ANTONIO SALIERI: Armida (Sinfonia); Daliso e Delmita (Overture); Pafio e Mirra ossia I prigionieri di Cipro; Der Rauchfangkeher (Overture); Les Danaides; Les Horaces (Overture); Catilina (Overture) – Mannheim Mozart Orchestra/ Thomas Fey, conductor – Hanssler CD 98.506, 68:02 **** [Distr. by Allegro]:
I think this is the second full disc of music by Antonio Salieri that I have been exposed to. Neither, to be honest, has made much of an impression, and I am beginning to think that the purveyors of Amadeus were right in their portrayal: “patron saint of mediocrity”. But the man had tremendous influence in his day, and composers as luminous as Beethoven thought it an honor to have studied with him. So what’s the deal?
Well, it could be that he was a far greater teacher than composer, or it could simply be that his music fit the prevailing mood at the time as far as stage works went. I am inclined to the second opinion, for one of the things that come across crystal clear in this latest disc (spunkily played by Thomas Fey and his period instrument orchestra founded in 2003) is that Salieri’s music is predominantly music for the theater. These overtures and ballet sequences cry out for some sort of visual accompaniment. Reading the notes describing how the various parts of the music so admirably portray with great specificity the action on stage greatly adds to the comprehension of the music, an experience that seems somewhat vapid when just hearing it alone–doing so demands that we judge it as cheap, unsubstantial, and rather insipid. There are moments of terrific flashiness and even extroverted technical genius, but for the most part it fails to persuade. But listening a second and third time with the visual element in the imagination leads one to a rather different conclusion, and Salieri might have been the Andrew Lloyd Weber of his day–some good tunes, a lot of flash, but ultimately lacking the substance needed for inclusion among really great composers.
Fey and his colorful band do the music full justice, and the sound is excellent. But what we really need are a host of DVDs. I think there are only two currently available.
— Steven Ritter
