Piero Barbareschi - Simon Mayr: Concerti per pianoforte e orchestra (2005)

One might have a little trouble locating composer "Giovanni Simone Mayr" in a music dictionary, where his name is most likely listed as Johannes Simon Mayr. Mayr was German, but practically worked the whole of his long career in Italy, and his music conforms strongly to early nineteenth century Italian tastes. Although born roughly halfway between Mozart and Beethoven and outliving the latter by nearly two decades, Mayr apparently never felt the compunction to wield the cudgel of Romanticism, preferring to stick to the tried and true Classical tradition known best to him. This would have served him well in Italy, where the Romantic revolution was slow to take hold and did not find acceptance until Giuseppe Verdi dragged Italian music kicking and screaming into the nineteenth century. Mayr's contributions, which are sizeable, are concentrated in the fields of opera and sacred music, but he also left behind two undated piano concerti that sound just like Mozart, but probably date no earlier than the 1830s. This release from the Italian label Tactus, Giovanni Simone Mayr: Concerti per pianoforte e orchestra d'archi, appears to be the first recording of either work, and is performed by pianist Piero Barbareschi with the Orchestra da Camera dell'Etruria under Paolo Ponziano Ciardi.
Both concerti are in the key of C major, and are bright, charming pieces that are obviously indebted to Mozart; Mayr even evokes the specter of Mozart's trademark laughter in the second of these works. Barbareschi plays the solo parts well, if not brilliantly, and the Orchestra da Camera dell'Etruria, in what seems to be its maiden outing on disc, sounds good but the horns are frequently out of tune and spend much of the time swallowing the notes assigned to them. It is a pity, as from the photograph this young group appears to be made up of string players, implying that the horns may have been hired in for the date. The Overture to the oratorio Sisara is likewise charming, musically more ambitious, and a tad better played than the orchestral parts in the concerti. While Giovanni Simone Mayr: Concerti per pianoforte e orchestra d'archi brings to us some outstanding latter-day music in the classical vein, the result is a bit more intriguing than enjoyable, and hopefully this will not be the last time any of these works are recorded.