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Hands up those that of you who do not
know what salon music is. Yes, quite a few. Well this CD recorded in 1994
and which came out in 1996 (only recently sent for review) will with its
eighteen happy and cheerful tracks tell you, in sound, all that is necessary.
According to Daniel Ryhiner’s booklet
essay "Salon Music is now enjoying a new wave of popularity."
These excerpts are from the group’s titled programmes. Prima Carezza’s
was ‘Le Gala Boulanger’. This Romanian composer (1893-1958) was the doyen
of salon music and the booklet comments "his death marked the end
of an era in Europe. With his death salon music vanished for good from
hotels, varieties, coffee houses and private social affairs, not to mention
radio programmes." Later on we are told "it is the aim of the
George Boulanger Society to search out the forgotten forms of the musical
dialect, to bring them to life again".
Three groups represented are; ‘I Salonisti’
consisting of two violins, cello, double bass and piano, ‘Salonorchester
Colln’ which consists of piano, harmonium, two violins, viola, cello,
double bass, clarinet and percussion and finally ‘Prima Carezza’ involving,
two violins, cello, double bass, piano, accordion and clarinet. As can
be seen, a salon ensemble can consist of a variety of instrumental combinations,
but strings are the dominating factor.
The repertoire is wide and varied and
the arrangements are generally by the groups themselves or by members
within the group. The players know exactly what works and what doesn’t
and although some arrangements are more interesting than others, all of
them are completely within character.
To illustrate this I have chosen three
tracks, which hopefully show the versatility and the potential of these
ensembles. As an example of the Classical Romantic repertoire, the arrangement
by Thomas Hartman of the extracts from Glazunov’s ballet ‘The Seasons’
show how nothing of the original is lost and much colour can still be
extracted. This is played by the largest group on the CD the ‘Salonorchester
Colln’ [track 11]. The second extract is an example from Broadway, ‘America’
from West Side Story arranged V.Kormendl, [track 7]. It is amazing
how this piece works so naturally yet sounding like something out of an
Argentinian Café. This is played by ‘I Salonisti’. The third example
played by Prima Carezza is in Boulanger’s typically Romantic Salon style
- his ‘Avant de mourir’ [track 13].
In fact it’s interesting to hear the two
contrasted versions of this famous piece; the Salonorchester, in an arrangement
by Karl Satow, take over a minute longer and have the extra colours of
clarinet and percussion. Both versions have some marvellously warm violin
playing, but Primo Carezza do not include the more improvisatory middle
section.
This CD will undoubtedly afford considerable
pleasure to any listener who is not too prudish and is most certainly
worth investigation. I wonder if there has been a follow-up?
Gary Higginson
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CDTnº1 - P. MARQUINA
Spanischer
Zigeunertanz
CDTnº2 - G. BOULANGER
Avant
de mourir
CDTnº3 - E. NAZARETH
Fon-Fon
CDTnº4 - F. LEHAR
Mariska
CDTnº5 - J. RIXNER
Blauer
Himmel
CDTnº6 - R. STRAUSS
Rosenkavalier-Walzerfogle
CDTnº7 - L. BERNSTEIN
America
CDTnº8 - A. BENJAMIN
Jamaican
Rumba
CDTnº9 - L. GANNE
Extase
CDTnº10 - G. WINKLER
Neapolitanisches
Standchen
CDTnº11 - A. GLASUNOW
La
Glace, la Grele et la Neige
CDTnº12 - A. SCHULENBURG
Majarska
CDTnº13 - G. BOULANGER
Avant
de mourir
CDTnº14 - G. GERSHWIN
Girl
Crazy
CDTnº15 - W. KOLLO
Alle
Englein lachen
CDTnº16 - A.C. JOBIM
Desafinado
CDTnº17 - S. SONDHEIM
Send
in the Clowns
CDTnº18 - G. BOULANGER
Tango
Torero
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I Salonisti 