Rondo veneziano is a richly scored tone poem beginning in
quite a sombre manner but becoming lively and very colourful as
it progresses. Basically, it’s a kind of dance suite in one movement,
the music skilfully moving from one section to the next in a sort
of sonata rondo form. The orchestration is as brilliant as one
could wish and it makes me wonder why we never hear this music
in the concert hall. It’s exactly what London concert promoters,
too many of whom are only too scared to approach anything written
later than Rachmaninov, should be investigating if they wish to
sate the concert-going public’s jaded palates and doing what they
should be doing: presenting great music which will get bums on
seats. But this is not the place for that polemic. Even so, promoters
please take note of this fine work.
And if the aforementioned
guardians of our concert programming are unnerved by a work
playing for 22 minutes then look no further than Preludio
a un altro giorno. This is one of Pizzetti’s final orchestral
scores and as fine a piece of late romanticism as you could
wish for. It’s a tragic piece, very serious in its outlook,
brilliant in execution and it rivals anything written at the
same time. Over dark and brooding low strings an oboe laments,
high strings respond and the texture tightens. This is magnificent
stuff; searing and searching music, of blisteringly intensity,
seeking a repose it will never find. Come on, you programme
planners, where are your ears?
The three Symphonic
Preludes L’edipo Re di Sofocle started life as intermezzi
for a production of Sophocles’s play and twenty years later
the composer recast them as we hear them on this disk. They
are more straightforward when compared to Preludio a un
altro giorno. It is unfortunate that they follow that
piece for much of their immediacy and power is lost. Make
no mistake, this is fine music, strong and powerful and you
don’t need to know the play to understand the strong emotions
which underpin the musical drama which unfolds before your
ears.
Perhaps the suite
of pieces La pisanella is Pizzetti’s best known work
for it has been recorded before – by the composer on 78s and
in the 1960s by Lamberto Gardelli for Decca. These five pieces
started life as incidental music to a play by Gabriele D’Annunzio
but as with the Sophocles pieces a knowledge of the play isn’t
essential. Indeed, how many people today would know much about
any work of D’Annunzio? As with all the other music on this
disk this is vividly orchestrated and highly attractive. It’s
not without its darker moments, of course - this was written
for a piece by D’Annunzio remember - but they contrast well
with the simpler, more pastoral moments.
It’s good to welcome
this disk back into the catalogue for it contains music which
can easily be enjoyed and which demands repeated hearings.
The performances are top-notch and the recording is vivid
and excitingly clear. There’s also a fascinating essay in
the booklet - in English, French, German and Italian - by
Robert Matthew-Walker. A bargain not to be missed.
Bob Briggs
see also Review
by Rob Barnett
BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä 
