Non-professional lovers of music ranged, in their mastery of the instruments, from amateurs to concert performers. So the instrumental fantasias were “molded” to the patrons’ specific requirements, and nourished a constantly growing market. The history of Pietro Morlacchi (1828-68) and Antonio Torriani (1829-1911) coincides with the history of the success of instrumental music genre in Italy. That these of the many published fantasias of the time survived, testify to their musical worth.
Thalberg: Fantasies on Operas by Donizetti / Nicolosi
Naxos
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%May 27, 2022
Sigismond Thalberg was one of the most distinguished pianists of his time, embarking on a solo career in the 1830s and touring as far as the Americas. Thalberg was considered a rival to Liszt though their supposed animosity was largely a journalistic invention. The creation of transcriptions of popular operatic melodies and their transformation into virtuoso concert pieces was hugely fashionable, but Thalberg’s treatments were also admired by Schumann for their Classical transparency, and for stylish technical innovations that saw him imitated throughout Europe. These fantasies on themes by Donizetti are full of the lyrical charm and drama of the original operas, combined with pianistic fireworks that delighted audiences worldwide.
The youngest musician ever to win the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division, exciting American cellist Zlatomir Fung has collated an album of opera fantasies including Fantasy on Jenufa which he arranged himself and a Fantasy written especially for him - Fantasia Carmen - by composer Marshall Estrin. After extensive research Fung found these fantasies for cello used recognizable tunes from famous operas to create a free medley and that there are few rules beyond the pure expression of the composer's personality, interests, and strengths as a cellist. But it's more unconventional elements reimagine the notion of the fantasy itself, proving that the genre's possibilities are far from exhausted-and, indeed, may only be in their infancy. After his Tchaikovsky competition win, Fung has garnered accolades, critical acclaim and standing ovations at performances around the world, more and more widely recognized as one of the preeminent cellists of our time. Astounding audiences with his boundless virtuosity and exquisite sensitivity, the 25-year-old has already proven himself a star among the next generation of world-class musicians.
Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 1 - Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 - 3 Fa
Profil
CD
$13.99May 29, 2012
From the start, it was literature and poetry which stimulated Schumann. His music is poetic, narrative and descriptive. Schumann preferred small forms, individual pieces that he often compiled into sets like the Intermezzi, Impromptus, Albumbletter and Kinderszenen, as well as the Fantasiestucke presented on this recording.
Schumann: Fantasiestücke - Kreisleriana - Brahms: Theme & Va
Chandos
CD
$10.99$21.99Save 50%Feb 26, 2013
This is Volume 1 in Imogen Cooper’s new series on Chandos Records, dedicated to the complete works for piano by Robert Schumann. Recognised worldwide as a pianist of virtuosity and poetic poise, Imogen Cooper has established a reputation as one of the finest interpreters of the classical and romantic repertoire. She has dazzled audiences and orchestras throughout her distinguished career, bringing to the concert platform a unique musical understanding and lyrical quality.
The three works on this release span a period of fifteen years- years in which the young Schumann suffered forcible separation from his beloved Clara, followed by their marriage and a brief period of relative calm, to the increasing bouts of mental instability which were to close him off from the world around him until his death. The piano Fantasiestucke op. 111 was composed in 1851 during atime of deteriorating mental health and increasing disillusionment with his post as Music Director of the Dusseldorf Music Society. In contrast to the youthfully extroverted Fantasiestucke op. 12 of 1837, these three untitled pieces are “of a serious and passionate character,” as Clara described them. The Fantasie in C major op. 17 is one of Schumann’s most powerful large-scale piano works, composed during the bitter period of his enforced separation from Clara. Schumann completed his cycle of nine forest piano miniatures, Waldszenen, in 1849, while struggling with increasing bouts of mental instability and depression. Each piece is headed by a descriptive title. These masterly tone paintings display Schumann’s genius in creating miniature images consummate in expression, characterization and mood. Critics have praised Einav Yarden’s previous recordings for Challenge Classics: “She pairs Beethoven with Stravinsky to striking effect, merging that unlikely couple with imagination and exceptionally vivid playing.” (The Washington Post) “Yarden plays a wonderfully exuberant, vibrant Haydn, glowing, transparent, adventurous, at times intimately chamber-music-like, at times grand and orchestral. A voice for Haydn!” (Fono Forum)
Thalberg: Fantasies on Italian Operas - Les Soirées de Pausilippe - Piano Concerto, Op. 5 / Nicolosi
Naxos
CD
$51.99May 14, 2021
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.
