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Tony! Toni! Toné!
Cecilia Bartoli takes on Salieri, plus two NEC concerts
BY DAVID WEININGER

We know by now that those who write history get to call the winners and losers. And history has been notoriously unkind to Antonio Salieri. It wasn’t enough that posterity rightfully assigned him an almost-ran status next to Mozart. The real indignities came later. First it was the myth that he had poisoned the younger composer and was responsible for Mozart’s criminally early death. Then Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus — and its enormously popular film adaptation — made Salieri into the ultimate loser: a vindictive, petty, second-rate hack bent on obstructing the greatest and purest musical talent the world had ever known. Not a great tag to carry around.

And what did the poor guy do to deserve such a miserable fate? Really, nothing more than have what at the time would be considered a perfectly ordinary career as a moderately successful composer. Born in 1750, he had his most crucial early contact with Gluck, who became his patron. He was Emperor Joseph II’s court composer, and for 17 years he headed Vienna’s Italian opera, no small duty given the enthusiasm that the city (and the emperor) showed for the art form. And though it’s true that he and Mozart fought aggressively for the attention of the public and royalty, that was simply the norm in a time and place where composers needed the favor of both just to get by.

The association with Mozart has proved doubly unfortunate for Salieri. Not only is there the inevitable (and unfair) comparison between the two, but the shadow cast by Mozart’s genius has made it next to impossible to evaluate Salieri’s music on its own terms. His works will never find themselves in Mozart’s company, or in that of Beethoven, Schubert, or Liszt, all of them Salieri’s students. But the same goes for many composers of the era, none of whom seems to find Mozart looming quite so ominously over his shoulder.

Enter Cecilia Bartoli, who recently claimed Salieri as her newest rediscovery project. Bartoli may look the part of the diva, and with her abundant vocal gifts, she could easily spend her career retracing standard operatic roles. But her quest to reclaim neglected works of the past makes her one of the most intelligent and adventurous musicians around. Following successful explorations of neglected vocal works by Gluck and Vivaldi, she recently released a CD of Salieri arias — in many cases returning to the original manuscripts, since so little of his music has ever been published. On the evidence of these recordings, the man was far more than a competent composer. Most of the music on The Salieri Album is fiery and intense, featuring technicolor orchestral splash and vocal leaps all over the soprano range. The slower, more meditative arias are rich with ornamentation. Each one teems with character, though, and Bartoli gives the music an extroverted, almost theatrical style that seems wholly apposite. And she handles all the virtuoso requirements with the combination of plushness and agility for which her voice is prized. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and conductor Adam Fischer dig in to find all of Salieri’s gaudy hues.

I do get a sense, though, of something that makes Salieri’s music good rather than great. The proportions don’t feel quite right; he moves to a climax too quickly or a bit awkwardly; a phrase is repeated once too often. Some of the wilder moments convey emotion without much substance. But perhaps these impressions say as much about our modern listening habits as they do about Salieri. Bartoli reprises much of her Salieri CD with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment next Friday, February 27, at a Symphony Hall concert presented by the FleetBoston Celebrity Series, whose Web site promises music by Salieri "and his contemporaries." No telling who they are, but I wouldn’t expect Mozart. It’s an 8 p.m. performance, and tickets are $50 to 100; call (617) 482-1661.

IN AND OUT OF PHASE: Drumming was Steve Reich’s breakthrough piece, one that showed that his "phase music" could be enormously powerful if given a broad enough range of space and time in which to unfold. The Callithumpian Consort, New England Conservatory’s fearless new-music group, offers a rare complete performance of the work this Wednesday, February 25, at NEC’s Brown Hall. Down the corridor at Jordan Hall, the Weilerstein Trio — pianist Vivian, violinist Donald, and their daughter, cellist Alisa — offer a program of Dvorák, Schnittke, and Schumann. Both concerts are at 8, and both are free; call (617) 585-1122.


Issue Date: February 20 - 26, 2004
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