Giuseppe Martucci - Music for String Quartet; Piano Trios; Piano Quintet (Quartetto Noferini)

Information

Composer: Giuseppe Martucci

CD1

• Piano Trio No. 1 in C Major, Op. 59
• Piano Quintet in C Major, Op. 45

CD2

• Piano Trio No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 62
• Momento musicale in B-Flat Major
• Minuetto for String Quartet: Allegro
• Three Pieces of G.F. Haendel Transcribed for String Quartet

Quartetto Noferini

    Roberto Noferini, violin

    Federico Parravicini, violin

    Anna Noferini, viola

    Andrea Noferini, cello

&

Maria Semeraro, piano

Date: 2016

Label: Brilliant

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Description

Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909) was in the vanguard of Italian composers working outside the dominant operatic tradition. Having received his first music lessons from his father, he entered the Royal College in Naples in 1868 and three years later produced his first major work, the Piano Quintet. The opus number of 45 indicates the industry with which the composer applied himself, not only in his youth but throughout his life, and it is a remarkably mature work for a 21-year-old, recognised by the award of a local but prestigious prize for composition.

Martucci’s two piano trios date from his late 20s, are cast on the grandest scale, in Schubertian dimensions with a truly Brahmsian breadth of line and spaciousness of argument. Like the Quintet they are cast in the traditional four movements, which open with a searching melody over a turbulent accompaniment, quickly ceding to the gentler development of lovely cantabile ideas: despite writing instrumentally, Martucci had a native gift for apparently natural, singing melodies. A Mendelssohnian lightness of texture lifts these trios from the occasionally heavy-handed rhetoric of the Piano Quintet. One may also hear the composer’s Neapolitan background, especially in the rustic Scherzos with their echoes of local folk music and musicians.

This new recording complements previous releases by Brilliant Classics of the piano music with which Martucci learnt his craft (BC94800) and the music for cello and piano (BC94816) which is roughly contemporary with the trios. The performers have considerable experience in this underappreciated field of unquestionably underappreciated music. Maria Semeraro is the pianist on the Brilliant Classics release of the music for cello and piano by Alfredo Casella (BC94823), and the Quartetto Noferini have made a well-received disc of chamber music by Martucci’s teacher, Giovanni Sgambati (BC94813). Together they form an impressively idiomatic partnership.

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Giuseppe Martucci (6 January 1856 – 1 June 1909) was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. A prodigy from Capua, he studied at the Naples Conservatory from age 11 and was trained in composition by Paolo Serrao. His international career began with a European tour in 1875. Martucci held teaching positions in Naples and Bologna, and became director of the Royal Conservatory in Naples in 1902. He dedicated his entire career to absolute music, which was notable among Italian composers of his era. His works include instrumental music, songs, and the oratorio Samuel, but no operas.

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The Quartetto Noferini was founded by siblings Anna, Andrea, and Roberto Noferini in memory of their father, Giordano Noferini—an esteemed pianist, composer, conductor, and former director of the G.B. Martini Conservatoire in Bologna. The ensemble specializes in 20th-century Italian repertoire, including works by their father, and performs in various formations such as quintet and string trio. They have played in leading international concert venues and institutions. Their recordings include Lemma, featuring music by Ennio Morricone (Stradivarius), and a collection of works by Mauro Giuliani (Amadeus).

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Maria Semeraro is an Italian pianist. She graduated from the Conservatory of Pesaro and furthered her studies at the Academy in Imola under Franco Scala. She later continued her advanced studies at the "R. Romanini" Foundation in Brescia. Alongside her musical career, she holds a degree in philosophy, specializing in music philosophy. Semeraro has won many national and international piano competitions and performed as a soloist across Italy and abroad, including in Munich, Amsterdam and Moscow. She has played with major orchestras such as RAI Milan, the Toscanini Orchestra and the Moscow Symphony.

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