Grande Tarantelle - Louis Moreau Gottschalk

In 1859 Gottschalk performed an improvised tarantella with pianist Nicolás Ruiz Espadero and violinist José White at the Liceo Artístico y Literario in Havana. That extemporization would evolve over the years until it reached it's final form for piano and orchestra as the Grande Tarantelle, (Op 67) and during the last year of his life, it became Gottschalk's workhorse. When the composer died without leaving a score for this piece, more than twenty different versions have surfaced, most of which are apocryphal. Recently though, Gottschalk's manuscript has been discovered and can be heard in a recording by Richard Rosenberg on the Naxos label.

To learn more about Gottschalk visit -
http://www.gottschalk-pianist.com/

Performance and content copyright © 2011 W.A. DeWitt