We press forward in the Naxos Casella series with considerable
confidence (see reviews of Symphony
1 and Symphony
2). This release conjoins three works, one of which is very
popular, another which you will probably not have heard, and
yet another which is making its first appearance on disc.
Given that premieres are always enticing, let’s start
with Notte di Maggio (A Night in May), Casella’s 1913
work for voice and orchestra. Despite admitting that it was
strongly influenced by The Rite of Spring, a contemporary
listener would probably have pointed, rather, to Debussy. Impressionism
is indeed the main ethos, though there are some Stravinskian
elements later, where the level of percussive and lower string
writing does attest to the fact that Casella was at the notorious
premiere of The Rite, and indeed had dragged along his
old pal, Malipiero. Casella gleefully informed people that he’d
included a twelve-note chord, but of more immediate interest,
beyond musicological novelty, is just how intense and effective
the work is. The orchestration is subtle, not garish, and the
vitality is kept up for the quarter of an hour. Mezzo Olivia
Andreini is a vibrant contributor with an almost stentorian
chest register, though she’s not always on the note. This
early work should win some friends for Casella.
The Cello Concerto followed over twenty years later. Casella
came from a cellistic background, and his pedigree is enhanced
when one knows that his grandfather, a cellist, had been a friend
of Paganini, and that his father, Carlo, was the dedicatee of
a concerto by Alfredo Piatti, one of the great players of the
day. Thus armed, Casella pitches the intrepid soloist head first
into the concerto - no lingering about - in an intrepid and
urgent first movement. The orchestration is not especially reticent
- brass, basses to the fore - but it doesn’t cover the
soloist, because Casella varies it cannily, often asking the
soloist to play in the lower register in the opening movement.
There are lyric moments too in this opening but nothing quite
prepares one for the delicate way Casella leads into the linked
slow movement, where finally Casella allows the cello to soar,
and find another voice. This is a truly lovely passage, where
the rich string accompaniment, the calming brass, and the solo
bronze of the fine protagonist, Andrea Noferini, conjures quite
a spell. To finish, Casella unleashes what he called his ‘updated
bumblebee’ for a wholly unserious, very enjoyable finale.
And when a performance of Scarlattiana is as persuasive
as this one, where pianist Sun Hee You plays so dextrously,
and where - in particular - the basses and winds are so affectionate
in their contributions, then this is a performance to hear with
the greatest of pleasure.
Presiding over these forces is Francesco La Vecchia and once
again he and his forces prove to have Casella in their bloodstream.
I warmed to their way with the First Symphony and I warm to
this disc just as much, finely recorded and annotated as it
is.
Jonathan Woolf
Olivia Andreini (mezzo); Andrea Noferini (cello); Sun Hee You (piano)