The name of Friedrich Berr (1794-1838) is well known to young clarinettists across the world, as the author of solos, duets and methods for students to learn the instrument. His more elaborate pieces have largely been forgotten, except for a Rossinian fantasia which has often been mistaken for the work of his more illustrious friend. Now Luigi Magistrelli sets the record straight with a collection of fantasias and arrangements, most of them taking operatic pieces by Auber and Rossini for their subjects, a set of 'Instructive Variations' and an arrangement of the Overture to Rossini's L'assedio di Corinto, for two clarinets, where he is joined by his sister Laura Magistrelli. The album opens with a fantasia on Auber's La muette de Portici, and continues in similarly spectacular vein with a fantasia on Rossini's William Tell. Luigi Magistrelli explores the significance of Berr's arrangements in a booklet essay: 'Examining the many clarinet compositions of Berr, nowadays completely forgotten, I selected the most interesting ones. Most of them are structured with a typical form involving introduction, theme and variations of both well-known and less known operas of his epoch. The Solos and Fantasies have appealing melodies and quite demanding technical passages well-conceived for the clarinet's expressive resources.' As an experienced soloist, teacher and chamber musician, Luca Magistrelli has led several albums of clarinet-centred chamber music for Brilliant Classics. 'This offbeat disc
I think of fantasy as a creative force that has united composers across the centuries, to which each composer has miraculously had access, then transposed it over time. In each composer we find characteristics typical of the time in which he lived, others typical of the composer, and sometimes phrases, ideas, fragments, which seem to come out of time and space, into another dimension compared to everyday life. Here is where the genius lives, where the connection with the devine, through the creative force of fantasy, allowed the composers to go beyond their human nature." Margherita Santi
Through the haze of the years, a poet remembers the women he loved. But when it comes to matters of the heart, nothing is as it seems. Particularly when the devil himself is involved. Journeying back to his school days, Hoffmann (Juan Diego Florez) relives his childhood romance with Olympia, a model student in every sense. Doomed love follows him into adulthood, where the dancer, Antonia, is taken from him too soon. Meanwhile, the sensual courtesan Giulietta has her own secret agenda. As memory and fantasy become increasingly blurred, will Hoffmann find the enigmatic Stella before it is too late? Olivier award-winning director Damiano Michieletto returns to The Royal Opera for a new production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann alongside conductor Antonello Manacorda.
Musicians have long known about the existence of Telemann's Fantasias for viola da gamba, but until very recently no surviving copies had ever been located. Fortunately a single print edition was identified by two musicologists in the Lower Saxony State Archive in Germany. In 2016 these important pieces were at last presented to the world in a modern edition which includes a complete facsimile of the original print. John Dornenburg has made numerous recordings for Centaur Records. After many years based in San Francisco, he is now based in the U.K.
Fantasias On Operas By Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi / Roch Modrzejewski
Brilliant Classics
CD
$13.99Mar 26, 2013
The 19th century was a significant time for both opera and the guitar. Opera was everywhere, and its characteristics gradually began to appear in other styles of music as composers tried to encapsulate the expressiveness and flexibility of the voice into their works. At the same time, the guitar underwent major changes in construction; this disc showcases pieces that combine these two major elements of 19th? century music, all of which are played by Roch Modrzejewski – praised in Les Cahiers de la Guitare as an ‘extraordinary, demanding, gifted and clever guitarist’.
The collection begins with Coste’s light and lively interpretations of Bellini’s Norma and Il pirata, followed by Legnani’s Cavatina from Ernani by Verdi, a simple piece that makes full use of all facets of the guitar. Then come the variations on a theme of Rossini’s Otello, by the immensely important guitarist Giuliani, who shows off his skill by combining simple, natural harmonisation and texture at the outset and a brilliant vitality and vigour in the final section. Bobrowicz was known to his contemporaries as the ‘Chopin of the guitar’, and his variations on Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi display a romantic nostalgia and a regal finale. Mertz explores all sound colours of the guitar in the beautiful Marino Faliero after Donizetti, and the collection ends with the Variations on an air from Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Regondi: a work full of innovative modulations and rich texture which transcended the boundaries of 19th?century guitar composition.
OTHER INFORMATION: * Recordedin2012,Krakow. * Contains notes on the works by the artist. * Contains first recordings (Nepomuk de Brobowicz’s Variations and Polonaise on a duet from I Capulati e I Montecchi Op.30; Mertz’s Marino Faliero from Opern?Revue Op.8).
This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
Thrilling flights of fancy abound from violinist Arabella Steinbacher in Fantasies, Rhapsodies and Daydreams Spectacular virtuoso playing, bravura passagework and show-stopping melodies are balanced with wistful lyricism and sublime tone painting in this irresistible programme of perennial favourites, played with elan by the violinist Arabella Steinbacher with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, conducted by Lawrence Foster in this new release from Pentatone.
From the high jinks and outrageous showmanship of Franz Waxman's Carmen Fantasie and Pablo de Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, to the fearsome technical demands of Ravel's Tzigane and the exquisite refinement of Saint-Saens' Havanaise and Introduction et Rondo capriccioso, this album harks back to an earlier era of violin playing.
REVIEW:
Were someone to ask me to suggest a disc to introduce them to the violin, I might well steer them in the direction of this one. I rather like the way she pushes on in the central section of The Lark Ascending, and it cleverly elides into the beginning of Saint-Saens's Havanaise. This, the Introduction and Rondo capriccio, and Ravel's Tzigane are given excellent performances. The standout performance comes with the Meditation from Massanet's Thais, done with breathtaking beauty, a turn-on for any newcomer to the violin.
