Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – History of the Salon: Morceaux caractéristiques (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

A fascinating and varied selection of 23 treasures (includes premiere recordings), written for violin and piano spanning nearly a hundred years.

Many of the pieces on this album were highly popular in the early days of acoustic recordings, but have now almost completely fallen out of fashion. Revisiting these brilliantly written pieces gives the listener a deeper understanding of popular musical styles and tastes in the 19th century.

Although the word salon derives from a room in a domestic dwelling (In 1836, Robert Schumann referred to Salonmusik (a term he incidentally coined) as a ‘combination of sentiment and piano passage’), it also came to refer to private gatherings of composers and well-to-do members of society congregated in order to appreciate musical performances of a shorter and more varied nature, as distinct from those of longer chamber works.

The charming, off-the-cuff pieces that so delighted audiences up until relatively recently seem to have faded away with the last performers of the romantic tradition. This album serves to illuminate the brilliant music that many of these underrated yet highly talented 19th century composers gave us.

‘… played with a purity, profundity and sense of dramatic architecture that truly stops you in your tracks. Really, bravo.’ (Gramophone, ‘Editor’s Choice’ – VILSMAYR Partitas [FHR38])

Tracklist:
01. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Mazurka No. 1 in G Major, Op. 26 (Arr. for Violin & Piano) (06:16)
02. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Cantabile e valser, Op. 19, MS 45 (Arr. for Violin & Piano) (06:04)
03. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Serenade in D Major, Op. 4 (Arr. for Violin & Piano) (03:34)
04. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 5 Piano Pieces, Op. 18: No. 1 in F Major, Mélodie (Arr. F. Hermann for Violin & Piano) (02:35)
05. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Concerto romantique, Op. 35: III. Canzonetta. Allegro moderato (Version for Violin & Piano) (03:41)
06. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 6 Morceaux, Op. 85: No. 3, Cavatina (03:38)
07. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Serenade No. 1 in A Major (03:41)
08. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Angel’s Serenade (Légende valaque) [Arr. A. Pollitzer for Violin & Piano] (04:18)
09. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 12 Bagatelles, Op. 13 (Excerpts): No. 3, Allegretto gracioso (02:23)
10. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 12 Bagatelles, Op. 13 (Excerpts): No. 4, Allegretto agitato (01:47)
11. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 12 Bagatelles, Op. 13 (Excerpts): No. 8, Le désir (02:20)
12. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 12 Bagatelles, Op. 13 (Excerpts): No. 9, L’abeille (01:27)
13. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 12 Bagatelles, Op. 13 (Excerpts): No. 12, Barcarola (03:22)
14. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 2 Pezzi: No. 2, Serenata napoletana (03:30)
15. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Aria in D Minor, Op. 22 (Arr. for Violin & Piano) (04:07)
16. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Mazurka No. 2 in E Major, Op. 39 (03:54)
17. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 4 Morceaux, Op. 12: No. 1 in B Minor, Canzonetta (02:34)
18. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Suite de morceaux pour les petites mains, Op. 75: No. 5, Après le coucher du soleil (Arr. F. Hermann for Violin & Piano) (03:36)
19. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Mazurek in E Major, Op. 25 (05:01)
20. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 6 Salonstücke, Op. 135: No. 1, Barcarole (04:11)
21. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – Valse triste in C Minor (02:37)
22. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 2 Piano Pieces, Op. 45: No. 2 in G Major, Guitarre (Arr. P. De Sarasate for Violin & Piano) (03:39)
23. Vaughan Jones & Marcus Price – 12 Danzas españolas: No. 2 in C Minor, Oriental (Arr. V. Jones for Violin & Piano) (04:26)