Search - Hominick :: Piano Music of Sigismund Thalberg

"He has a melodiousness all his own"

Hexameron | 08/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sigismund Thalberg's name in today's view of music history is almost exclusively linked with the great pianistic rivalry he shared with Franz Liszt. But Thalberg's life, influence on the composers around him, and the popularity of his music during his lifetime reveals that he had a far more substantial role in music history. The main compositional genre that Thalberg excelled in was the operatic fantasy. His reputation as a composer and pianist is sustained through those virtuoso vehicles, but with the present recording, I'm inclined to believe that Thalberg was a talented composer capable of producing original works in the sonata and nocturne forms. The liner-notes writer, Daniel L. Hitchcock, who also runs the Sigismund Thalberg Society, feels that Thalberg's "art is more than special effects. There is a unique voice, a very individual approach to melody, harmony and progressions recognizable throughout his oeuvre." And Schumann had high praise for Thalberg when he declared that "he has a melodiousness all his own."



The Grande Sonate in C minor proves that Thalberg has a valid point of view and expressive palette; it is quite serious and noble. Hitchcock writes, "In the context of the musical tastes of the times and of his own works, a sonata!... by Thalberg!... offered enough novelty to attract the attention of the music journals." Thalberg's Sonata follows the usual four-movement structure of most piano sonatas since Beethoven. The first movement, "Allegro moderato," exudes compositional ability and emotional force. With Hitchcock's confirmation that Thalberg employs four distinct themes in this movement, it's quite clear Thalberg can skillfully handle Sonata form. The first and most memorable theme in this first movement is a wonderful and dramatic outcry that later returns in a turbulent recapitulation and coda. The "Scherzo pastorale" is a lovely and rustic movement in the manner of Mendelssohn, while the "Andante" is an 8 minute exploration of lyrical and surprisingly poignant ideas. Thalberg ends his work with a fiery and beautiful "Finale agitato," which hints at the language of Chopin. Thalberg's finely crafted and melodically appealing Sonata in C minor should be considered one of his masterworks, and yet it is being recorded here for the first time.



Schumann actually found more to like in the Scherzo in C sharp minor. It does indeed have attractive characteristics and an air of suavity. The art that Chopin achieved with the scherzo might not be met in Thalberg's exhibition, although his is still a caprice that oscillates between moods of pianistic virtuosity and gentle cantabile moments. The two Nocturnes are decent conceptions which Schumann had more or less praise for. Hitchcock warns that "the inevitable temptation to compare Thalberg's nocturnes to Field's or Chopin's should be avoided, because Thalberg never emulated their examples." I think the Nocturne in E major is the better of the two and Schumann says "The whole betrays a nobler emotion than we are accustomed to meet within the virtuoso of the drawing-room; it is one of Thalberg's best pieces." The Tarantelle in C minor was one of Thalberg's warhorses and became his "Minuet in G" or "Prelude in C sharp minor" when he toured America. Hitchcock believes it "has more bite to it than those by Rossini, Hiller, or Chopin and deserves to be restored to the active repertoire..." I didn't find it that unique, but I was sucked in by its rapid and silvery filigree which almost brings the music to the status of a "perpetuum mobile" piece.



Bottom line: This recording will most likely remain unavailable, so I would encourage those new to Thalberg to check out the operatic fantasies like this one: Fantasias on Operas By Rossini. Nevertheless, as a Thalberg completist and Romantic piano connoisseur, I think this recording is an exceptional smorgasbord of Thalberg's music. All of it is recorded for the first time, and while the recorded piano sound is not all it could be (a little muddied in some areas), Ian Hominick's playing is more than adequate."