Volver
Vittorio Forte (piano)
rec. 2024, Ferme Villefavard, France
Mirare MIR768 [81]
Vittorio Forte describes his early pianistic heritage as originating in Argentina through his studies with José Lepore, an Argentinian pianist who had directed a conservatory in his homeland and moved to Italy to work with Carlo Zecchi. There were other important figures connected to Argentina in his education and all together they kindled the spark that has resulted in this recital. Thinking about his mentor Forte goes on to remember how I would hear him talk about Argentina and his eyes sparkled vividly and sparkling vividly is certainly a very apt description of this delightful recital. Forte’s own keen interest in exploring repertoire that may lie off the beaten track has extended the range of the programme beyond Argentina and so there are also composers here from México, Chile, Brazil, Cuba and Colombia.
Among the more familiar items are Ponce’s first Mexican rhapsody. Ponce takes Mexican dances, the Jarabe Tapatío, the Mexican hat dance and the Sombrero dance and interweaves them into a wonderfully evocative rhapsody that has all the virtuosity of the 19th century European piano school with a good dollop of local flavour. Forte even adds some extra virtuoso flourishes of his own in the final pages. A hop across the Gulf of Mexico takes us to Cuba and a couple of Ernesto Lecuona’s Afro-Cuban dances, the hypnotic midnight conga with its complex percussion rhythms and piquant false relation harmonies and La comparsa, the carnival procession that we hear in the distance and which passes in a blaze of glory before carrying its festive atmosphere to new crowds.
Who do we meet on the South-American mainland? A familiar face from Brazil is Heitor Villa-Lobos who brings us two concert waltzes. The first is impressions of a serenader from his Ciclo brasileiro and the second is valsa da dor, waltz of anguish. Both are slow waltzes though the serenade is full of harp-like effects and quite frenzied writing toward the end with coruscating right hand writing and cross rhythms. Valsa da dor is generally more restrained but it has its yearning passion; even when it moves into the major key its quirky harmonies still makes for an unsettled atmosphere. His countryman Alberto Nepomuceno was from the previous generation. He studied in Europe with Giovanni Sgambati and Heinrich von Herzogenberg as well as studying piano under Theodor Leschetizky in whose classes he met his future wife Walborg Bang, a pianist who was a friend and student of Edvard Grieg. The first three of his four lyric pieces, Longing, Waltz and Dialogue do recall the lyric pieces of Grieg as well as having a distinct feel of Schumann, especially in Longing and Dialogue but one is instantly transported to South America in the last piece Galhofeira, which portrays an energetic street dance; it seems worlds away from its companions. In Colombia Luis Antonio Calvo lived for much of his life in a leper colony after having served in the military and studying piano and violin at music college. He married a girl who moved to the colony to look after her sick sister. In his illness he was gifted a piano and composed almost exclusively for that instrument. The two works on the disc are lejano azul, far blue, a light hearted bolero and Malvaloca, a portrayal of a “scarlet woman” as the notes describe her, sashaying by to a languid habanera. Both are attractive without approaching the complexity of some of the other music here. Another unfamiliar name is Alfonso Leng from Chile. He was born in Santiago in 1884 and studied dentistry as well as music. Information is thin on the ground but it is noted that he later orchestrated his Doloras, the five little poems for piano and they were often played in Chile. As their name suggests they are mostly sad in feeling but are unfailingly beautiful. I especially love the third and fourth numbers that have slight echoes of the late romantic Russians.
Finally we travel to the land that started this whole adventure, Argentina. Piazzolla learned of the death of his father while he was on an ultimately unsuccessful tour of America and in his despair he turned to his beloved bandoneon and wrote the searing tribute that is Adios noniño. According to the composer’s son Piazzolla took himself aside and composed the very sad, terribly sad melody in just half an hour. This Tango rapsodia was composed later and reflects Ponce’s earlier use of local dances set in a virtuosic and rhapsodic style though here the basis is Piazzolla’s sad melody and rhythmic and percussive elements from an earlier tango Noniño. As familiar as Piazzolla in his own country is Carlos Guastavino who remained committed to lush romanticism though he lived until 2000. His output was prolific, some five hundred works, many still in manuscript and his style is a meld of late romantic composers as diverse as Granados and Rachmaninov with Argentinian folk music. Las Niñas is something of a rhapsody on a barcarolle, nostalgic and flamboyant by turns while his little dance Bailecito is languid and melancholy.
An enduring and endearing memory for Forte is tears springing to the eyes of his mentor Lepore as he played or listened to the songs of Carlos Gardel. It is fitting therefore that Forte opens and closes this recital with two of Gardel’s most popular songs in Forte’s own gloriously imaginative transcriptions. He takes 19th century transcriptions as his template and produces two beautifully crafted piano works that follow on from Liszt or Godowsky’s Schubert transcriptions while still honouring the style of Gardel and the tradition that he came from, so well documented in this recital.
I was hugely impressed with Forte’s Earl Wild album (Odradek ODRCD399 review) and the glittering and warm hearted playing on this CD has impressed me anew. This is a terrific recital and a great début for Forte with the Mirare label.
Rob Challinor
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Contents
Carlos Gardel (1890-1935) arr. Vittorio Forte
Por una cabeza
Volver
Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000)
Las Niñas
Bailecito
Manuel Ponce (1882-1948)
Rapsodia mexicana No.1
Alfonso Leng (1884-1974)
Doloras 5 poems for piano
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Ciclo brasileiro W.374 No.2 impressões seresteiras
Valsa da dor W.316
Ernesto Lecuona (1896-1963)
Danzas afro-cubanas No.1 La conga de media noche
Danzas afro-cubanas No.6 la comparsa
Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920)
Quatro peças lyricas Op.13
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Adios noniño. Tango rapsodia
Luis A. Calvo (1882-1945)
Lejano Azul, Intermezzo
Malvaloca, dance
