Giovanni Sgambati - Piano Quintet No. 1; etc (Francesco Caramiello; Ex Novo Quartet)

Information

Composer: Giovanni Sgambati

• Piano Quintet No. 1 in F minor, Op. 4
• Two Pieces for violin and piano, Op. 24
• Gondoliera for violin and piano, Op. 29
• Romanza for cello and piano, Op. 23 (trans. Böckmann)

Francesco Caramiello, piano

Ex Novo Quartet

    Carlo Lazari, violin

    Annamaria Pellegrino, violin

    Mario Paladin, viola

    Carlo Teodoro, cello

Date: 1998

Label: ASV

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Review

Sir Edward Elgar was in Rome early in 1907, and again as that year turned into 1908. Whilst he was there he was befriended by one of the leading figures of secular music in Italy - Giovanni Sgambati. Sgambati gave a reception for the Elgars on their earlier visit and, during their later stay, proposed that Elgar conduct an all-Elgar concert in a series that had already included personal appearances by Debussy, Sibelius and Strauss. But the hall was cavernous and full of echo, so Elgar declined. Nevertheless, Sgambati and Elgar remained on friendly terms until the Italian composer died in 1914. Sgambati symbolised a struggle to free Italian music from a complete dominance of opera in favour of instrumental, chamber and orchestral music. He was an early link in the chain of late 19th/early 20th century Italian music that included the, perhaps, more familiar name, Martucci (who frankly wrote stronger works), down to Martucci's student Ottorino Respighi.

I mention all this because the thing that struck me forcibly was how Elgarian at least one of the Sgambati miniatures on this album sounds - the Andante cantabile for piano and violin which is the most substantial of the Two Pieces for violin and piano. Sgambati tended to be inspired by Northern European music, notably Liszt, Wagner, Schumann and Brahms. These are discernible in all the works in this collection and, especially in the charming miniatures, there is also the sun and warmth of Italy. Indeed in the Gondoliera, you have a sense of gently moving waters beneath a gondola gliding along a moonlit Venetia canal carrying lovers oblivious to everything but themselves.

The main work on the disc is Sgambati's Piano Quintet which was admired by both Liszt and Wagner. It was composed in 1866, and one cannot help wondering, judging by its heroic nature - in many places it's as though one was listening to a fully-fledged, bravura Late Romantic piano concerto - wondering whether the turbulence of the events in Rome during the Risorgimento (Rome was embraced into the new Italy, last, in 1870) had in any way inspired its drama. There is plenty of restless energy in the powerful first movement, while the vivacissimo second movement is just that; contrasted with amiable reflective strolling material. The andante sostenuto movement that follows is intimate, quiet and quaintly lyrical with passages of passionate intensity. The final movement moves from a belligerent march to coyness with many moods in between.

Francesco Caramiello and the Ex Novo Quartet give sparkling committed performances.

— Ian Lace

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Giovanni Sgambati (28 May 1841 – 14 December 1914) was an Italian pianist, conductor and composer. A student of Franz Liszt, he helped introduce German composers like Beethoven and Liszt to Italian audiences, conducting landmark performances such as Beethoven's Eroica and Liszt's Dante Symphony. He founded an orchestra in Rome and co-established the Roman Society of the Quartet in 1867. Sgambati also promoted music education, helping found Rome's first public music school in 1876. His works include chamber music, piano pieces, songs, two symphonies, a piano concerto, and a Requiem Mass.

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Francesco Caramiello (born 1964 in Naples) is a pianist and composer who studied under Vincenzo Vitale and Bruno Mazzotta. A graduate of the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory, he has performed internationally at prestigious venues and festivals, collaborating with major orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Nürnberger Philharmoniker. He teaches at the Domenico Cimarosa Conservatory in Avellino. His acclaimed discography includes recordings of Martucci, Sgambati and American composers like Gottschalk and Carter, released on ASV, Opus 111, Tactus, Nireo and Agorà labels.

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