Would many people remember Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) were it not for that slanderous story of the Italian composer poisoning his supposed rival Mozart?
This over-heated urban legend sparked the literary imaginations of Pushkin and Peter Shaffer so effectively that many will know of Salieri only through the lurkingpresence of F Murray Abraham in Shaffer's film Amadeus, with the maligned musician ending his days in a mental institution, happy to be immortalised as the "Patron Saint of Mediocrity".
It was this film that spurred scholar Timo Jouko Herrmann and conductor Thomas Fey to check out Salieri's actual music and persuade Hanssler Classic to book a recording studio.
The CD that resulted, with the Mannheimer Mozartorchester playing a selection of overtures and ballet music, is optimistically titled Volume 1 and, as Salieri was no slouch when it came to producing the goods, Hanssler's project could stretch to numerous discs, especially if operas and choral works are included.
While minor composers of this period dutifully trudged from theme to theme in their symphonies, Salieri benefited from the freedom that dance offered. The ballet encourages and demands flights and frissons of imagination and Salieri, with his operatic savvy, was perfectly equipped for the task.
The disc's opening track, a Sinfonia in Pantomima setting the scene for his 1771 opera Armida, deals out howling monsters, terrified mortals and the sort of happy ending only possible through a magic wand. Salieri responds vividly and so too do Fey and his Mannheim musicians.
The Overture to Les Danaides lines up revenge-obsessed fathers, night massacres, lashing whips and hissing Furies, which means wild syncopations, thunderous drumbeats and hurtling accelerandi. And, showman that he was, after Salieri has lulled you with what seem like six tranquil closing chords, the final minute lets loose all the demons of Hell.
This is not complex music. Broad effects sometimes sound remarkably modern - an Allegro brillante from the same Suite nods to Salieri's pupil Beethoven. "May the name of Salieri regain a bit of the well-deserved, dignified lustre it once had," is the war-cry of Fey and his band. With recordings like this, it just might.
* Salieri: Overtures and Ballet Music (Hanssler CD 98.506, through Ode Records)
