Guitar Divas
Heike Matthiesen (guitar)
rec. 2022, Kulturzentrum Immanuel, Frankfurt
Reviewed as download from press preview
Ars Produktion ARS38355 [64]
Heike Matthiesen has spent many years researching female composers, a field that was fairly unexplored until some decades ago. It has become increasingly evident that women throughout music history have devoted themselves to music-making and composition, and this disc further broadens our knowledge of some of them by presenting four women composers and guitarists of the same generation, born roughly 200 years ago, but with very different life stories.
Emilia Giuliani-Guglielmi, born in Vienna, was the daughter of the famed composer and guitar virtuoso Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829). She was taught by and played with him, and performed as a soloist from an early age. Several of her compositions were published during her lifetime, which was cut short at the tender age of 37. The Prelude No. 1 may be of little substance beyond the opportunity for the guitarist to display her dexterity, which Heike Matthiesen possesses in abundance. She was a master student of Pepe Romero – proof enough that she plays in the highest division. More substantial are the Variations on ‘Non più mesta’ by Rossini, a favourite theme for many composers, including Legnani, Chopin and Paganini. Here, Matthiesen really goes through her paces. The theme is from Angelina’s final aria in La Cenerentola, and besides the technical fireworks in the opening variations, there is true magic when she arrives at the minor variation, where she slows down almost to a standstill, and that portion is really moving. There follows a riveting finale, which in the concert hall would be met with ovations.
Little is known about Anne Emmerich. She was supposedly born in 1802 and took some lessons with Mauro Giuliani, who was so impressed of her that he dedicated his Variations Op. 104 to her. Since he died in 1829, she must have been under twenty at the time. Six variations for solo guitar is her only known work; it was published, “and there is no trace of her and her life afterwards”, as Heike Matthiesen writes in the liner notes. The theme is very beautiful and probably her own, while the variations are technically advanced, so she must have been a brilliant guitarist herself. Why else should Giuliani dedicate his variations to her?
More is known about Catharina Josepha Pratten. Her father, Ferdinand Pelzer, was a guitar virtuoso himself and taught his daughter, who performed as a child prodigy together with Giulio Regondi, who also became a well-known virtuoso and composer himself. Catharina married an English flautist, Sidney Pratten, and became a central figure on the English guitar scene, composing abundantly – not only guitar music – and continued performing into old age. She climbed on the social ladder and taught members of the high nobility, including two of Queen Victoria’s daughters. Her compositions fill a major part of this disc, opening with Carnival of Venice, which has another popular theme that lends itself excellently as the basis for variations. Mrs Pratten’s version begins with a long introduction of almost two minutes, before the well-known theme is launched. The variations are inventive and technically challenging, and she wallows in tremolos and other crowd-pleasing effects. Rambling thoughts is soft and contemplative, but then are offered the two Fairy Sketches, inspired by two characters from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: first Queen Mab and then the mischievous Puck. Dance of the witches is not exactly frightening but quite dramatic, and there follows another popular melody for variations, Ja, das klinget so herrlich from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. After the melodious Serenade, which has become a new favourite of mine, she rounds off with two Spanish influenced pieces: Spanish Dance and Moorish Dance.
That leads us to the fourth composer, the Madrid-born Maria Dolores de Goñi. In Europe, her successes were limited, but when she emigrated to the United States and appeared under the name of her second husband as Madame Knoop, the reviews were enthusiastic. La Jota Aragonesa is the most authentic form of this widely spread Spanish dance and dates back to the 18th century. Variations on the Italian folk melody that is the basis for Carnival of Venice have long been popular among trumpeters to show their virtuosity, but also guitarists have been drawn to that theme. Tarrega’s and Johann Kaspar Mertz’ versions are possibly the best-known, but we have already heard Catharina Josepha Pratten’s version, and here is Maria Dolores de Goñi’s variant, more compact, more advanced and through-composed – a golden opportunity for comparison. After these equilibristics it is a pleasure to say good-bye with L’Adieu, a beautiful, caressing slow waltz. Salon music? Of course – but enchanting!
Guitar enthusiasts should invest in this issue without delay, bearing in mind that most of the pieces were previously unrecorded, but others should derive a lot of pleasure from them too – provided they like beautiful melodies.
Göran Forsling
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Contents
Emilia Giuliani-Guglielmi (1813–1850)
1 Prelude No.1 1:59
2 Variazioni su Non più mesta di Rossini op.5 10:11
Anne Emmerich (1802–?)
3 Six variations pour la guitar seule 10:16
Catharina Josepha Pratten (1821–1895)
4 Carnaval de Venise 9:53
5 Rambling thoughts 3:23
6 Fairy Sketches: Queen Mab 2:12
7 Fairy Sketches: Puck 1:22
8 Dance of the witches (Fantasia Grotesque) 2:53
9 5th Divertimento (Variations on a theme by Mozart) 5:08
10 Serenade 4:55
11 Spanish Dance 2:11
12 Moorish Dance 2:41
Maria Dolores de Goñi (1813–1892)
13 La Jota Aragonesa 1:52
14 Carnival of Venice 4:51
15 L’Adieu 4:10
