As with her previous Da Vinci Classics releases, Maria Gabriella Mariani’s Mythos and Memories showcases the forceful, freewheeling musicality that informs both her grandiose post-Romantic compositions and her interpretations of other composers.
The 57 varieties of spices claimed by Heinz ketchup’s advertisers have nothing on the myriad caesuras, tenutos, accelerandos, diminuendos, and ear-catching accents that Mariani liberally sprinkles throughout Brahms’ Op. 39 Waltzes. In other words, expect neither subtlety nor lyrical respite, and forget about dancing to Mariani’s restless beat, even if she somehow compels one to listen. In Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales, however, the pianist’s extroverted style proves more contained and fitting. I like Mariani’s measured and forthright approach to the opening waltz, for example, while her strong left-hand harmonic pointing elsewhere compensates for any lack of delicacy.
Although Mariani’s Three Pezzi Sinfonici and her Nené Waltz date from 2022 and 2021, they sound as if they could have been written in the late 1800s at an imaginative summit meeting between Brahms and Rachmaninov. In fact, the Scherzando from the Pezzi Sinfonici owes more than a little to the contrapuntal language of Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes.
Music seems to gush out of Mariani without effort, even though she’s not the memorable melodist. Her works tend to be on the “verbose” side, with phrases falling into square patterns, and climaxes achieved not so much by long-term planning as repetitious browbeating. However, her skillful and idiomatic piano writing falls easily on the ear, as well as her consistent and often surprising harmonic invention. Because Mariani’s prolix creativity speaks for itself, I refrain from commenting on her booklet annotations; it is enough that this disc holds my attention.
