The Armenian composer and pianist has reimagined a work close to her heart, the Adagio once credited solely to Tomaso Albinoni

“This piece’s pulsing octaves and breathtaking melody have always had a profound emotional impact on me, embodying both love and loss, joy and sorrow”
Marie Awadis

A mysterious tale of musical misattribution lies behind Marie Awadis’s latest recording. Having signed with Deutsche Grammophon and released her debut DG album, Études Mélodiques, in September, the Armenian composer and pianist has now reworked Remo Giazotto’s much-loved Adagio in G minor for solo piano. This brought her into contact with Alessandro Giazotto, the composer’s grandson, who explained the full history of the Adagio, long attributed to Baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni. He also revealed his grandfather’s favourite recording of the work.

Thanks to the recollections of the physicist Adalberto Giazotto, documented before his death in 2017, we know that his father, the musicologist, critic and composer Remo Giazotto (1910–98), began researching the life and work of Albinoni in 1941. Remo threw himself into the project, acquiring huge amounts of material from libraries across Europe. Although his work was interrupted by wartime military service and a serious bout of malaria, his biography of the Baroque composer was published in 1945. Then, while starting to dispose of his research material, he came across something that had come from the Saxon State Library in Dresden – a manuscript containing a four-bar melody and figured bass.

As Adalberto writes, Remo took this fragment and, “almost for fun”, elaborated on the notes to create a full-length work, revisiting the kind of exercise he had enjoyed as a student. He then set it aside and forgot about it. Here Alessandro, who was very close to his grandfather towards the end of his life, enters the story. He remembers Remo telling him about being invited to a concert conducted by his friend Ennio Gerelli in 1949. Some time earlier, Gerelli had found the composition on Remo’s piano and, intrigued by it,  had asked to borrow the score – now, as a “surprise”, he led a public performance of the work. Giazotto was more shocked than surprised, however, to find it credited in the programme to Albinoni alone.

Subsequent recordings of the work followed suit, and confusion continued to reign about the work’s authorship long after the publisher Ricordi established the copyright. Rather than remaining bitter about the misattribution, however, Remo was ultimately pleased that his biography and the Adagio together had helped rescue not only Albinoni but the wider world of Italian Baroque music from the neglect into which they had fallen.

He also compared the various recordings of the work and, according to Alessandro, “what he considered to be the best recording and interpretation of his Adagio in G minor, was the one by Herbert von Karajan directing the Berliner Philharmoniker and recorded by DG”.

“This work has captivated me since my childhood,” says Marie Awadis of Giazotto’s Adagio. “When I was given the opportunity to create my own arrangement, I felt a deep responsibility – not only because of its fame, but also because of the personal significance it holds for me. Rather than recreating existing piano versions or trying to surpass the original for strings and organ, which is perfect in its own way, I focused on the heart of the piece, bringing my own emotional and musical perspective to it.

“Meeting Giazotto’s grandson during this process gave me an even deeper appreciation for the composer. Knowing that his preferred recording was Karajan’s DG version makes it an honour to now have my own arrangement with Deutsche Grammophon. It truly feels like a full-circle moment.”

Alessandro Giazotto is in agreement: “On meeting Marie Awadis, I immediately felt that her personality, spirit and humbleness were very similar to those of my beloved grandfather. Then, when I listened to Marie’s arrangement of the Adagio, she definitely reminded me of Remo sitting at the piano and sharing his emotions through the keyboard.

“I love the beginning of her piano arrangement, so introspective and ethereal but giving hints of the theme. And the way Marie has elegantly embroidered notes around the theme makes it very special and almost mystical. Beautiful and very modern! It really touched my heart.”