The Operatic Pianist II - Divine Art

[arpeggio]

I have to declare an interest in that this is my disc! Nevertheless I hope, as it contains a fair number of romantic obscurities, that it might be of interest to a few here.
https://divineartrecords.com/recording/operatic-pianist-volume-two/

Track listing:

1. Bellini/Alfred Jaell Reminiscences de Norma: An almost totally unknown paraphrase from a Liszt disciple. It has similarities to the epic Liszt paraphrase, but is a little shorter and incorporates Casta diva, which Liszt omitted.

2. Bellini (arranged by me) Col sorriso d'innocenza: Aria from Il Pirata: somewhat of a precursor of Casta diva, and I have arranged it in a manner similar to Thalberg's arrangement of Casta diva.

3. Donizetti/Leschetizky Andante finale de Lucia di Lammermoor: Leschetizky's ingenious reworking of the sextet for left hand only. Some resemblances to the Liszt paraphrase here.

4. Rossini/Thalberg Fantasie sur Moise in Egitto: one of the great behemoths of the operatic paraphrase tradition. Thalberg played this at his 1837 duel with Liszt, and the finale demonstrates Thalberg's legendary "three-hand effect" in some style.

5. Wagner/Liszt Lohengrin's Admonition: a shimmering but declamatory arrangement contrasts with the previous track.

6. Verdi/me Concert Fantasy on Miserere from Il Trovatore: a paraphrase in the Liszt/Thalberg tradition with lots of octaves, arpeggios and double notes!

7. Meyerbeer/Kullak Cavatine de Robert le Diable: a very rare arrangement of this famous aria. The only other arrangement I know of is also a rarity, the Liszt setting recorded by Leslie Howard.

8. Massenet/Saint-Saens La mort de Thais: high melodrama from the denouement of the opera, featuring a reworking of what we normally hear as the Meditation.

9. Wagner/Liszt Fantasy on themes from Rienzi: ending with a flamboyant paraphrase which features the famous prayer.

I didn't find much reference to Alfred Jaell online, or even on here: most of the comments tend to be in the context of his more famous wife. I agree - in general - with what was said on here about his transcriptions, but the Norma (op.20) isn't, imo, of the saloniste variety (whereas the only other commercial recording I can find of his music, on Katsaris' Album D'un Voyageur, assuredly is). It seems to me a much bigger-boned, quasi-Lisztian affair.

It, along with the Kullak and the Saint-Saens, don't seem to have had any previous commercial recordings.

I'm attaching a couple of Soundcloud links for anyone who is interested (technically speaking, I think these predate final mastering and the very last stages of noise reduction).

https://soundcloud.com/andrew-wright-35/massenet-saint-saens-la-mort-de-thais-extract
https://soundcloud.com/andrew-wright-35/alfred-jaell-casta-diva

I hope this might be of interest to some of you!

Also, if anyone has any interesting and obscure 19th century paraphrases they might like to bring to attention, I would be interested in hearing of them. For the purposes of this, I'm viewing Liszt, Thalberg, Tausig and Pabst as "conquered territory", as I think pretty much everything out there has already been recorded. I prefer works which emanate from bel canto to those which emanate from Wagner; I just think the textures work better when they are simpler. To give you some idea re the others, I'm not convinced by a lot of the more obscure stuff: the Dohler I have seen didn't strike me as terribly memorable; Sydney Smith likewise (a bit generic); Emile Prudent there are actually some quite nice recordings by Junko Nakamura; Fumagalli I've not looked through fully; Raff for some reason I've never looked at his paraphrases; Herz and Pixis are slightly too classical-based for my tastes (I get the peculiar feeling sometimes with Pixis that he is half-way between emulating and parodying Beethoven!)

Anyway I would be interested in comments and suggestions!

[eschiss1]

Except for a video of the conclusion on YouTube, I'm turning up nothing on the Saint-Saëns paraphrase, so you're probably right... This informational link about it seems interesting to me.

As to Jaëll there's also a rare/possibly low-circulation/maybe non-commercial? recording from Jaëll's Op.112 (Tristan transcriptions) with pianist Wilhem Latchoumia (that you? ) noted in this BNF catalog entry.

