Unser neuer Gesamtkatalog

Paul Armin Edelmann, baritone · Marco Ozbic, piano

An album full of Italian treasures, Mediterranean romantic, bel canto luster… You won’t find any of the popular ‘top-40’ hits of the Italian opera repertoire on this CD, however, but true gems from the pens of Stefano Donaudy, Ottorino Respighi, Francesco P. Tosti and Giuseppe Verdi. Paul Armin Edelmann, son of the famous bass Otto Edelmann, was born in Vienna. He began his career at the Koblenz City Theater and has freelanced since 1997. During his first ten years on the opera stage, Paul A. Edelmann became known for his inter-pretations of Mozart, Donizetti and Rossini. He has also become one of the most highly demanded Austrian operetta and Lied singers.

Marco Ozbic - Piano

Marco Ozbic completed his piano studies with R. Kodric¡ at the G. Tartini Conservatory in Triest. He then went to Vienna, where he continued studying composition, music theory, accompaniment, orchestra and choir conducting at the Academy of Music (diploma with Prof. G. Theuring).

His career began at the Rochus church in Vienna, where he was the Regens Chori. In addition to the usual classical masses, he was active in reintroducing sacred works of the late Renaissance and early Baroque to the choir’s repertoire.

Following this, he served as kapellmeister for the Vienna Choir Boys for three years, traveling with them throughout the world.

He was the musical director of the Vienna Jeunesse Choir for two years and currently heads the “Ensemble Salieri Wien” chamber orchestra, with whom he makes regular appearances.

Marco Ozbic is currently the second choral director and musical director of the opera school for children at the Vienna State Opera and has worked in productions at the Salzburg Festival with such renowned conductors as Riccardo Muti, James Levine, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Valery Gergiev. He has also taught at the B. Marcello conservatory in Venice and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.

He has also appeared in numerous concerts as a pianist and Lied accompanist with Austrian singers and has accompanied in many vocal master classes (Jessica Cash, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Ashley Stafford, The Royal College of Music).

From the Miniature to Lyrical Poetry
Compositions for Voice and Piano between 1850 and 1920

This CD takes the listener on a tour of chamber music for one voice from the close of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, showing the wide variety of forms and compositional styles used. It begins with short, traditional pieces of the little-known composer Donaudy and ends with works by Respighi characterized by their stylistic eclecticism and greater scale. In a nutshell, these pieces demonstrate the evolution of 19th century tonal language in Italy until its assumption of modern European elements. But simply looking at the dates of these compositions does not prove this assumption. Donaudy’s songs are only one year earlier than Respighi’s Tempi assai lontani (1917); the difference, however, could not be greater.

Stefano Donaudy (Palermo, 1879 – Naples, 1925) was trained by Guglielmo Zuelli. He wrote symphonic pieces and chamber music as well as operas for his brother Alberto’s librettos, including La fiamminga (The Flemish Woman). This opera premiered in 1922 in the Teatro San Carlo in Naples – but was never played again. Donaudy’s disappointment about the minimal response to his work caused him to stop composing. Among his compositions for chamber ensemble are the 36 Arie di stile antico, published in 1918, which were successful with audiences, but not well received by critics.

The texts of the seven romanzas on this recording were also written by Alberto Donaudy. The compositions contain no harmonic surprises; the piano often accompanies the voice in thirds. More unusual, however, are the structures of these pieces, as they often stand out from traditional verse forms.

In the text Vaghissima sembianza (Grace-ful appearance), the viewer’s feelings for his beloved increase from love to passion as he looks at her portrait. The metric uniformity of the text is expressed by the music’s regular structure: all phrases have four bars – with exception of the last – and the song is structured in verse form. The poetic narrator in Quand’il tuo diavol (When your devil) brags to an unseen partner about his competence in all romantic areas, asking her if she really knows what love is. The structure of this romanza is also based on verse form. Such general features – symmetric phrases and verse structure – enable comparison of these two pieces with similar Lieder composed in German-speaking countries.

Sorge il sol (The sun rises) is a Maggiolata (May song) in which images of the rising sun and the springtime try to wake a sleeping soul. This song no longer relies on verses for its structure, but on repetition of the beginning phrase with its repeated verse “sorge il sol, che fai tu?” (the sun is rising, what are you doing?). This textual and musical repetition is followed each time by different musical development of the melody. In the second verse, it becomes apparent how this simple musical language can suddenly become very sophisticated. At the words “è tempo venuto di correre ancor” (it is time to run), the vocal line suggests a much more banal harmony in g minor than is actually the case. The bass line in fifths sounds naïve; this effect is contradicted by the harmony in E-flat major, however, consciously creating intellectual distance.

The difficult balancing act between naïveté and intellect is no longer present in Quando ti rivedrò (“When will I see you again?”). In this song, the pain of the rejected lover is expressed directly, without intellectual artifice. The vocal line reaches its highest point in a recitative-like passage that brings the narrator’s passion to bursting. The voice’s rhythmical freedom at this point is congruent with the asymmetrical structure of the entire piece. The conclusion, in which a passionate melody with no thematic relationship to the rest of the composition springs from the depths of the piano, contributes to making this romanza an almost completely through-composed work.

The subject of O del mio amato ben perduto incanto (“O, lost enchantment of my love”) is the loss of the beloved; the emptiness felt by the narrator can only be compensated by surrendering to pain and tears. In this song, the metric changes and asymmetrical sentences are combined with a verse-structure.

