Sigismond Thalberg was a virtuoso pianist whose training included studies with Mozart’s pupil Johann Hummel, and whose rivalry with Franz Liszt became the talk of Paris in the 1830s. Thalberg excelled in the fashionable solo piano genre of operatic paraphrase but, while drawing on themes by the ever-popular Rossini, Les Soirées de Pausilippe avoids ostentatious excess. Instead Thalberg preferred an elegant simplicity in which the piano is allowed to sing in emulation of the operatic originals. With rhythmic dances, expressive arias and more, this is a collection that embraces moods that range from Mendelssohnian charm to Chopinesque pianism.

Sigismond Thalberg was a Wunderkind and one of the most accomplished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. Mendelssohn, Chopin and Clara Schumann were impressed by his technical skills. As legend goes there was a big rivalry between Thalberg and Liszt, though mostly fomented by the press. Thalberg was also a composer whose focus laid mainly on fantasies on operatic themes. In the 19th century this was a genre aiming to delight audiences with the familiarity of known melodies, the ingenuity of the transcriptions and their spectacular virtuosity. Thalberg wrote fantasies on quite a number of opera by Italian composers. These fantasies and other works are presented now in a comprehensive set by the Italian pianist Francesco Nicolosi. Nicolosi specializes in the interpretation of Thalberg's composition and the result is truly remarkable. With an exquisite technique, a wonderful sound and an impeccable legato these recordings have no rival. They came to be in the 1990s as individual releases and brought Nicolosi the Bellini Golden Prize. They are now being made available for the first time as collector's item.

International lawyer by day and piano virtuoso by night, Paul Wee made his recording début in 2019 with some of the most technically demanding piano music there is: Alkan’s Symphony and Concerto for solo piano. He now returns with music which presents a different, but not lesser challenge: how make the keyboard sing. The piano is by nature a percussive instrument – the sound is created by little hammers falling on strings. To create a true legato – or the illusion of it – has been the aim of generations of pianists, but few have taken the matter as far as Sigismond Thalberg. A giant in nineteenth-century pianism, Thalberg was born in 1812, the year after Franz Liszt, his greatest rival on the international concert circuit. In comparison to the latter, Thalberg was often singled out for his ability to make the piano sing, an art which he himself highlighted in a collection of transcriptions aptly named The Art of Singing Applied to the Piano. Published between 1853 and 1863, the collection included Thalberg’s adaptations of popular arias by Bellini, Rossini and Weber and songs by Beethoven and Schubert, but also other vocal works, such as Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem. This nowadays little-known but fascinating chapter in the history of pianism is presented by Paul Wee, together with a substantial booklet which includes his own liner notes as well as Thalberg’s foreword, with the master’s advice to those who want their keyboards to sing.

REVIEW:

Tone and touch are paramount, as Thalberg faithfully conveys the originals with an artistry far beyond that normally associated with transcription, managing to evoke a human voice accompanied by orchestra or piano. Wee’s evocative playing captures the spirit of each role. With a handful of Thalberg’s other arrangements as a welcome bonus and gorgeous recorded sound, this is one to cherish.

– BBC Music Magazine