Michele Bolla - Vorisek: Pno Music [CD]

If the name of Jan Václav Vorisek (1791-1825) rings any bells, it is likely because of his reputation as the first composer to write a piece entitled 'Impromptu'. In fact the title was likely coined by a shrewd publisher after the composer's early death, from tuberculosis at the age of 34, when presented with the opportunity to profit from a collection of short and captivating, self-contained piano pieces which do not answer to the conventions of established genres such as the suite or sonata. Michele Bolla naturally opens this generous, 80-minute survey of Vorisek's output for solo piano with the Op.7 set of six Impromptus. What distinguishes his performance from those scant rivals on disc is his use of instruments from the composer's time: an 1830 fortepiano by Johann Paridon, and a modern copy of an 1800 fortepiano by the doyen of Viennese piano-builders, Anton Walter. Proceeding in chronological order, and thus demonstrating Vorisek's evolution and sense of musical adventure through the course of his brief career, Michele Bolla then turns to the C minor Fantasy Op.12. Conceived on a grander scale than the Impromptus, the Fantasy draws on the heritage of Mozart in it's vocally shaped melody with wide leaps and high contrasts in the manner of an operatic scena. An appealing set of six Variations Op.19 is based on a gentle theme apparently of Vorisek's own invention. The technical demands are modest compared with the Fantasy or the following Sonata, but the burnished colour of his harmony and the soft contours of phrasing respond naturally to the rounded, 'speaking' quality of the fortepiano. Finally, Michele Bolla delivers a coruscating account of the B flat minor Sonata Op.20 which makes the most compelling claim for Vorisek as an overlooked precursor to titans of the Romantic piano such as Chopin and Schumann. First published in 1825, the Sonata bears the subtitle 'quasi una fantasia', perhaps to claim a lineage from Beethoven's pair of sonatas Op.27 from 1801. The listener may soon find themselves thinking of Beethoven in the turbulent finale with it's rushing semiquavers and impetuous surges of energy.