Hamelin Takes on Excesses of Opera Music

courtesy of PIAS

This coming Friday Hyperion Records will release the latest album of solo piano performances by Marc-André Hamelin. Hamelin is known for his adventurous approaches to repertoire, and the title of his new album is Liszt & Thalberg: Opera transcriptions & fantasies. Having risen to the many challenges posed by twentieth-century composers, Hamelin is now taking on the virtuoso excesses of the nineteenth. As usual, Amazon.com has a Web page for pre-orders of this new release.

The “main attraction” of the album may be described as the most notorious example of music composed by a committee. “Hexameron” was commissioned by Princess Cristina Trivulzio Belgiojoso, who persuaded Franz Liszt to prepare a theme-and-variations composition in which each of six variations was written by a different composer. (The title was a reference to the six days of creation from the Book of Genesis.) The theme was “Suoni la tromba” (sound the trumpet), also known as the “March of the Puritans,” from Vincenzo Bellini’s popular opera I puritani (the Puritans). Liszt provided the basic framework: a flamboyant introduction, a vigorous statement of the theme, a “Molto vivace quasi prestissimo” finale, the second variation, and some interstitial material after five additional variations had been composed. The composers of the other five variations were, in “order of appearance,” Sigismond Thalberg, Johann Pixis, Henri Herz, Carl Czerny, and Frédéric Chopin.

The last time I wrote about this music (for Examiner.com) I speculated that “Princess Belgiojoso envisaged some form of tag-team approach that would allow each composer to perform the music he had written.” This was supposed to take place at a benefit concert for the poor on March 31, 1937; but the score had not been completed in time for that event. It is unclear whether the music was ever performed during Liszt’s lifetime; but he published “Hexameron,” listing all of the contributing composers on the title page. He subsequently arranged the work for piano and orchestra.

As if “Hexameron” were not excessive enough in either its solo or orchestral versions, there is manuscript evidence that Liszt really wanted a performance for six pianos and orchestra. As a result, a full score for these resources was prepared by Robert Linn. By way of disclaimer, I should note that, prior to listening to Hamelin’s solo performance of this composition, I had only experienced Linn’s version, which, ironically, I had encountered twice.

The first was a radio broadcast of the score’s first performance in October of 1971. Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he was Assistant Conductor, and the participating pianists were Raymond Lewenthal (in the “role” of Liszt), followed by Gilbert Kalish, Marilyn Neeley, John Atkins, Ilana Vered, and Antonio Barbosa. Then, during his tenure with the San Francisco Symphony, MTT decided that the celebration of his 70th birthday should include a “return visit” to “Hexameron.” The concert took place on January 15, 2015 at Davies Symphony Hall. Teddy Abrams conducted to allow MTT to assume that “role” of Liszt. The other participating pianists, again in order of appearance, were Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Jeremy Denk, Yuja Wang, Hamelin, and Emanuel Ax.

I have been told that the Japanese have a famous joke that has been around for centuries. The joke goes that there are two kinds of fools in the world. The first is the fool that has never climbed Mount Fuji. The second is the fool that has climbed Fuji twice. I suppose the only thing that separates me from that second kind of fool is that my second encounter with “Hexameron” took place in the concert hall, rather than mediated by a radio broadcast. Whether the joke applies to MTT is left as an exercise for the reader!

(Another joke is that Leonard Bernstein was known for conducting both Messiah and The Creation in an autobiographical style. MTT benefitted from Bernstein’s mentorship. Draw your own conclusions!)

In the context of the Japanese joke, Hamelin might be left “off the hook” for playing only one of the variations in 2015. However, my guess is that the appearance of his “Hexameron” recording probably aligned with his adding the work to his recital repertoire. On the other hand, given that I listened to this recording several times before beginning my writing, I probably am now up to my neck as a “second-category fool!”

On the other hand bel canto opera was a “mother lode” of entertainment during the nineteenth century, owing as much to ruthless promoters as to flamboyant vocalists. In the twentieth century things were not that different where performers like Mick Jagger were involved. Listening to piano arrangements of the bel canto repertoire was the next best thing to being in the opera house. Indeed, for many, it was probably better, since the listener was spared from having to sit through the far less interesting parts of the opera.

Liszt certainly knew how to mine that mother lode. On Hamelin’s new album one can listen to him “in action” for both Ernani and Norma, as well as I puritani. Furthermore, because “Hexameron” had not been completed in time for Princess Belgiojoso’s salon, she offered, instead, a piano “duel” between Liszt and Thalberg. Thus, in addition to his contribution to “Hexameron,” Thalberg is represented on Hamelin’s album by reflections on Don Pasquale and Mosè in Egitto (the original Italian version of Rossini’s Moses opera).

As a result, Hamelin’s recording is not simply an indulgence in the excesses of music-making during the nineteenth century. Rather, it provides a generous sampling of what served to entertain the audiences of that century, not only through the patronage of royalty but also through the rising practices of turning the bourgeoisie into an income stream. There should therefore be no surprise in acknowledging that both composers and pianists picked up on following the lead of Louis-Désiré Véron, the “prime mover” that turned the Paris Opera into a profit-making business. Both Liszt and Thalberg knew how to keep their croissants buttered, and Hamelin has provided generous insights into their respective strategies.