Track Listing

1. Overture to 'Les Horaces'
2. Concerto for piano & orchestra in C: First movement: Allegro maestoso
3. Concerto for piano & orchestra in C: Second movement: Larghetto
4. Concerto for piano & orchestra in C: Third movement: Andantino
5. Semiramide, opera: Overture
6. Concerto for piano & orchestra in B flat: First movement: Allegro moderato
7. Concerto for piano & orchestra in B flat: Second movement: Adagio
8. Concerto for piano & orchestra in B flat: Third movement: Tempo di Minuetto. Pi� mosso
9. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Theme (Andante)
10. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 1
11. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 2
12. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 3
13. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 4
14. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 5 (Allegro)
15. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 6 (Andante)
16. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 7 (Allegretto)
17. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 8 (Poco adagio)
18. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 9 (Lo stesso tempo)
19. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 10
20. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 11 (Allegretto)
21. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 12 (Un poco pi� allegro)
22. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 13 (Allegro moderato)
23. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 14
24. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 15
25. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 16
26. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 17
27. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 18 (Larghetto)
28. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 19 (Allegretto)
29. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 20
30. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 21 (Allegretto)
31. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 22 (Andante pastorale)
32. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 23 (Allegro - canone)
33. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 24 (Presto)
34. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 25 (Adagio)
35. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Variation 26 (Allegro moderato)
36. Variations for orchestra on 'La follia di spagna': Coda (Adagio - Allegro)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168155 in Music
• Released on: 1996-04-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

A Master often Over looked
Wow. The two piano Concertos are wonderful. Sometimes Salieri has been played as being envious of Mozart. But this recording show a master at his very best. I really like the final movement of both Concertos. It puts one at peace with everything. I would reconmend this CD to anyone who want to get to know the music of Salieri. Every note was just where it needed to be. It is a shame that most of his works did not last up to our day. However the only two Concertos that we have today are worth listening to.

A good sample of Salieri's instrumental music plus a rarity
The two concertos are worth lisenting although not masterpices. The second in the disk is better. Spada's playing is delicate and precise although the tempi in both finales is rather slow. Not to be compared with those concertos by Mozart but good. The overture to "Les Horaces" is beautifully composed in a Gluckian style. Its final subject heard by the end is very inspired and heroic. The overture to "Semiramide" (presented as to either "La Secchia Rapita" or "Il Ricco di un Giorno" -I can not remember exactly- in other Salieri's CD) is less interesting and Spada's slow tempo reinforces the mediocrity of the piece.

The main course of this recording (the rarity) is the orchestral "Variazioni sulla la Folia d'Spagna" based on a famous Spanish tune previously used by Corelli inter alia. The variations scarcely depart from the original subject but the employment of the symphonic orchestra is remarkable. Good parts for solo violin, harp(s) and woodwinds. One variation is "funeral" in tone, using trombones, but has a comic flute quotation on top. Other is a beautiful "pastoral" or "siciliana" with good parts for oboe and clarinet. This is the last work composed by Salieri (1815).

A very good CD and not only for those interested in the "obscure" Salieri.

Forgotten melodies
Salieri's works have been forgotten to a large extent. Still, I like some of them, with my favorite being his piano concerto in C.

Of course, some listeners may want to wonder about the influence of Salieri on many other composers, including Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Lizst. Salieri wasn't as good as any of these four. His works were simpler in many respects, especially when it came to harmonizing. But Salieri's style was different as well, and it included some surprising, tricky, and beautiful variations on his themes. He's not just an inferior version of the other composers of his time.

This might be a good time to forget what we saw of Salieri in the movie Amadeus. And maybe to forget that Beethoven liked Salieri. And to just listen to the music.

Spada is a very good performer and these are good performances, but I have the feeling that a little more could be made of these concertos and their cadenzas.