Galuppi is an original and Napoli's performance makes this a good choice for connoisseurs of 18th century keyboard music.

Galuppi is an original and Napoli's performance makes this a good choice for connoisseurs of 18th century keyboard music.

Though Baldassare Galuppi is rightly famed for his huge contribution to opera buffa, he was also a prolific and popular composer of keyboard music, particularly sonatas. When British pianist Peter Seivewright released on the Divine Art label a programme of Galuppi's keyboard sonatas in 1999 it was the first volume in a projected complete set running to ten discs and 90 sonatas. So far, and possibly because of ill health (see footnote), Seivewright appears to have got no further than volume 3 but in the last decade more sonatas have been unearthed, and there are now known to be over 130. This is the first Naxos CD devoted to Galuppi's music, and volume 1 of his keyboard sonatas. Volume 2 has not yet been released on CD, but is available as a download.

One immediate question about this recording - major or minor, depending on individual sensitivities - is the choice of a modern pianoforte (Steinway D). There will doubtless be many who feel that Galuppi's sonatas belong on a period instrument - whether harpsichord or fortepiano. The sonorities, slender textures and delicate ornamentations of his alternately late-Baroque and forward-looking pre-Galant music are sometimes partially lost in the lush, deep sound of Napoli's piano. Nevertheless, within these self-imposed limitations, Napoli's performance here is creditable - plenty of sensitivity, no misplaced showmanship.

There is no question, however, about Galuppi's masterly, mellifluous musicianship. Sonata after sonata is packed with beautiful melody and fluent invention, and it comes as no surprise that it was not only his opera music that was in great demand. But though Galuppi was himself a keyboard virtuoso, this is idiomatic music written with an eye on, or an ear to, the amateur player - it is varied, beautiful and rewarding, without being technically overwhelming.

Often the music is quite reminiscent of Domenico Scarlatti - the outer movements of the superbly imaginative Sonata in D, for example (incidentally incorrectly catalogued by Hedda Illy in E), or the ebullient two-and-a-half minute, one-movement Sonata in C, Illy 98. There are also reverberations of C.P.E. Bach, as in the refined Sonata in F and the thoughtful Sonata in F minor, and even of J.S. Bach, as in the Sonata in G.

But Galuppi is an original, without doubt, and Napoli's performance makes this altogether a good choice for connoisseurs of 18th century keyboard music, particularly those for whom the idiosyncratic colour of the harpsichord or fortepiano holds little attraction.

Sound quality is generally high, although the Sonata in C, Illy 57 does have a couple of minor imperfections that sound suspiciously like edit joins.

-- Byzantion, MusicWeb International Footnote The reviewer refers to Peter Seivewright’s ongoing series having halted at volume 3 ‘possibly due to ill health’. I want to point out for the benefit of potential customers (and the music industry) that Peter is very well indeed – he did in fact undergo surgery not too long ago but is doing very well; his projects (which include several CDs of Bach, a Reger disc and a series of American Piano Sonatas, have also been held up due to his work commitments – he moved from Scotland to help set up and manage the new Department of Music at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. His fourth volume of Galuppi has been recorded and will appear in due course, hopefully with the other projected volumes to follow a little more quickly than heretofore. Stephen Sutton (Divine Art)

Peter Seivewright was amongst the first musicians to seriously research (in 1994) the 100+ keyboard sonatas by Venetian composer Galuppi, also famed as a pioneer of opera buffa. While others have since come to appreciate and record the fine variety and novelty of these works, for many personal and career reasons, Seivewright’s series was held up after volume 3 was released in 2004 but is now back on track with this intermediate album which includes also the G major Piano Concerto. Many of the sonatas have had to be reconstructed from single movement manuscripts. They show amazing diversity, from single-movement works to two- and three-movement pieces, and from basic baroque style to a Romanticism prescient of Schumann. Seivewright strongly believes that the works were specifically written for the pianoforte rather than harpsichord due to their frequent need for sostenuto and other factors. Peter Seivewright studied at Oxford then at the Royal Northern College of Music. He has performed extensively as recitalist and concerto soloist and has taught in colleges around the world, from Scotland to Trinidad to Afghanistan and most recently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Includes work(s) by Baldassare Galuppi. Soloist: Peter Seivewright.

