Marianna

Nuria Rial & La Floridiana present world premiere recordings by Marianna Martines - a famous female composer in the time of Mozart and Haydn. Marianna Martines was one of the most accomplished and highly honoured female musicians of the eighteenth century. She studied with the young Joseph Haydn and was known in Vienna to be a gifted singer and keyboard player, who performed duets with Mozart himself.

Nach der ersten CD "Il primo amore" mit Frühwerken von Marianna Martines (1744-1812), die von der Presse als "interpretatorische Delikatesse" (Rondo) gelobt wurde, hat die Cembalistin Nicholeta Paraschivescu mit dem Ensemble La Floridiana und der Mezzosopranistin Anna Bonitatibus nun drei späte Kantaten, ein Cembalokonzert sowie eine Sonate dieser herausragenden Komponistin des 18. Jahrhunderts aufgenommen, darunter drei Weltersteinspielungen.

During her lifetime Marianna Martines was a highly regarded composer. In 1772, for example, the English music historian Charles Burney praised her 'very well written' compositions, her keyboard artistry asmasterly,' and her own person as a singer who was 'more perfect than any singer I had ever heard.' Pietro Metastasio, her mentor, valued her talent and art just as very much as did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who frequently participated in her 'musical evening entertainments.' With these evenings, which were held 'at least once a week', she exercised a considerable influence on Vienna’s music life.

Baroque music is not the usual province of soprano Anna Netrebko, or contralto Marianna Pizzolato, or conductor Antonio Pappano, or the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma, so the listener might approach this tribute to the 300th anniversary of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi with some skepticism, but the performers do a terrific job. The orchestra uses modern instruments, so this is never going to be mistaken for a recording by Baroque specialists, but everyone involved approaches the challenge with such sensitivity and such evident excitement that listeners who don't demand absolute adherence to cutting-edge developments in early music practice are likely to be swept up.

It is grand to hear novice players so successfully take on three of Chopin's chamber pieces, the Cello Sonata, Piano Trio, and Grand Duo for cello and piano. There have certainly been great recordings of these works in the past – one thinks immediately of those by Mstislav Rostropovich and Jacqueline du Pré – but the energy, enthusiasm, and sincerity that cellist Andreas Brantelid, pianist Marianna Shirinyan, and violinist Vilde Frang bring to this music more than justifies preserving their performances. Brantelid has a big but nuanced tone, an elegant but impressive technique, and an obvious affinity for the music, and he is well-matched by Shirinyan's polished technique and empathic accompaniments and Frang's easy virtuosity and lyrical interpretation. The ensemble is poised but comfortable and the interpretations are cogent and compelling. Captured in close but smooth digital sound, these performances deserve to be heard by anyone who loves this music, or great chamber music playing.