CVCMF 2021 - Giuseppe Martucci Piano Quintet in C , Op. 45

Allegro giusto

Andante con moto

Scherzo (Allegro vivace)

Finale (Allegro con brio)


Recorded in concert / live on August 14, 2021
Chandler Center for the Arts. Randolph, VT.


Violins: Joanna Maurer, Louise Owen

Viola: Michael Roth
Cello: Peter Sanders
Piano: Adrienne Kim


cvcmf.org

Audio/Video engineer: Peter Weitzner


Piano Quintet in C Major Op. 45 . . . Giuseppe Martucci(Born January 6, 1856 in Capua; died June 1, 1909 in Naples) Giuseppe Martucci had a minor reputation as a composer and arranger but mainly achieved his reputation as an orchestra and opera conductor. Arturo Toscanini (1869—1957) apparently knew and learned from Martucci when they were both in Naples.Martucci received piano lessons from his father, a bandmaster. When it was clear that the boy was a musical prodigy, at age eleven, he was sent to the Naples Conservatory. After his graduation, his father, helped him begin a concert career. Martucci became a well-known performer in much of Europe; his playing was even admired by Liszt. He became a professor at the Naples Conservatory and conductor of the Naples Symphony Orchestra. Becoming recognized as a composer, he led a group of Italian composers who aimed to restore instrumental music to prominence in Italy, attempting to deflect the dominance of opera.Martucci completed this work in 1877 or 1878. Its reasonably high opus number (Op. 45) for such a young composer indicates that, in his late teenage years, Martucci had been very prolific. This lush quintet of intense Romantic music featuring virtuoso pianism was long out of print, but, in its time, it earned the 21-year-old Martucci the top prize of the annual competition of the Società del quartetto di Milano in 1878. Martucci revised the work in 1892.The first movement, Allegro giusto, begins gently with a beguiling passage that becomes interspersed with even more serene pastoral passages. The opening theme is leisurely and displays a haunting melody. The second movement Andante con moto, is tranquil and has very much the same feeling as the first movement. The main theme has a vocal quality. The third movement, Scherzo, Allegro vivace, brings a change of mood with its mischievous character. Critics have noted that there are some hints of Schumann’s influence in this movement. The finale, Allegro con brio, has a strong and driving melody for its principal theme, while the second theme, introduced by the strings, is an excellent exemplar of the beauty of late-Romantic music. The movement, overall, features the piano extensively.Cobbett’s Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music covers this work thoroughly, calling it “expressive, ingenious, massive, and poetic high art.”

Program notes by Susan Halpern, 2020