Francesco MOLINO (1775-1847)
Chamber Works for Flute, Violin and Guitar
Trio in G, Op.4/1, for Flute, Viola and Guitar [14:25]
Nocturne in a minor/A, Op.37, for Violin and Guitar [6:56]
Nocturne in G, Op.38, for Flute and Guitar [5:27]
Sonata in G, Op.6/2, for Guitar [9:36]
Trio in D, Op.45, for Flute, Viola and Guitar [14:38]
Grand Trio Concertant in e minor/G, Op.30, for Flute, Viola and Guitar [16:39]
Sérénade à trois (Karl Kaiser (flute); Petra Müllejans (violin and viola);
Sonja Prunnbauer (guitar))
rec. Bergkirche Nimburg, 21-23 July 2008. DDD.
CPO 777 448-2 [68:02]
If you didn’t know who Francesco Molino was, don’t despair – neither did I,
nor does The Oxford Companion to Music. In fact, this is one
of only two recordings currently wholly devoted to his music. There is a ClassicO
CD of his Chamber Music (CLASSCD106); otherwise his Trio, Op.45, features
on a CD entitled Nineteenth Century Trios in the company of Beethoven
and Kreutzer (Meridian CDE84199). The ClassicO catalogue tells me that their
CD is performed on flute, viola and guitar, so the repertoire is clearly similar
to that on the present CD, but I can’t discover exactly what it contains and
to what extent, therefore, it overlaps with the new CPO recording.
Molino, who was born in Italy – his name means ‘windmill’ – may have travelled
first to Spain then, like the better-known Ferdinando Carulli and Mauro Giuliani,
finally settled abroad, in his case in Paris around 1820, where he was also
known as François Molino and achieved considerable popularity as a purveyor
of light classical music involving the guitar alone or in combination with
the flute and/or violin/viola.
All the music here is effortlessly tuneful. One might apply to it the phrase
which the play Amadeus attributes to Salieri on Mozart – it just seems
to have poured out of him. The notes in the booklet compare his “genuinely
witty and very amusing ideas” with Rossini and the comparison is, perhaps,
even more apt than with Mozart. Though he seems never to have written vocal
music, the flute and violin or viola ‘sing’ to the guitar’s accompaniment.
Nothing here is at all profound, or, it must be admitted, truly memorable.
Molino is no Rossini manqué, nor would I exchange his music for that
of Carulli or Giuliani, but they both have several current recordings to their
names, so Molino deserves at least his two. The charming rustic painting reproduced
on the CD cover captures the spirit of the music very well.
The performances leave nothing to be desired. Karl Kaiser plays a transverse
flute modelled on a Grenser instrument of 1796. Surprisingly, when the rest
of the details are given in English, non-linguists will be puzzled at being
told that this is an instrument ‘mit 6 Klappen’. Perhaps the compilers of
the booklet didn’t know the English for Klappe – literally ‘flap’,
as in the colloquial Klappe zu, ‘shut your trap’, but here simply an
instrumental key.
Petra Müllejans, as leader of the Capella Academica, Frankfurt – she is also
the artistic director of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra – contributes to the
success of the CPO recording of Vivaldi Recorder Concertos (777 304-2
– see review)
and her playing here, on a Landolfi violin from 1755 and a Bohemian viola
of around 1800, contributes even more to the success of the current CD. That
Vivaldi recording was up against stiff competition, which is not the case
here. I see from the notes that she also plays klezmer, tango and czardas
music with the group Hot and Cool – quite a change for a Professor of Music
and something that I’d like to hear!
The guitar may play a largely accompanying role, except in the Sonata, Op.6/2,
but the instrument was central to Molino’s music and the contribution of Sonja
Prunnbauer on a modern copy of an 1828 ‘romantic’ guitar is also crucial to
the success of the recording.
The recorded sound is rather close, but not unduly so, and Karl Kaiser’s notes
in the booklet are helpful and informative. The English translation is a little
awkward in places but generally idiomatic.
Just one grumble – why, when the violin features in only one of the works
here and the viola in three, does the title of the CD give the violin pre-eminence
over its cousin?
I shall be returning to this recording though, I must admit, with a busy reviewing
schedule, it won’t be very often. A lazy late evening in high Summer would
probably be just right, as an alternative to the Debussy and Ravel String
Quartets which seem so suited to that time. Perhaps some enterprising company
will now offer us a recording of the guitar and violin concertos which Molino
composed.
Brian Wilson