In the arietta Vorrei poterti odiare (“I would like to hate you”), the poetic narrator loves to the point of self-sacrifice. His feelings are so strong that every rational attempt to leave the unfaithful beloved is in vain. As in Quando ti rivedrò, we find here musical reiteration of the beginning. This time, however, it is not simply an indirect mention, but literal repetition in which the identical piano introduction and first vocal entrance are heard once again, now in reverse order. In comparison to the short beginning and end of this piece, its middle portion forms the actual core, due to its length and thematic contrast. The overall structure here – as well as the designation Arietta – show Donaudy’s playful handling of the traditional ABA form. This use of three-part form becomes even clearer in the song No, non mi guardate (“No, do not look at me”). The subject of this text is the seductive charm of a female beauty who seems to have sprung from the natural elements.

With the two romanzas by Verdi, Ad una stella (On a star) and Brindisi (Drinking song), we go back seventy years in time. Both pieces are taken from the composer’s 6 Romanzen, published in 1845, with texts by Andrea Maffei (1798-1885). The poet and translator also wrote the libretto of Verdi’s opera I Masnadieri. Here, the poems in both compositions lead to the corresponding musical structures: an ABCA form in Ad una stella, a rondo-like form in Brindisi.

The original version of the Poemetto lirico (little lyrical poem) by Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936), entitled Il tramonto (Sunset), was composed in 1914 for mezzo-soprano and string quartet (or string orchestra). Roberto Ascoli, who had translated Shelley’s text into Italian, created an elegiac atmosphere by combining images from nature with human feelings. The dreamy musical expression reminiscent of Debussy is combined with late 19th century harmonic language. The flowing triplets sometimes stop in order to make room for passages requiring a much simpler sound. One example is the moment when the boy desires to see the sunrise together with his beloved – a wish he will no longer live to experience.

The Serenata indiana (Indian serenade), written in 1912, is an example of Respighi’s eclecticism. The composer based it on a pentatonic scale, often harmonizing this scale with chords which do not resolve according to the rules of traditional harmony; the listener still hears traces of “Western” musical language under the Oriental surface, however.

The balance between modernity and late-romantic musical language seems to be more successful in the two compositions from the Cinque Liriche (Five Poems, 1917). The first, Tempi assai lontani (Distant times) is another setting of one of Ascoli’s Shelley texts; La fine (The end), in contrast, is a setting of a text by Clara Zannoni Chauvet based on a poem by Rabindranath Tagore. The free verses of Tempi assai lontani express an all-consuming longing for past times. The musical form, however, is not as free. It has three parts, the first of which is repeated at the end. While the middle section consists primarily of a series of sometimes unrelated triads, reached directly and not via modulation, the first part features delicate, atmospheric sounds with a clear musical language. La fine expresses the parting of a child from this world. The child turns to his mother and tries to reassure her by telling her he will always remain with her. This text, conceived as lyric prose, slowly develops into a through-composed piece. The compositional line faithfully follows the images conjured up by the text. The weightless piano passages at the words “diventerò un delicato soffio d’aria” (I will transform myself into a soft breath of air) and the Allegro scherzoso shortly before the end of the piece are highly reminiscent of Impressionism. This last passage is supposed to evoke a town festival. The absent son joins the playing children and becomes one with the flute music. He is present only in the eyes and soul of the mother. The mood of the town festival is illustrated by a buoyant melody in a lively 5/8 (!).

Nebbie (Fog) is a poem by Ada Negri published in 1921. The gloomy mood of hopeless loneliness created by its verses is evoked by the music with simple but astonishing means: an uninterrupted organ point on F, distributed between the various instrumental voices, is heard simultaneously with the declamation of stepwise chords.

The Quattro canzoni d’Amaranta by Francesco Paolo Tosti use texts by Gabriele D’Annunzio and were published in 1907. The first canzone, entitled Lasciami! Lascia ch’io respiri (Release me! Let me breathe), invokes literary images related to the Tristan lovedeath motive and the denial of the day on which love is rejected. The grim atmosphere of the entire piece is already established by the closed period of the piano introduction. Not only does this introduction present all the piece’s keys, but it hints at all melodies later developed as well. A comparison of the first part and its varied repetitions reveals similar artistry.

L’alba separa dalla luce l’ombra (The dawn separates the shadows from the light) melds two ideas: a yearning for the night with a desire for death. The death wish, however, is replaced by the longing for immortality which develops in the last verses, giving the song an unexpected positive conclusion. The composer reflects this emotional development with an AA’B form. The surprise effect of the B section also becomes the climax of the composition – not only for the form but also for the dynamics: the closing fortissimo is reached at the words “sole eterno” (eternal sun).

In In van preghi (You are praying in vain), however, there is no longer any room for transcendence. There is only a devastated, inconsolable landscape of souls. The four verses use an AA’ structure; the first two use the A and the second two the A’. The text Che dici, o parola del saggio? (What do you say, word of the wise?) is a dialog between a soul destined for death and the voice of a wise soul. With warmhearted words, the latter describes fate as an unknown future that the former should look forward to with joy. The composition con-tinues in this dialog form. The only – not literal – repetition is found the second time the wise soul directly addresses the sad soul at the beginning verse of the fourth strophe with the words “alza il capo” (lift up your head). In the last verse, the soul releases itself to “the lover whose name is tomorrow” (“all’amante che ha nome Do-mani”); this point is also the beginning of a new section in major which concludes the piece by repeating the transformed piano introduction, which was likewise in major.