose Allegro section had me picturing elephants again, this time in a Disney-like ballet.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is a first-rate ensemble and Martin Yates leads it with verve. The Australian pianist Victor Sangiorgio plays on an appropriately clangy instrument with all of the flair and technical command that the music needs, and Dutton provides vibrant recorded sound. A diverting, welcome disc.

-- Paul Orgel, FANFARE

More reviews:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Oct11/godardorientale_duttoncdlx7274.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Godard-Piano-Concerto-Victor-Sangiorgio/dp/B005FM84AQ

------------------------------------------------------------------

Benjamin Godard (18 August 1849 – 10 January 1895) was a French violinist and Romantic-era composer of Jewish extraction, best known for his opera Jocelyn. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1863 where he studied under Henri Vieuxtemps (violin) and Napoléon Henri Reber (harmony). Godard composed eight operas, five symphonies, two piano and two violin concertos, string quartets, sonatas for violin and piano, piano pieces and etudes, and more than a hundred songs. He was opposed to the music of Richard Wagner and more in tune with those of Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Godard

***

Victor Sangiorgio is an Australian classical pianist. Sangiorgio was born in Italy but his family moved to Australia when he was four, and settled in Perth, Western Australia, where he received his initial musical training. Further studies were with Stephen Dornan, Roy Shepherd, Guido Agosti and Noretta Conci. By the age of nineteen he had been a soloist with all the major Australian orchestras and had recorded and broadcast extensively on radio and television. Sangiorgio has given masterclasses in many cities and has also been artist in residence at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Sangiorgio

http://www.victorsangiorgio.com/profile.html

***

Martin Yates (born 1 July 1958 in London) is a British conductor and composer. He studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London, where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe, Richard Arnell, Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky and Alan Rowlands. He has conducted many major symphony orchestras and is a regular conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra. Yates has made over 70 recordings, including notable recordings of Richard Arnell's work, as well as recordings by other neglected British composers. As a composer, his music for flute and piano has been recorded by flautist Anna Noakes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Yates

------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

 Linsk in comment

Enjoy!