How about Henri Rosellen, to name one? A few of his arrangements/paraphrases on IMSLP (he wrote a lot more, I think...)

[Gareth Vaughan]

The National Library of Poland has a copy (perhaps the only extant one) of Alexander Dreyschock's: "Paraphrase sur des motifs de l'opera Halka, Op. 126". This might be worth investigating. And on the subject of "Halka", I have yet to hear a truly convincing performance of Tausig's "Halka Fantasy".
There is the Fantaisie brillante sur 'Nabucco', Op. 127 by Franz Hunten, but I have not seen the music and, from what little Hunten I know, I suspect it may be in the Dohler category. Still, who knows?
Raff is definitely worth examining IMHO.

[eschiss1]

Here's a reprint of the Hünten Op.127 score.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Aha! Seek and ye shall find. Thanks, Eric.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Hmm. Have had a look. It's not much of a piece, is it?

[Rob H]

Have really enjoyed what I have heard of this (bought it on emusic).

If there is a 3rd disc planned I would love to hear the Faust Fantaisie by Moriz Rosenthal - not sure why this has been ignored when his Strauss transcritions and original works (Papillons and the F sharp Prelude) have had several outings.

Re the Halka Fantaisie of Tausig. Would love to hear a great commercial recording of this. Ponti is good but in poor sound and oft-times charmless and Cimirro is OK but poor in the final section and has some odd tempos in single bars. Roberto Capello's live recording remains my go-to version.

[Mark Thomas]

Raff is definitely worth examining IMHO

He most definitely is! Here's a list of the piano fantasies/transcriptions etc. made by Raff of operas by romantic era composers (there are also a few pieces by Handel, Gluck and Mozart:

Bellini
Fantasie über Motive aus "Die Nachtwanderlin" von V. Bellini Op.37 (1847)
Étude de Concert sur un motif des "Puritains" de Bellini WoO.12A (1849)

Berlioz
Op.65 No.1 Fantasie über Motive aus "Benvenuto Cellini" von Hector Berlioz (1855)

Donizetti
Rondeau brillant sur l'air : "Io son ricco e tu sei bella" de l'opéra L'Elisir d'amore de Donizetti Op.7 (1843)

Esser
Fantaisie dramatique sur des motifs de l'opéra "Les deux Princes", Musique de H. Esser Op.19III  (1845)

Gounod
Valse de Juliette de Charles Gounod WoO.38 (1872)

Halèvy
Divertimento über Motive aus Halevy's "Jüdin" Op.43 (1848)

Kücken
"Le Prétendant". Musique de Fr. Kücken. Transcriptions Op.42 (1847. 3 nos.) 

Meyerbeer 
Fantaisie Militaire sur des motifs de l'opéra "Les Huguenots" de Meyerbeer Op.36 (1847)
Illustrations de L'Africaine Op.121 (1864. 4 nos.)

Rossini
Fantaisie sur des motifs de l'opéra "Le Barbier de Séville" de Rossini Op.44 (1848)

Salomon
Valse-Rondino über Motive aus "Das Diamantkreuz" von S. Salomon WoO.12 (1849)

Schumann
Op.61 No.4 Capriccio in Rondoform über Motive aus der Oper "Genoveva" von R. Schumann (1855)

Verdi
Trovatore et Traviata. Deux Paraphrases de Salon d' ápres Verdi Op.70 (1857)
Op.81 No.1 Sicilienne. Air favori de l'opéra: "Les Vêpres Siciliennes" de Verdi. Transcrit (1858)
Op.81 No.2 Tarantelle d'après la Tarantelle de l'opéra: "Les Vêpres Siciliennes" de Verdi (1858)

Wagner
Op.61 No.1 Caprice über Motive aus Wagner's "Lohengrin" (1853)
Op.61 No.2 Reminiscenzen aus Wagner's "Fliegender Holländer" (1853)
Op.61 No.3 Fantasie über Motive aus Richard Wagner's "Tannhäuser" (1853)
Drei Salon-Etüden aus Richard Wagner's Opern Op.62 (piano – 1853)
Reminiscenzen aus Richard Wagner's Oper: "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" WoO.26 (1867. 4 nos.)

