Tchaikowski 1813

The ten symphonies of Louis Spohr span a period of forty-six years which saw music move from the Classical dominance of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to the Romantic era of Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner. Spohr himself was an important link in this development, through his exploitation of chromatic harmony, his formal experiments and his four programmatic symphonies. When Spohr composed his first symphony in 1811, Beethoven still had to write his seventh, eighth and ninth, but by the time of Spohr’s final one in 1857 the entire symphonic output of Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann had come and gone, and all three of these composers were dead.
Keith Warsop

The sad thing about this 2008 Deutsche Grammophon disc is not the music, which is unfailingly bright and cheerful, nor the program, which is consistently surprising and delightful, nor the performances, which are unendingly smiling and life-affirming. The sad thing about this disc compiled and conducted by Claudio Abbado called Marce & Danze (Marches and Dances) is that the Italian maestro is no longer performing or recording as nearly much he used to owing to the swift decline of his health.

Stephen Heller (1813-1888) composed (more or less) exclusively for the piano in manner as thoroughly romantic as Schumann, Chopin and Liszt. His music isn't quite the equal of either of those, of course, but it is still far, far above the standard salon music of his day. Heller did have a knack for memorable melodies and knew what to do with them, and there are some gorgeous, exquisitve and truly inspired miniatures among his output (curiously his study pieces seem to be in general better represented than his concert works).

Sandrine Piau and Véronique Gens have a longstanding rapport and dreamed of making a recording together. Here they pay tribute to two singers who, like them, were born within a year of each other, Mme Dugazon (1755-1821) and Mme Saint-Huberty (1756-1812): both enjoyed triumphant careers in Paris, inspiring numerous librettists and composers. Gluck even nicknamed Saint-Huberty ‘Madamela- Ressource’, while ‘a Dugazon’ became a generic name for the roles of naïve girls in love, and later of comical mothers. Rivals? They very likely were, given the quarrelsome spirit of the operatic world of the time, even if they never crossed paths on stage.

Marietta Marcolini was an Italian contralto born in Florence in 1780. Rossini’s career would not have taken flight in so meteoric a fashion without a series of providential encounters, and that with Marietta Marcolini was to leave an indelible stamp on his entire output. By creating roles to measure for her, as in 'La pietra del paragone' and 'L’Italiana in Algeri', and exploiting this interpreter’s uncommon resources more fully than had other composers before him, Rossini ushered in the fashion for a new type of comedy, the brilliant, virtuoso comedy of which he was to remain the master until 'Le Comte Ory' (1828).

Charles-Valentin Alkan (November 30, 1813 - March 29, 1888), and his four brothers, all musicians, adopted their father's first name as their surname. Alkan Morhange (1780-1855) was the proprietor of a music school in Paris, and he early recognized among the musical talents of his sons the singular ones of young Charles-Valentin. Consequently, at the age of five Alkan was enrolled in the Paris Conservatory of Music, the breeding ground of many outstanding musicians and composers in the Nineteenth Century. Alkan studied composition and piano, making his debut at 12 years of age performing his own compositions as well as those of others. He seemed a star ascendant. Before he was 20 he embarked on the first of two trips abroad (the second two years later), the only times he was ever to leave Paris in his lifetime.