Frescobaldi’s legacy was extensive. Johann Jakob Froberger
journeyed to Rome to study with him, and in his turn Froberger influenced
Johann Sebastian Bach. Later generations discovered Frescobaldi’s
music in diverse ways. Antonín Reicha, for instance, discovered him
as part of a current of Classical thinking about the past and about fugal
development in particular. Hence Reicha’s
Fuga Fantasia,
published privately in 1805, is a Frescobaldian homage, based on the
Recercar Chromaticho from
Fiori Musicali. It wears its hymnal
quality strongly, Reicha taking the time nonetheless to explore curious
intervals in a mildly exploratory way.
It was generations later than Reicha that most fully explored the
legacy that Frescobaldi had left. They were led by Respighi who delivered
his transcriptions to his publisher Ricordi in 1917, the firm having the
previous year asked him for a series of transcriptions. They had themselves
been inspired by the pioneering edition issued by publishers Torchi.
Respighi decided to couple the
Preludes with toccatas published in
the Torchi edition of Frescobaldi’s works, which meant that he was
unknowingly infusing toccatas actually written by JS Bach’s
contemporary Gottlieb Muffat. The German composer had written them as
substitutes for the originals and it was only in 1920 that the deception was
uncovered.
In the case of the three pieces performed in this disc by Sandro Ivo
Bartoli, we are introduced to some fine transcriptive work, brought to life
via rich chording and a significant use of the pedal. The A minor
Toccata in particular unfolds with quiet dignity, very different from
the corresponding
Prelude in G minor. Perhaps the most long-lived of
Respighi’s piano transcriptions though is the
Passacaglia, much
favoured by Horszowski, who played it often during his very long life. It
is, in effect, a grand free fantasia and it can’t escape notice that
Busoni stands in the background with his transcription of Bach’s
Chaconne.
There are smaller works contributed by executant/composer/editors.
One such was British pianist Harold Bauer, whose
Capriccio on the
Cuckoo’s Call was similarly inspired by a published, in
Bauer’s case the Boston Music Company in 1918, the year after
Respighi’s work was published. Bauer doubtless had an ear cocked to
Busoni’s experiments in this area too. Bauer’s pleasingly
simplified effort sounds delightful still, though sadly he didn’t
record it. Samuil Feinberg was, like Bauer, a pianist and composer and
transcriber. His brief
Canzona and
Capriccio pastorale are
simple but telling examples of his refined art. Bartók’s
Toccata and Fugue derive from the Torchi edition that Respighi used:
thus the
Toccata is from Frescobaldi’s
The Second Book of
Toccatas, 1637 and the
Fugue is by Muffat. Bartók
instigated a full programme of Busonisation in the
Toccata altogether
delivering the pianistic toward the realm of the organ loft in no uncertain
terms. Whilst Bartoli is efficient here, he lacks the graphic adrenalin and
dramatic clarity imparted by one of Bartók’s greatest
interpreters, György Sándor, whose Vox recording [MC128] is
pitched at an altogether more elevated vantage. I should add that
Sándor didn’t record the
Fugue. To bring things very
much more up-to-date Ligeti’s
Ricerare, fully revealing his
youthful contrapuntal mastery.
So this is an interesting panorama of Frescobaldian influence
through the centuries. The church acoustic is very attractive and the
booklet is helpful. Sometimes, as in the Bartók transcriptions,
Bartoli lacks kinetic fire but elsewhere he is an adept guide.
Jonathan Woolf