Weber
Capricietto über Motive aus dem "Freischütz" von C.M. von Weber Op.35 (1847)

A few (the Verdi ones and some of the Wagner ones) have been recorded. If you want to be really obscure, never mind Meyerbeer and Halevy, how about Esser, Kücken and Salomon? I can supply scores to all these works.

[arpeggio]

Thanks for the numerous replies! I'll try to reply to all of them tonight.

@eschiss1: Yes, I was actually peripherally aware of the Wagner/Jaëll recording you mention (and I believe it is commercial), but it had slipped my mind. It's not by me! I had a quick look at the Hunten and I agree with Gareth; it seems to be one of the "functional" paraphrases written for amateurs to play. Rosellen I was previously totally unaware of, so thank you for that, and once again, IMSLP beckons and I'll have a look around.

[arpeggio]

@ Gareth, Rob H: Halka is a super paraphrase; it is of course also at the very highest level of difficulty, imo, in this area of the repertoire. I've looked at it already and it's been tenuously in the "for consideration" pile for a fair while. I suppose the answer to whether I pursue it largely comes down to the small section in left hand sixths, which is certainly outwith my comfort zone. I'm very reluctant to criticise any recording of it when it is so replete with technical demands. Some of the Ponti recordings were made on next to zero budget; even, in some cases, on an upright, so I've been told.

[arpeggio]

@ Rob H: thanks so much for buying, and I'm delighted you have enjoyed what you heard. I'll check IMSLP for the Rosenthal; I can't remember exactly when he died, and potential implications for the 70-year rule, but hopefully I will find it.

@ Mark Thomas: thanks so much for the list of Raff material. Again I'll be looking through IMSLP over the next week and seeing what I think. I'll probably start with the Africaine, as I know the Liszt paraphrases therefrom, and that should be a useful point of comparison.

Much appreciated, to all of you.

[thalbergmad]

Congratulations old chap on an excellent release. More than enough there to irritate the Schumannites.

Finding further suitable works is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack especially if you have started to trawl through the 13,000 or so listed in Opus Transcripicum. The Hunten's of this world made a fortune churning out snippets suitable for Victorian ladies and he was certainly not on his own. I have played through efforts by the likes of Rosellen & Favarger and not found much of interest.

Prudent as you mention is worth looking at and even more so early Litolff, who if i recall correctly did a splendid transcription on Lucrezia Borgia. Like you, I really prefer the Bel Canto types.

To close, i once turned up at a piano lesson with De Meyer's Yankee Doodle variations and amazingly was not thrown out. Would love to hear that played properly. It was a big hit on his US tour.

Thal

[arpeggio]

Thanks! I've done a bit of work cross-referencing the OT and IMSLP. I've tended to start from composer and opera first, rather than arranger. The Litollf you mention doesn't seem to be on IMSLP, incidentally. Basically I've tried to locate some core pieces for each CD thus far, then dig around for worthy obscurities, which usually involves reading through a silly number of pieces and seeing which ones appeal on first glance. There is, as you say, a certain amount of diminishing returns the more obscure one gets. I didn't mind the Kullak Casta diva setting, and might return to it; I don't think it's as good as Thalberg's though - perhaps a bit "fussy". Lots of thinking for me and lots to investigate!

[Gareth Vaughan]

The University of Iowa has a copy of Grand Caprice de Concert sur de motifs de l'Opera de Donizetti Lucrezia Borgia, op. 20; and the British Library has Grande fantaisie pour le piano sur des motifs d'Otello, de Rossini, Op. 6, both by Litolff. In my experience, Litolff is usually well worth exploring.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Roberto Capello's live recording remains my go-to version.

The Halka Fantasy is almost unplayable. Would love to get hold of Robert Capello's recording. Agree about Cimirro - he is very good and does the "killer" sixths just fine, but the whole performance doesn't seem to hang together. There are some very wayward tempo changes.