MUSIC- Fantaisie Gracie= pour is Piano, :Jur des Melodies de
Bellini. Par S. Thalberg. Souvenir de Pesth; Airs Hongrois Varies, pour is Piano. Par S. Thalberg.
These, which are the most recent productions of the great pianist of the day, are marked in every bar with the stamp of the author. The first is among the most pleasing of his works that we have met with. It consists (according to the modern fashion) of two airs from Norma, connected to- gether, and worked out with great fancy and brilliancy, and at the same time with a degree of melody, clearness, and coherence, not frequently met with in the school of which Thalberg is facile princeps. He has been com- paratively sparing, too, in difficulties of execution; and the whole piece, with sufficient practice, is within the reach of an accomplished amateur performer. Notwithstanding this comparative simplicity, it is full of ' the best features of Thalberg's style,—his novel and beautiful man- ner of wrapping up, as it were, his melody in the midst of a rich yet transparent accompaniment; his delicate touches of expression; and his harmonies, bold even to audacity, but always justified by their effect. The very opening bars, which consist of one of Bellini's airs with a soft legato accompaniment, are exquisitely smooth and beautiful; and yet it -would be extremely difficult to analyze them by the established rules of counterpoint. This, in short, is one of the very few productions of the modern pianoforte school which a lady player may venture to at- tack without the certainty of making her performance an infliction on the ears of her friends.
Of the other piece, the Souvenir de Pesth, we cannot say as much. The Hungarian airs, taken as themes, have a wild national character; and probably Thalberg's own matchless fingers could disentangle them from the maze of notes in which they are involved. But there are not many other players, even professional ones, who could do so; and for an amateur the at- tempt would be utterly hopeless. One would think it very foolish in music- sellers to publish this impracticable sort of music, were it not known that music-sellers in general understand their trade: and they find that our musical ladies are much more eager to buy and scramble over the showy pieces performed at concerts by the lion of the day, than music of an infi- nitely superior class, which has the misfortune to be out of fashion and too simple; being unaware that its simplicity demands from the per- former higher qualities and attainments than the utmost extent of exe- cutive dexterity.
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