October 9, 2012

  • Review: Wallace Piano Music

     

    Wallace: Chopinesque
    Rosemary Tuck, piano.  Tait Chamber Orchestra/Richard Bonynge, piano.
    Naxos 8.572776
    Total Time:  79:20
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    The increased production of the pianoforte in the early 19th-century created the need for large amounts of new music though often in shorter forms using popular dance forms and folk music as their departure points.  Virtuoso performers continued to proliferate on the instrument throughout the period with many dazzling displays of their talent audible in the many piano concerti that resulted.  In the first half of the century, music historians often hone in on Chopin’s work as a miniaturist for piano.  Along with Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann, one often is struck by the variety of music these composers created for the piano.  Wallace’s music is closer to that of contemporaries Franz Liszt and Louis Moreau Gottschalk with the latter’s work perhaps being a close cousin stylistically, though Wallace’s style is often more refined or effete with less immediately borrowed ethnic rhythms. 

    Into this picture comes the Irish-born composer William Vincent Wallace (1812-1865) who, after witnessing Paganini’s performances as a teenager, determined to become a virtuoso on piano and violin.  He launched his career in 1835, though he decided to do this in Australia.  Over a ten-year period, he was quite successful in this “new land” managing even to establish the country’s first musical academy and music festival.  But, soon his luck ran its course and he began a route that in some respects recalls Gottschalk’s---through South America (Chile, Peru) and Jamaica, Cuba, and Mexico.  He eventually landed in New Orleans in 1842 where his concerts were so popular that he became a sort of “adopted” son of the city.  Three years later he debuted in London and was commissioned to write an opera.  A second opera was less successful and he returned to New York to where he made a good living off his compositions.  He would return again to London in 1860 where his third opera, Lurline, would be quite popular.  He would go on to write three further operas though they were not as successful.  A move to Paris to hopefully introduce his operatic work was hampered by ill health and he died there in 1865.

    What makes Wallace’s music so unique is that is moves effortlessly from works of great virtuoso display to more simple piano pieces designed for home enjoyment.  The title of this new Naxos release suggests his “Chopin”-like output.  Other similarities may be heard in his delightful exploration of the piano.  After a few selections that allow the listener to get a taste of early 19th-century style comes the striking nocturne, “Le Zephyr.”  Here chromatic runs lie aside often slightly unusual harmonic movement in a brief work that feels like a mix of Liszt and Chopin.  The left hand moves rhythmically at times in rather unusual syncopated ways for a work from 1848.  This is a far cry from Field nocturnes or Chopin’s efforts in the form feeling more like work that tells a distinct story.

    The titles of some of Wallace’s works also seem to have a parallel descriptive quality to those Gottschalk would also attach to his piano works.  Though the disc moves back and forth from earlier to later pieces, one can still hear how the pieces show a consistent command of piano writing.  The later “Souvenir de Cracovie” features a great deal of little chordal moments set against strong melodic content.  Spanish flavored sounds appear in “La Sympathie-Valse” dedicated to a Mexican woman and featuring an almost guitar-like accompaniment.  One might also hear some of this influence in the nocturne “Woodland Murmurs” from a set published in New York in 1844.  It is on great display though in the 1848 “Valse Brillante.”  Striking as well are Wallace’s descriptive titles, often Impressionistic in nature and in narrative content.  The first of these is the truly gorgeous “Le Chant des Oiseaux” (1852) inspired by the Persian poet Sadi and complete with bird call imitations and depictions of flying.  Another nocturne, “Au Bord de la Mer,” is an appropriately wave-like barcarolle.

    A final bonus here is a work from 1842 composed in New Orleans for piano and orchestra, though surviving only in solo piano versions.  The “Grand Fantasie La Cracovienne” has been orchestrated by Jeremy Silver for performance.  In comparison to the other works on the album, it is a bit anti-climactic.

    There are times when one gets a glimmer of what great releases can do for classical music enthusiasts and why the demise of the browse-able music store is to be lamented.  Releases such as this one can introduce rather unusual repertoire to new people and in this case there is much here to enjoy.  Very few solo piano releases are as good as this one and there is plenty of music to enjoy here.  Rosemary Tuck performs these pieces with great skill and does so without trying to overlay the style of more familiar Romantics of the period.  The result is that Wallace’s music can be enjoyed for the great music that it is on its own.  The release comes highly recommended and can allow another way to explore the development of solo piano music in the first half of the 19th-century.