The Incomplete

The motives for leaving a work of music incomplete can be many and they are not always known. Donizetti began working on Le Duc d'Albe in 1839, in view of a staging at the Opéra of Paris. The project, however, was temporarily put aside. Towards the end of 1840, the soprano Rosine Stolz, then the undisputed star of the Opéra, categorically refused to play the role of Hélène in Le Duc d'Albe, which for all intents and purposes marked the demise of the opera. The dispute had even legal consequences, with the impresario of the Opéra, Léon Pillet. Donizetti gradually abandoned the work; then his health deteriorated to the point that he could no longer compose, and the opera was left unfinished, with some parts fully orchestrated and others for which we have no musical indication whatsoever.

Even though Angela Hewitt's repertoire is quite extensive and diverse, encompassing the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern eras, her true specialty is the music of J.S. Bach, which she has recorded almost exclusively for Hyperion since the 1980s. With this recording of The Art of Fugue, Hewitt completes her long-running series of piano renditions of the solo keyboard works, and while not everyone is convinced that Bach composed this study of fugal techniques for the keyboard, Hewitt's performance is credible and satisfying. She controls the often unwieldy counterpoint by regarding the lines as if they were vocal parts, and her phrases are shaped by natural breathing points, as well as the different emotional qualities she brings to each fugue and canon. The Art of Fugue can be daunting for both performer and listener because its persistent tonality of D minor and monothematic material can be quite tedious in the wrong hands.

Michelle Shocked - The Texas Campfire Tapes
FLAC, EAC, LOG & CUE | Lossless Artwork | Size: 269 MB + Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Cooking Vinyl CDCOOL2 | Country/Year: Italy 1987
Genre: Singer/Songwriter | Hoster: FP/FF

The Texas Campfire Tapes is the first album by american singer and songwriter Michelle Shocked. It was originally a bootleg recording made on a Sony Walkman of an impromptu set performed by Shocked around the eponymous campfire and was released without her permission. It was then released by Mercury Records in 1986. It was reissued in 2003 as a two-CD set by Shocked's own label, Mighty Sound.