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| Patrick Hawkins, the Ganer square piano (Ron Hagell) |
Patrick Hawkins’ premiere recording of three (and a bit) of Giovanni A. Matielli’s
Opus 1 Sonatas on the square piano is definitely an enterprising project,
considering the fact that Matielli (1733-1805) is virtually unknown to today’s
audiences. Born in Vienna, he studied with Austrian court composer Georg
Christoph Wagenseil, who was instrumental in seeing in the early Classical
period. Known in Vienna as a teacher rather than a performer, it stands to
reason that Matielli’s works would have been played by amateurs and diligent
students. Not a great deal is known about the composer’s life; his reputation
remains in the shadow of contemporaries of the likes of Haydn and Mozart.
However, but it is known that Christoph W. Gluck “was fond of Matielli’s compositions
and delighted in his keyboard sonatas”, as we read in the disc’s liner notes.
Dr. Hawkins has recorded each of the complete sonatas on a different square
piano, all of which were built in London at the end of the 18th century.
Two belong to the Carolina Clavier Collection; the third - built by Christopher
Ganer between 1785 and 1790 - is owned by Hawkins himself.
Patrick Hawkins invites the listener to a concert of salon music; we hear
these sonatas as they must have sounded at the time. He opens with Sonata in
A-major Opus 1/1 played on a Johannes Broadwood square piano of 1787. This is
an exuberant work of some naïveté. Hawkins applies the instrument’s somewhat
fluty timbre to highlighting the sonata’s brightness, its searching middle
movement, then adding some fine ornamentation to the final Allegretto movement.
Sonata in G-major Opus 1/3 is performed on a Longman, Clementi and Co. square
of 1799, a piano whose more developed technology and depth of sound serves this
more sophisticated and varied work well, with its many contrasts and expressive
moments. Take, for example, the third movement - Affettuoso - a mood piece,
played very personally, its repeated section embellished with some pleasing
spreads. We hear some contrasted and spirited playing in the work’s fourth
and final movement - Allegro - as Classical textures present themselves in
quick, lively succession. Christopher Ganer’s 5-octave pianos, with their
square, tapering legs, simple veneers of mahogany and satinwood and bronze
medallions were typical of fashionable furniture of the 1780s. The Ganer
instrument (1785-90), on which Patrick Hawkins plays Sonata in A-major Opus 1/5
has its own distinctive, more abrupt character. The sonata, opens with
exuberant energy and a hint of flexing. Hawkins chooses a more detached texture
for the second movement (Adagio), taking time and enlisting plenty of rubato to
give it natural and thoughtful spontaneity, with the final movement exuberant,
free and entertaining. Played appealingly, “La Caccia” from Sonata in E-flat
Major Opus 1/6, the final piece on the CD, represents much that is so vivid and
delightful about the Classical style, and how effective and engaging it sounds
on the square piano. Introducing the listener to this unknown composer, “Giovanni
Matielli, Three Sonatas” recorded in 2017 for the Golden Square label, will surely
appeal to those interested in the style and possibilities of the square piano,
its true sound and transparency. The liner notes offer much information, both on Matielli and on the instruments used for the recording.
Born in Virginia, Patrick Hawkins is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory
(Johns Hopkins University) and of East Carolina University and Arizona State
University. Since making his European debut at the Cambridge Summer Recitals
(UK) in 1993, he has continued to perform and teach internationally. As a
choral conductor, he has conducted numerous school, church, and community
choirs in Arizona, California, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Virginia. A founding member of the Vista Ensemble, a
historically-informed performing organization of musicians in Columbia, South
Carolina, Patrick Hawkins has recorded for Arkay and Navona Records.
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