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Myslivecek - Complete Music for Keyboard

£12.69

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Label: BIS

Cat No: BIS2393

Barcode: 7318599923932

Format: Hybrid SACD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 29th March 2019

Works

Myslivecek, Josef

Easy Divertimenti (6) for keyboard
Easy Lessons (6) for keyboard
Keyboard Concerto no.1 in B flat major
Keyboard Concerto no.2 in F major

Artists

Clare Hammond (piano)
Swedish Chamber Orchestra

Conductor

Nicholas McGegan

Works

Myslivecek, Josef

Easy Divertimenti (6) for keyboard
Easy Lessons (6) for keyboard
Keyboard Concerto no.1 in B flat major
Keyboard Concerto no.2 in F major

Artists

Clare Hammond (piano)
Swedish Chamber Orchestra

Conductor

Nicholas McGegan

About

Born in Prague in 1737, Josef Mysliveček spent most of his short life in Italy, where for a while he enjoyed success with his many operas, and became known as ‘Il Boemo’ (‘The Bohemian’). It was also in Italy – in Bologna – that he first met Mozart, in 1770. Their paths would cross again and in letters Mozart wrote about him with affection, describing him as full of ‘fire, spirit and life’. Mysliveček’s influence is apparent in Mozart’s early operas, violin concertos, symphonies and keyboard music. His music soon fell out of fashion, however, and it is only recent decades that have seen a growing interest in works such as the wind octets, violin concertos and symphonies.

In comparison, Mysliveček’s output for keyboard has been somewhat neglected, something which the English pianist Clare Hammond seeks to rectify with her latest disc. The keyboard concertos in particular have barely seen the light of day since Mysliveček’s death and the second concerto is recorded for the first time on this disc which gathers all of the extant keyboard works. Clare Hammond, whose imaginative recording projects on BIS have received international acclaim, is here supported in the concertos by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by none other than Nicholas McGegan, whose expertise in 18th-century style is undisputed.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Keyboard Concerto no.1 in B flat major - I. Allegro comodo
2

Keyboard Concerto no.1 in B flat major - II. Andantino
3

Keyboard Concerto no.1 in B flat major - III. Rondo. Allegro
4

Six Early Divertimenti (1777) - I. Andantino
5

Six Early Divertimenti (1777) - II. Allegro ma non troppo
6

Six Early Divertimenti (1777) - III. Minuetto
7

Six Early Divertimenti (1777) - IV. Andantino
8

Six Early Divertimenti (1777) - V. Andante
9

Six Early Divertimenti (1777) - VI. Andantino
10

Keyboard Concerto no.2 in F major - I. Allegro con spirito
11

Keyboard Concerto no.2 in F major - II. Larghetto
12

Keyboard Concerto no.2 in F major - III. Tempo di minuetto
13

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata I: Allegro con spirito
14

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata I: Minuetto - Minore - Minuetto
15

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata II: Allegro
16

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata II: Rondo. Andantino
17

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata III: Allegro
18

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata III: Minuetto - Minore - Minuetto
19

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata IV: Andantino
20

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata IV: Minuetto - Trio - Minuetto
21

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata V: [no tempo marking]
22

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata V: Presto
23

Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata VI: Allegro con brio
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Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord (1780) - Sonata VI: Minuetto with six variations

Europadisc Review

This new recording from pianist Clare Hammond and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan fills a significant gap in the discography. Josef Mysliveček (1737-1781) was a Czech composer based from 1763 in Italy, where he made important contributions to the opera seria genre that form the basis of his reputation. Born in Prague as the eldest of identical twin sons to a prosperous miller, he looked set to continue in the family trade but instead switched to a career in music, studying with Josef Seger, the organist of Prague’s famous Týn Church. He established a reputation as an excellent violinist before leaving his homeland to study operatic composition in Venice and, apart from brief visits to Prague, Vienna and Munich, never returned to Central Europe. In Italy he was active mainly in Venice and subsequently Naples, where he led a colourful life and cemented his fame as one of the leading composers of opere serie. For some years he was close to the Mozart family, whom he met in 1770 in Bologna, and Wolfgang Amadeus clearly had a high regard for the composer known in Italy as ‘il Boemo’, although the relationship soured when Mysliveček failed to deliver on a promised Naples operatic commission for the younger composer. Apart from his operas, Mysliveček is known today mainly for his symphonies (all in the Italianate three-movement form), violin concertos and string quintets.

Until now, Mysliveček’s few works for piano have received little attention, so Clare Hammond’s complete survey, which at 76 minutes fits onto a single CD, is a welcome addition to the catalogue. (Only a single piano sonata of dubious attribution is omitted.) The main attraction for many will be the two piano concertos. These are compact works (the first lasting just 11 minutes), expertly crafted and revealing an elegance of invention that is immediately appealing. The B flat Concerto (no.1, probably composed, like its companion, in the late 1770s) is alert and nicely poised, and Hammond together with the Swedish orchestra and McGegan, bring out all its charm, not least in the central Andantino with its throw-away ending. Though played on modern instruments, there is an unaffected stylishness and charm to the playing that is immediately appealing.

The second concerto, in F major, is a more substantial work, although as in the first the wind instruments (oboes and horns) merely bolster the orchestral tutti passages. The opening movement, with its string swirls, is abundantly characterful, while the third is a buoyant dance in minuet time, with an ear-catching minor-key section that features off-beat punctuation from the strings. But it is the central movement that is the real gem here, a limpid Larghetto with muted violins and pizzicato lower strings accompanying an achingly cantabile solo part. This is music that Mozart might well have envied, and Hammond turns in an immensely heartfelt performance with a gentle touch that has the listener spellbound. It raises the work to a level that ought to see it enter the wider repertoire, and this disc will surely champion its cause.

The rest of the disc consists of two sets of ‘easy’ pieces for solo piano. In the case of the six Divertimenti of 1777, the label is particularly apt, for these are nicely turned character pieces that will suit any moderately accomplished amateur pianist, but Hammond’s playing transforms them into exquisite but unpretentious miniatures. The Six Easy Lessons of three years later are once again more substantial (and technically demanding), each comprising a two-movement sonata, four of them concluding with minuets. Particularly attractive are the opening movement of no.3, with its pulsating left-hand accompaniment, and the Minuet with variations that closes no.6 with a series of right-hand cascades. Hammond proves an excellent guide to these works (as she also does in her excellent booklet notes), which are perhaps most redolent of middle-period Mozart, and the whole disc is immensely enjoyable. With a fine recording from the Örebro Concert Hall in Sweden, it will surely bring a welcome boost to the reputation of ‘il Boemo’.

Reviews

Modest though their means may be, their charm is abundant, and both concertos are clearly the works of a supremely competent and gifted musician, if not of a keyboard virtuoso. To Hammond’s credit, she lets this appealing music speak for itself, never yielding to the temptation of burdening it with undue portent or extraneous affect. ... The exquisitely poignant Larghetto of the F major Concerto, with its delicately coloured accompaniment of muted violins and pizzicato lower strings, is alone worth the price of the disc. Patrick Rucker

Gramophone May 2019

The two compact concertos have a sparky grace that comes across buoyantly in these performances, for which [Clare] Hammond is joined by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and conductor Nicholas McGegan. A highlight is the middle movement of the Concerto No 2, here in its premiere recording, in which the piano’s melody hangs in the air above gently rippling muted strings. ... Mozart liked [the Six Easy Divertimenti], writing to his father that they would “make their best effect when performed with expression, taste and brio”, and that is exactly what they get from Hammond. Erica Jeal

The Guardian 4 April 2019