The Operatic Pianist

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Impressive playing as Andrew Wright walks in the footsteps of the 19th-century pianist-composer giants, including some no-holds-barred creations of his own. — BBC Music Magazine, May 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 3rd Mar 2014
Catalogue No: DDA25113
Label: Divine Art
Length: 64 minutes

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Martucci: Fantasia sull'opera La forza del destino, Op. 1

Work length8:51

$2.00

$2.60

Andrew Wright

Thalberg: L’Art du chant appliqué au piano, Op. 70

Work length5:38

$1.00

$1.30

Andrew Wright

A te o cara (From Bellini's "I Puritani")

Track length5:38

$1.00

$1.30

Wright, A: Fantasy on La Sonnambula (After V. Bellini)

Work length7:58

$2.00

$2.60

Andrew Wright

Liszt: O du mein holder Abendstern, Rezitativ und Romanze aus der Oper Tannhäuser, S. 444 / R. 277 (After R. Wagner)

Work length7:40

$2.00

$2.60

Andrew Wright

Liszt: Isoldes Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, S. 447 / R. 280 (After R. Wagner)

Work length7:46

$2.00

$2.60

Andrew Wright

Wright, A: Thalbergiana

Work length6:23

$1.00

$1.30

Andrew Wright

Thalberg: Grande Fantasie de concert sur l'opéra "La Traviata" de Verdi, op. 78

Work length8:24

$2.00

$2.60

Andrew Wright

Thalberg: Casta Diva"from Bellini's Opera "Norma", Op. 70

Work length6:23

$1.00

$1.30

Andrew Wright

Casta Diva, Op. 70 (From Bellini's Norma)

Track length6:23

$1.00

$1.30

Wright, A: Concert Fantasy on Robert le Diable (After G. Meyerbeer)

Work length5:23

$1.00

$1.30

Andrew Wright

About
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About

This disc focuses on the art of transcription and paraphrase. In the mid-19th century such works held a much more prominent place in musical life than nowadays, when they have largely been consigned to the realms of historical footnotes. In the developing era of the travelling virtuoso, and predating the gramophone, these pieces served two principal functions. Firstly, they enabled familiar (typically operatic) themes of the day to be heard without the necessity of visiting the opera house itself, and secondly, they provided the pianist with attractive material for public performance.

Over the last few years, Andrew Wright has performed regularly in public, giving concerts in Scotland and the north of England. His arrangement of ‘Casta Diva’ was used on the soundtrack in an Australian Documentary programme ‘Compass’.

Reviews

May 2014

Impressive playing as Andrew Wright walks in the footsteps of the 19th-century pianist-composer giants, including some no-holds-barred creations of his own.

9th March 2014

Thalberg's Concert Fantasy on La Traviata makes a gripping centrepiece — not least because of an immensely sustained high trill — alongside Liszt’s glorious version of Isolde’s Liebestod. And his rendering of Bellini’s aria Casta diva sounds like a Chopin nocturne, fascinatingly reversing the direction of influence.

The Operatic Pianist

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