REVIEWS:

"The music could not have a more sophisticated or dedicated advocate. In each sonata [Seivewright] unwraps a musical gift of exquisite beauty." – Michael Carter, Fanfare

"Absolutely immaculate execution matched by the clarity of the recorded sound... It is difficult to imagine this particular repertoire being presented to better advantage." – International Piano

"Seivewright is an enthusiastic and accomplished pianist... He plays with great conviction and flair... Pleasant listening from first note to last... A top class product... The recording is beyond reproach." – ClassicalNet

“Movements are built often quite imaginatively and always resourcefully... [Seivewright] is a sensitive artist and obviously enjoys this repertoire, and he communicates this enjoyment to us." – Penguin Guide to CDs (2005)

"Seivewright plays [the Sonatas] skillfully, and...they are pleasant to hear." – American Record Guide

REVIEWS:

“Peter Seivewright plays with style” – Northern Echo

“This is a fascinating disc... [Galuppi’s] music is very tuneful, unpretentious and untrammelled by 'early music fussiness.' They are far more appealing than Scarlatti sonatas. I have to commend the recording engineer who produces a close, intimate and crisp sound. Peter Seivewright gives us a splendid example as to how to play cantabile which all students and fellow pianists would do well to emulate. The sleeve booklet gives an excellent introduction to the life and times of this gifted composer and whets our appetite for further helpings. Highly recommended." – David Wright (Classical Music on the Web)

“A revelatory disc... Galuppi’s invention is rich and fresh, and Seivewright plays these wonderful pieces with a sense of delight in discovery. Highly recommended.” – Robert Cockroft, Yorkshire Post

“Movements are built often quite imaginatively and always resourcefully... [Seivewright] is a sensitive artist and obviously enjoys this repertoire, and he communicates this enjoyment to us." – Penguin Guide to CDs (2005)

GALUPPI: Harpsichord Concertos (Complete)

Venice's four famous orphanages for girls, the Ospedali, were, along with St Mark's Basilica, the musical centers of the city and a European-wide attraction for musicians and travellers. Famous teachers such as Vivaldi, Hasse, Porpora, Legrenzi, Rosenmüller and many others provided the girls with high-quality musical training and programmes of performances. Baldassare Galuppi, who was central to the development of Italian opera, was maestro di coro at the Ospedale di San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti for twelve years, for which he created the oratorio "Jahel" in 1747 and performed it there. The oratorio is about the biblical heroine Jahel, whose murder of the army leader Sisara leads to the liberation of Israel. The music is pointed with all its might towards the Viennese classical period, and the experienced Galuppi opera composer can be felt in every note. He wrote the arias for the various soloists of the Ospedale, thus demonstrating the high level of singing that prevailed there. The Musica Fiorita ensemble around harpsichordist Daniela Dolci, together with the Mädchenkantorei Basel and young soloists from the Basel scene, present with Galuppi's "Jahel" an elaborate repertoire excavation of the first order in exemplary interpretation.

At a time when only Bach and Scarlatti were Baroque-era composers in the repertoire of pianists rather than harpsichordists, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli pressed the cause of Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785) with performances and recordings of sonatas. Galuppi’s style was defined during his lifetime as ‘gay, lively and brilliant’, and this description certainly capture the style of the keyboard sonatas which he wrote throughout his career. Born on the island of Burano in the Venetian lagoon, Galuppi trained with Antonio Lotti (then organist of the Basilica San Marco) and quickly became noted across Europe for a string of operatic successes which supplied both audiences and singers with dazzling entertainment. He was no musical revolutionary and continued to compose in a well-turned vein of elegant Baroque conventions while composers further north in Europe were experimenting with larger-scale forms and more daring harmonies. However, the keyboard sonatas which Galuppi wrote throughout his career delighted audiences at the time and have continued to do so since. Several collections were issued during his lifetime (and designated with Opus numbers) but a great deal of his keyboard music remains unpublished. collection of 12 three-movement sonatas, drawn from this otherwise unpublished body of work, was edited by Giacomo Benvenuti (1885-1943) and issued by the Francesco Bongiovanni publishing house in 1920, and it is from this collection (familiar to audiences of the 50s through Michelangeli) that Fernanda Damiano plays six sonatas on the present album.