Jan Ladislav DUSSEK (1760-1812)
Duos for Harp and Piano Forte
Duo Concertante Op.73 in F major (1811) [23:25]
Duettino (1802) [5:40]
Duetto in F major Op.26 (1794) [16:38]
Duo Concertant in E flat major Op.72 (1811) [20:57]
Sophia Giustina DUSSEK-CORRI (1775-1831)
Introduction and Waltz for the Harp and Piano Forte [4:24]
Masumi Nagasawa (single action harp)
Richard Egarr (pianoforte)
rec. November 2011, Waalse Kerk, Amsterdam
ETCETERA KTC 1436 [71:13]
Jan Ladislav Dussek wrote a significant amount of music for the combination
of harp and fortepiano, some for concert performance and others for the attention
of amateurs. This disc, the second in the series, gives us a taste of both
kinds of work. An added attraction is that Masumi Nagasawa plays on a c.1815
single action pedal harp made by F.J. Naderman of Paris and Richard Egarr
plays an 1804 Broadwood Grand Piano. François Naderman was Dussek’s
harpist colleague in his last years in Paris, with whom he played many concerts.
Egarr is writing no more than the truth when he says in his booklet note that
the sonorities of these instruments blend so well, so magically in fact, that
it can be very difficult at times to work out at which point the harp ends
and the Broadwood takes over, or indeed which instrument is carrying the melody
line at any given moment. There is piquancy in this timbral coiling. And if
nothing else this disc, released in the 200th year of Dussek’s
death - Egarr doubts many pianists will be playing his works, so out of fashion
is the Bohemian composer - will serve to show just how well the use of original
instruments can convey the special combination’s particular sonorities.
The music is vital, exciting, and full of colour and sentiment. The Duo
Concertant of 1811 has ear-titillating breadth, but a real ‘thwack’
to the unison passages and demonstrates how easily the two instruments can
blend seemingly to produce a new one; a kind of ‘forteharp’ or
‘harpopiano’, perhaps. The Larghetto in this work shows
Dussek’s seemingly inexhaustible fund of expressive writing, though
the B section also reveals his ear for big-boned contrastive material. He
invariably ends with a sporting Rondo, relishing the full resources
of both instruments.
Ingratiating warmth is a prerequisite of the combination, too, as the Duettino
of 1802 exemplifies and though this work is in two movements and for amateurs
it doesn’t stint on charm. The bigger and bolder Duo Concertant
of 1811 is a match for the brother work of the same year though its opening
movement is a shade more salon-inclining than the Op.73. Dussek’s finales
can always be relied upon to go con brio, as here. The Duetto
Op.26 was a product of the composer’s London years. He exploits, as
does Egarr (to the max, indeed), some thunderous unison opportunities. Ebullience
once again is writ large, though his Rondo finale is not quite as outgoing
as the later Parisian models. To end the recital there is a charming Introduction
and Waltz by Dussek’s wife, Sophia Corri.
This fine recording has been well captured in the Waalse Kerk, Amsterdam,
which provides warm sonics without any cloying reverberation to blunt the
music-making.
Jonathan Woolf
Ingratiating warmth.
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