Giuseppe Martucci was an outstanding figure in the musical culture of Italy in the second half of the nineteenth century. As a pianist and conductor he dedicated himself to the spread of instrumental music at a time when Verdi was at the height of his fame, bringing to audiences works by Italian, French, German and English composers. To give but one example, Martucci befriended Charles V. Stanford and conducted his Irish Symphony in London. As a composer he drew upon his experience as a pianist in a series of works conceived for this instrument, and also wrote two Concertos for pianoforte and Orchestra, two Trios for Strings and pianoforte and the Quintet for piano and strings Op. 45 - the work with which this disk opens. In another no less important area he also produced two Symphonies.
The Quintet for piano and strings Op. 45 was composed in 1878-79 during a concert tour with the cellist Alfredo Piatti. Martucci took as his starting point for this work the Quintet for the same formation by Schumann and the f minor Quintet (which was in fact a reworking of a Quartet for strings alone) by Brahms, who the Neapolitan composer had had the good fortune to meet in Bologna in 1888. But rather than to Brahms, it appears that Martucci looked to Schumann for certain forms and formulas which characterise the construction of the German composer’s chamber works, such as the accompanying role of the piano, thematic cross-referencing and, above all, homophonically transfigured passages played on muted strings: a classic example of this in Martucci may be inferred from the Scherzo (final part, bars 392-440) which is clearly modelled on Schumann’s practice, especially in the string quartets. Nevertheless, Martucci’s Quintet retains a character which could, albeit superficially, be described as Mediterranean, made up as it is of elegant arpeggios and scales adorning the string writing, and cantabile lines played by individual instruments with an insuppressible melodic energy. A complex but enjoyable work, the Quintet Op. 45 was awarded a prize by the Milan Quartet Society in 1878 and was immediately printed by - as chance would have it - a German publisher. Martucci dutifully dedicated it to the Prince d'Ardore, a Neapolitan patron who, like the composer, had also believed in the need to continue the tradition of instrumental music despite its being ostracised by Verdi.
In the years from 1878-79 when Martucci was still director of the Liceo Musicale of Bologna, there was among the pupils one Ottorino Respighi, who was soon to spread his wings and fly off to study with Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, and later to become an internationally renowned and successful composer. It was in these years that the Quintet in g minor for wind instruments, for the usual combination of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon, was written. The work is conceived in just two movements: Allegro and Andante. While the first of these highlights the efforts of the young composer to underline the technical-expressive qualities of each of the five instruments, the attention of the listener might better be concentrated on the second. This comprises four variations on a theme played by all the instruments (bar the flute) for the first 24 bars, after which the flute, almost in revenge for its exclusion at the beginning, launches into a series of very lively passages which exploit the agility of the instrument. This Andante, based on a charming buoyant theme, is a true study of the nature of each of the five instruments, a study executed with an almost Rossinian grace.
The Quintet for pianoforte and strings by Respighi was composed in 1902 on his return to Bologna from his first trip to Russia. The work was written for the Mugellini Quintet, a group founded by Bruno Mugellini, also an ex-pupil of Martucci's, who was at that time concertising and teaching pianoforte at the Istituto Musicale Bolognese. Respighi’s Quintet was part of a series of works from the first period - like the Wind Quintet - when the composer was searching for a personal style and was to draw his inspiration on more than one occasion from the “Gregorian” period. In the opening Allegro there is an atmosphere rich in romantic elements, yet not without a number of individual touches by Martucci. The Andantino which follows provides a brief interlude before the final Vivacissimo. These pages were written with a sure hand which allows nothing superfluous, even where the sonata form (as for example in the first movement) had to be respected. It is no wonder then that Martucci himself, when asked to give an opinion upon his pupil Respighi, replied “He is not a pupil, he is a master.”
Edward Neill