Sigismond Thalberg - Apothéose & Fantasies on French Operas (Mark Viner)

Information

Composer: Sigismond Thalberg

1. Fantaisie sur des motifs de l'opéra 'Les Huguenots' de Meyerbeer, Op. 20
2. Grand Caprice sur des motifs de l'opéra 'Charles VI' de F. Halévy, Op. 48
3. Bella adorata incognita, romance de l'opéra 'Il Giuramento' de Mercadante, Op. 70 No. 7
4. Casta diva, cavatine de l'opéra 'Norma' de Bellini, Op. 70 No. 19
5. Grande Fantaisie sur des motifs de l'opéra 'La Muette de Portici' de D. F. E. Auber, Op. 52
6. Grand Caprice sur la Marche de 'L'Apothéose' de Berlioz, Op. 58

Mark Viner, piano

Date: 2019

Label: Piano Classics

https://www.piano-classics.com/articles/t/thalberg-apoth%C3%A9ose-fantasies-on-french-operas/

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Review

Things didn’t begin too promisingly: I spent the first track pondering the genius of Liszt’s transcriptions. Which was unfortunate, given this was a disc of Thalberg. But while the Fantasy on Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots is hardly a masterpiece, there’s no question that Mark Viner, whose first volume (10/15) dazzled Jeremy Nicholas, completely believes in it. As Viner points out in his notes – which are extensive, fascinating and very well researched – this must have been written in a tearing hurry as it appeared just six weeks after the opera’s premiere. And how much more convincing he is than Michael Ponti, who, from the opening chorale, is a man in a hurry, making little of the dramatic moments and with a far less varied colour palette than Viner.

The remaining fantasy and two grands caprices are all first recordings. If you’ve never encountered Halévy’s opera Charles VI then fret not – Thalberg’s Grand caprice offers a whistle-stop tour of the action, with Viner as an imaginative guide, even if he can’t always hide the foursquareness of some of the writing. The closing track, the Grande caprice on the March from Berlioz’s Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale, is given with verve and an easy virtuosity that brings great clarity to its textures. The Fantasy on Auber’s La Muette de Portici, on the other hand, is a more interesting proposition and Viner sets the bar high, interpretatively speaking. Though this is based on the Act 3 Tarantella, Thalberg cleverly creates a haloed bel canto melody simply by slowing the tempo down, and Viner duly relishes its beauty.

The remaining two pieces offer something quite different, being taken from Thalberg’s L’art du chant appliqué au piano, which the composer intended as a study for cantabile playing. Strikingly, they borrow from the opera house but Thalberg is true to the originals. ‘Casta diva’ is wonderfully unhackneyed in Viner’s hands. Victoria Power, who has recorded the complete set of 24 for Polymnia, is more studied in effect. And Viner turns ‘Bella adorata’, from Mercadante’s Il giuramento, into a piece of great wistfulness, his fine range of colour and dynamics turning it into a veritable tone poem (aided by the natural-sounding recording).

Viner turns 30 this year and has already proved a friend to Chaminade and Alkan, as well as an enduring champion of Thalberg.

-- Harriet Smith, Gramophone

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Sigismond Thalberg (8 January 1812 – 27 April 1871) was a composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.  In the 1830s and the 1840s, his style was a major force in European piano-playing and was imitated by many others. Between the late 1830s and 1850s Thalberg toured the world over with artists such as Bernard Ullmann, Strakosch and Henri Vieuxtemps, traveling to the United States, Brazil, Belgium, Holland, Russia and Spain. Aside from his dozens of piano compositions, many with orchestral accompaniment, Thalberg wrote several Lieder and two chamber works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismond_Thalberg

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sigismund-thalberg-mn0001801365/biography

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Mark Viner, born in 1989, is recognised as one of the most exciting British concert pianists of his generation and is becoming increasingly well-known for his bold championing of unfamiliar pianistic terrain. Viner studied at the Purcell School of Music with Tessa Nicholson, then at the Royal College of Music with Niel Immelman, graduating with a distinction in 2013. Viner won 1st prize at the Alkan-Zimmerman International Piano Competition in Athens, Greece in 2012. He is very active in the recording studio and his recordings on the Piano Classics label have garnered critical acclaim.

https://www.markviner.com/

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