Emmanuele Baldini - Bazzini, De Bériot, Ernst, Paganini, Sivori, Vieuxtemps: Un violon à l'opéra (Opera Fantasies for Violin) (2019)

Let us switch our imagination on: for a moment, we have no more internet, TV, cell phones. No technology. In this new and unexpected world – which is, like our own, imbued with uncertainty, wars, suffering – a few men with an impressive mediatic power stand up like as many Titans; they are stars worshipped everywhere, first actors who have entire theaters at their feet, genius-like demigods. Their hands are not holding a microphone, but rather a musical instrument: a violin. Without the transcriptions, paraphrases and fantasies which we can listen to on this CD, we could even think that such legendary virtuosos have never existed in reality. In the absence of the technology which makes spectacular aural journeys possible today, the aura of mystery and of legend surrounding the artists to whom this homage is dedicated was increased: what would we give to hear Paganini play live! How intensely would we have waited, during the cantabile which opens I palpiti op. 13, for the new variations and the unexpected springs which decorate Rossini’s airy melody! And this is but one example.
Well, if we want to fully understand this extraordinary nineteenth-century phenomenon, we must go beyond the operas which have inspired these sparkling interpretations. How can we do this? Easy. Let us forget about William Tell’s adventures, about the love affairs of Verdi’s characters, or the themes from the master pieces by the most famous composers of the musical theatre; let us take advantage of this unique occasion.
The philosophy of this recording is the best gift for the listener who is hungry for scales, arpeggios, bravura passages; the best gift for the expert music-lover who would be the first to shout “Bravo”, intoxicated by the extremely quick piqué which pours forth from the creativity of a Sarasate or an Ysaÿe. But there is still more. A special trepidation fills our hearts – as happened in the nineteenth century – when a performer/composer infuses life into a page of music by making it “his own”. Let me explain this better. In Bazzini’s op. 17 (“Casta Diva”) we hear only a faint echo of Bellini’s masterful invention; the pleasure lies in discovering, note after note, the very special colour which is assigned to each passage. In his op. 50 (“Traviata”) let us forget about Verdi: we are led to imagine ourselves in the shoes of the Brescia-born violinist, who, while getting back home from the premiere, is freely reliving the opera’s main moments, adorning and celebrating them with a majestic final arpeggio. And this is but the beginning. If we continue with Verdi’s music, we may appreciate Sivori’s histrionic style, both in his op. 20 (“Trovatore”) and in his op. 19 (“Ballo in Maschera”): these are true fireworks!
Even the works which are not normally considered as milestone of the operatic repertoire are changed into exhilarating and captivating fantasies: we hang off the composer’s… fingers, so to speak, as he seems to be instantaneously inspired to improvise on the main themes under our very eyes.
After Paganini, Bazzini and Sivori, other seldom-recorded pieces enrich the already full carnet of this CD: among them, Bériot’s Fantasy on William Tell, Vieuxtemps’ Fantasy on Verdi’s “I Lombardi” and Ernst’s sumptuous Fantasy on Rossini’s “Otello”.
Therefore, the collection proposed by the Baldini duo, composed by a father and a son, is an exceedingly enjoyable one: let us take an armchair, a healthy silence, and our ears, thirsting for the surprises which will come from the extreme creativity of these demigods in this instrument’s history. Let us close the books of harmony, the manuals of compositions, the treatises of music history and the summaries of the operas’ plots. At our disposal we have not just twelve recorded tracks, but rather twelve worlds, twelve universes, twelve books which we can devour within a few minutes. What are you still waiting for?

Album Notes by Giovanni Baldini