The Royal Opera Collection brings together eighteen outstanding productions from The Royal Opera, spanning all-time classics and contemporary masterpieces. Featuring some of the world’s finest performers and leading directors, The Collection demonstrates the breadth of The Royal Opera’s work including Le nozze di Figaro, Carmen, Turandot, La traviata, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, and the Multiple award-winning Written on Skin. A special edition book is also included, containing new articles about The Royal Opera, richly illustrated with stunning photographs.
A unique take on Mozart's music from the organ loft. Mozart wrote sparingly for the solo organ - a relatively early collection of short Epistle Sonatas for liturgical use, and later on a few more individual pieces for a new mechanical organ. In neither case was he using the full extent of a large instrument as exploited by his Baroque predecessors. At the same time, Mozart himself was no stranger to the organ loft; he would have been regularly playing the instrument at St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna had his plans come to fruition and he had lived long enough to attain the post of Director of Music there. Manuel Tomadin has imaginatively filled in this gap in the Mozart catalogue, as it were, with his own transcriptions of pieces particularly well suited to the soundworld of the organ. The A minor Sonata K310 shares a surging, Sturm und Drang sensibility with the two fantasias, in C minor and D minor. In turn this character lends itself to the Gothic grandeur of the 'king of instruments', when sensitively registered and nimbly executed. The coloristic possibilities of the organ, it's dynamic range and effects of perspective, are also put to dramatic use in bringing to life two of Mozart's opera overtures, from Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflote. Tomadin does not neglect the roots of Mozart's music in the Baroque, with a transcription of the rococo G major sonata K283 which he wrote at the age of 18, plus a much less familiar Preludio and Capriccio in C K394. In both of these pieces, Mozart was drawing on the legacy of CPE Bach, who had given him lessons as a child - a period to which Tomadin pays tribute with another rarity, one of the 'London Sketches' preserved in notebook form from the family's stay in the English capital. Tomadin has chosen an original and historically appropriate instrument for this fascinating exploration of Mozart on the organ, built in the late 1780s by the Montesanti firm for the parish church of Governolo in the province of Lombardy. The booklet includes a full specification of the organ, plus Tomadin's own introduction to the repertoire and his approach to it as a transcriber and performer. - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) had a profound connection with the church organ, an instrument that played a significant role in his musical development. As a child prodigy, Mozart was exposed to the organ in church settings, where he often performed. The organ's grandeur and complexity influenced his compositional style, particularly in his sacred music. - Although Mozart called it "The King of instruments" he wrote comparatively few works for the organ. Organist Manuel Tomadin professes his love for the composer and his considerable skill as an organist by transcribing several works for the organ: the overtures Cosi fan tutte and Die Zauberflote, two piano sonatas K 283 and 310, and several small keyboard works, perfectly suited for performance on the organ. - Played on a historical instrument: the 1788-1790 Andrea & Luigi Montesanti organ of the Parish Church of Governolo, Italy. - A feast of colours and timbres, celebrating the genius of Mozart's eternal music!
From the Fantasie Op. 17 - a pinnacle of lyricism and virtuosity - to the irresistible Carnival Scenes from Vienna, via the Humoreske that bubbles over with invention, Nikolai Lugansky explores three of Schumann's iconic masterpieces for piano: a compelling panorama of an intensely personal musical world, mingling passionate outbursts with ironic daydreams and poetic depths.
One of the most versatile and compelling musicians of the modern day, pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman boasts a vast repertoire ranging from the Baroque era to contemporary compositions. Feltsman regularly performs as a guest soloist with the best symphonies in the US and abroad, and has garnered acclaim at the most prestigious music festivals across the globe. Feltsman has recorded extensively during his career, including albumsof works by Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, and more. This three disc set features works by virtuosic piano composer Robert Schumann. This release follows Feltsman’s well-received “Album for the Young,” also featuring works by Schumann.
While hunting at night, Prince Arindal encounters the beautiful fairy Ada. Both fall in love immediately. Arindal decides to be always at Ada's side in the fairy realm. The fairy king warns, however, if Arindal should ever leave Ada alone for longer than a year she will turn to stone. But the Prince must leave Ada. Will he be back on time? Wagner's opera Die Feen (The Fairies), a charming fairy tale about the magic of love and music, is featured here in a special adaptation for children by the Wiener Staatsoper.
Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9 & Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17
Centaur Records
CD
$18.99Nov 11, 2016
Pianist Sophia Agranovich has been called “a tigress of the keyboard.” She is an acclaimed soloist and sought after chamber musician as well as a recording artist and educator. She has performed across the United States, Europe, Israel, and Canada in solo recitals as well as alongside all of the most respected orchestras. For this release, Sophia has chosen Robert Schumann’s Carnaval and Fantasie. Carnaval, Op. 9, was written in 1834-35 and consists of 21 short pieces which represent masked revelers at Carnival, the festival before Lent. The Fantasie in C major Op. 17 is dedicated to Franz Liszt. It is known amongst pianists as one of Schumann’s greatest works for solo piano, and is one of the most important works of the early Romantic period.
