Oneillsurgenor - VERDI: Songs [CD]

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Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)SongsIt may seem odd that Italy's greatest opera composershould have first come before the Milanese public with aset of salon pieces, but in fact the 'liriche da camera'which punctuate his long career would often serve as aforging ground for his treatment of dramatic verse. Hewas 25 and pursuing the humble calling of municipalmusic master in Busseto when, doubtless as a result ofuseful contacts made during his student years at Milan,the firm of Canti brought out his Sei Romanze for voiceand piano. Within their modest scope fingerprints of themature master can already be discerned. The heavilycharged harmonies that introduce Non t'accostareall'urna 5 set a mood of high tragedy, while at midpointthe lyrical flow gives way to forceful declamatorygestures and a convulsive urgency as the singer inveighsagainst his faithless beloved. Simpler and more tranquil,More, Elisa, lo stanco poeta 4 is notable for its almostBellinian phrase-lengths and its epigrammatic approachto the final cadence of each verse. The melody of Insolitaria stanza 2 is encrusted with weary chromaticinflections amid which there surfaces a phrase that willrecur at a crucial point of Leonora's 'Tacea la notte' (I1trovatore). Nell'orror di notte oscura 3 returns to thesubject of the jilted lover with a piano accompanimentof, at times, almost Schubertian intimacy, but at thewords 'Maledetta la memoria di colei che lo trad?\xbc' thedramatic claws are once more unsheathed.Two songs belong to 1839, the year of Verdi's firstopera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio. L'esule 15, towords by its librettist, opens with a long, pianisticintroduction, but soon reveals its true colours as aminiature operatic aria in two contrasted movementslinked by a 'tempo di mezzo' and preceded by arecitative. The concluding cabaletta 'Oh, che allor lepatrie sponde' foretells the energetic style of Ernani. InLa seduzione 12 a design of plain, lilting melody isworked out so as to reflect every detail of the text,whether by unexpected harmonic shifts or by variety ofaccentuation.Chi i bei d?\xbc m'adduce ancora 14, a setting intranslation of Goethe's 'Erster Verlust' dating from1842, was clearly an outcome of the triumph ofNabucco, which won Verdi a number of admirers amongthe Milanese aristocracy. Written for the album of theMarchesa Sophie de Medici, it too is stalked by theghost of opera with pre-echoes of Azucena's 'Giornipoveri vivea' (Il trovatore) and Alfredo's 'Diquell'amor' (La traviata).Another set of six romances followed in 1845, oftenlighter and generally more sophisticated in style thanthose of 1838. Il tramonto 7, to words by Verdi's friendAndrea Maffei, has an almost classical regularity ofdesign embellished by a rich-textured pianoaccompaniment; and, as so often in Verdi's arias, themain melodic weight falls on the final phrase, a traitdeveloped still further in Ad una stella 8, anotherMaffei setting, in which Verdi for the first, but by nomeans the last time foreshortens his melo

Ave Maria

In Solitaria Stanza

Nell'Orror Di Notte Oscura

More, Elisa, Lo Stanco Poeta

Non T'Accostare All'Urna

Stornello

Il Tramonto

Ad Una Stella

Il Mistero

Lo Spazzacamino

Il Poveretto

La Seduzione

Brindisi (1st Version-Autograph Score)

Chi I Bei Di M'Adduce Ancora

L'Esule

Brindisi (2nd Version-Published Edition)