Verdi wrote only one piece of chamber music - his string quartet written
in Naples in spare moments when the production of his Aida was delayed. Its
first performance was greeted by one critic as a masterpiece. Verdi, always
the realist commented, "I don't know whether it's beautiful or ugly. I only
know that it is a quartet." It was written as an exercise in commanding this
musical form without any literary or dramatic associations. Having said that,
there is a hint of Falstaff's fairy tormentors in the fugal finale, and there
is something of Amneris's music in Aida about the opening Allegro. The Andantino,
marked 'con elegenza' is really a rather coy-sounding intermezzo. The brilliant
scherzo has a lovely lyrical cantabile melody. The conductor on this album,
Yuli Turovsky has made a convincing and sympathetic transcription of the
quartet for strings adding colour and weight and the work is played with
panache by I Musici.
Marc-Olivier Dupin maybe a young modern composer but his thoroughly enjoyable
Fantasia on Arias from La Traviata is cast in the full-blooded late
Romantic idiom. If you know and enjoy Franz Waxman's Carmen Fantasia you
will know what to expect. Verdi's well-loved melodies from his popular opera
are transposed into a virtuoso showpiece for the violinist soloist - and
Alexander Trostiansky grasps every opportunity. Hugely enjoyable.
Antonio Pasculli's Grand Concerto on Themes from Verdi's I vespri
siciliani is another virtuoso showpiece - this time for oboe. One of
the great oboe virtuosos of the second half of the nineteenth century, Pasculli's
compositions showed off his considerable technique. Philippe Magnan makes
his instrument sing most eloquently and throws off the more difficult florid
passages of the work with seemingly effortless ease.
A most interesting and rewarding album
Reviewer
Ian Lace
FastCounter
by LinkExchange
Philippe Magnan (oboe); Alexander Trostiansky (violin) I Musici De Montréal
conducted by Yuli Turovsky 
