This
is the second of Brana’s ‘Italian Concerto’ series with their
favoured artist, the late Polish pianist Felicja Blumental.
Earlier we had Viotti and two by Piatti; here we have Manfredini
and two by Paisiello. The symmetry is cemented by virtue of
the fact that the biggest works on both discs – there the Viotti,
here the Manfredini – turn out to be less impressive than their
smaller confrères.
Manfredini’s
Concerto in B flat major is confident and classically shaped
with a sprightly and elegant opening movement. Its slow movement
is reserved and not especially memorable; it doesn’t plumb much
depth and tends toward the generic and decorative but the finale
– much the best movement – has a brightness and edge that embraces
a solid scotch snap and fine orchestral tuttis – powerful and
alive, and ending well. But it’s for the two concertos by Paisiello
that the disc is most valuable. Though he’s known principally
for his church and operatic music the C major shows particular
panache in writing for the medium. The F major was written for
an amateur royal and is betrayed by the (however ingenious)
limited opportunities for soloistic display. But the companion
work shows considerable daring and imagination – pert and athletic
and with a humorous and fluent finale that exudes easy going
charm – albeit one that threatens (but never quite delivers)
a Turkish Rondo finale à la Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto.
Performances
are alert and warm, though hardly of course in the luxury class;
strings are thin on the ground from the sound of it in the F
major but otherwise these recordings – the Manfredini comes
from 1972 but the others are undated – are pretty much par for
the Vox course for that period. Attractive – especially for
that Paisiello C major.
Jonathan
Woolf
Felicja Blumental (piano) – with accompaniments as above
