Raphaela Gromes - Hommage à Rossini (2018) [Official Digital Download]

GioachinoRossini died 150 years ago. This leading light of Italian opera wrote one of the most frequently performed and most famous operas in the whole history of music: Il barbieredi Siviglia. Now the star violoncellist and exclusive SONY Classical artist Raphael Gromespays tribute to Rossini with her latest album. Her Hommageà Rossininaturally features UneLarme(A Tear), Rossini’s only original work for violoncello and piano, but it also includes a number of arrangements of Rossini arias for violoncello and orchestra or piano and a set of variations on a theme from Rossini’s Mosèin Egittowritten by the Czech composer BohuslavMartinů. But pride of place goes to a world-premiere recording of a piece by Jacques Offenbach, his Hommageà Rossinifor violoncello and orchestra. Long thought to be lost, this fantasy, dating from 1845, has now been reawokenfrom its Sleeping-Beauty-like slumber thanks to the musicological researches of RaphaelaGromesand can be performed again in time to mark Rossini’s sesquicentenary –173 years after it was composed. For this discographic sensation Raphael Gromesis accompanied by the WDR Fukhausorchesterunder Enrico Delamboye. In the pieces for violoncello and piano, conversely, her accompanist is the pianist Julian Riem, who is also responsible for the arrangements.


As a child, RaphaelaGromeswanted to become a singer and decided to take up the violoncello because the sounds that this instrument produces come closest to those of the human voice. In her efforts to achieve a “vocal approach” to her Rossini programme, she sought advice on the technical mysteries of bel canto from the soprano JulianeBanseand the mezzo-soprano Daphne Evangelatos. In this way she has been able to come closer to Rossini’s declared ideal of “sweet Italian singing that comes from the heart”.


As a result RaphaelaGromesbrings a cantabile tone to a piece like the cavatina “Tunon saiqualcolpoatroce” from Rossini’s long-forgotten opera Bianca e Fallieroas well as to an excerpt from his Stabatmaterand three songs from his Soirées musicalesof the early 1830s. Among these three works are La danza, a fiendishly fast tarantella, and La gitain gondola, a delightful barcarolle in a rocking 12/8-metre. The album ends with an arrangement of the aria “Non piùmesta” from Rossini’s La Cenerentola, but before this RaphaelaGromesperforms not only her Offenbach discovery but also BohuslavMartinů’s1942 Variations for violoncello and piano. The theme of this piece, which was dedicated to the famous violoncellist GregorPiatigorsky, is that of the Preghierafrom Rossini’s opera Mosèin Egitto

Tracklist:
1 Bianca e Falliero: Tu non sai qual colpo atroce (Arr. for Cello and Orchestra) 05:56
2 Soirées musicales: V. L'invito (Arr. for Cello and Piano) 03:23
3 Soirées musicales: VII. La gita in gondola (Arr. for Cello and Piano) 03:23
4 Soirées musicales: VIII. La danza (Arr. for Cello and Piano) 02:53
5 Stabat Mater: II. Cuius animam (Arr. for Cello and Orchestra) 06:12
6 Variations on a Theme of Rossini, H. 290 07:46
7 Péchés de vieillesse, Album IX: No. 10, Une larme (Arr. for Cello and Piano) 09:51
8 Hommage à Rossini, Fantaisie pour violoncelle et orchestra 13:04
9 La Cenerentola: Non più mesta (Arr. for Cello and Orchestra) 03:08

Personnel:
Raphaela Gromes, cello
Julian Riem, piano
WDR radio house orchestra
Enrico Delamboye, conductor