Salieri: Overtures & Ballet Music

A fascinating and vividly performed survey of the neglected master works from Mozart's great rival for Vienna's opera stage. While demonized as Mozart's "assassin," Antonio Salieri was a gifted composer in his own right; a colorful and imaginative orchestrator; and the man who taught Beethoven, Schubert, Hummel, and Liszt. Album Description

Crisp and Intelligent

Antonio Salieri hasn't had it this good in nearly 200 years. Baumert, Bartoli, and now Thomas Fey and his orchestra are helping to bring this witty, forward thinking, and delightful composer out from under the myth of madness and murder. Here overtures and dances from Salieri's operas are played with élan, wit and clarity.

The Mannheimer Mozartorchester performs these scores with deftness, wonderful coloration (esp. in the use of period brass with modern strings and woodwinds), and great precision. About a third of the material is recorded here for the first time, and other pieces receive fresh up tempo interpretations, but with the exception of the Baumert symphony CD, which is just as good, I don't think any other recordings of Salieri's instrument works have been this well done or this informed by intelligent historical understanding of the scores and/or clear artistic direction. One can quibble with a tempo here or there, but not much else. Salieri's music sparkles and beguiles and we can understand why his operas gained fame for forty years throughout Europe.

Among the gems there is the overture to Les Horaces looking backward to Gluck and forward to Beethoven. Also two very charming overtures, one comic, Der Rachfangkehrer, and one pastoral, Daliso e Delmita both exude warmth and good cheer. The moody and very modern overture to Catalina and the selections from Armida, Pafio, and Les Danaides, completes this broad sample of Salieri's oeuvre. As a composer Salieri strove for a theatrical broadness of gesture, bold and original use of the orchestra, and dramatic movement. Nonetheless he was not the intellectual equal of a Wagner nor as technically or melodically brilliant as a Mozart, yet Salieri's works give a theatrical thrill and offer moments of true pathos, and this CD demonstrates how this Italian who followed more Germanic trends produced an innovative confluence of late 18th century musical styles; a personal style that influenced Mozart and Beethoven among many others. His music has pleasures all its own. A nice booklet and packaging makes this a CD to relish.
May 20, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...