Émile Prudent - Variations on the Quartet from Donizetti’s Opera ’Don Pasquale’, Op. 13

Prudent, a French composer, is almost entirely unknown today. In his time, he was renowned as a piano teacher and was commonly related to Thalberg, with his most famous piece being a fantasy on ’Lucia di Lammermoor’. This set of variations on the aria ’Ah! E rimasto là impietrato’ are reminiscent of Thalberg’s early works, with the use of polyphonic textures woven around the melody. pf: Takashi Hayashikawa original audio: