The Alfredo Casella renaissance continues with this thrilling
new recording by the BBC Philharmonic and their Conductor Laureate
Gianandrea Noseda. I first discovered Casella’s music
with CPO’s 2009 recording of his early tone poem Italia
and Symphony No. 3. Soon after, Naxos issued four recordings
of Casella symphonies and orchestral music in quick succession,
played by the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma conducted by Francesco
La Vecchia. Yet it was the 2012 Noseda/BBC Philharmonic recording
Symphony No. 2, coupled with neo-classical suite Scarlattiana
that convinced me that Casella is one of the important Italian
composers of the 20th century. His mastery of orchestration
is the equal of his compatriot Respighi, while his continual
experimentation and mastery of differing compositional styles
is similar to Stravinsky. The works present here are drawn from
two stylistic periods in his compositional career.
The CD opens with a riveting premiere recording of Concerto
for Orchestra, written in 1937 and dedicated to “William
Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam on the
occasion of the 50th anniversary of its foundation.”
Casella must have seized on the opportunity to write for an
orchestra of such well known virtuosity and musicianship. His
score features writing meant to display the individual and corporate
brilliance of this orchestra. The first movement begins with
driving motor rhythms, featuring disjunct, non-legato writing
for the winds. This contrasts with melodic material for the
strings that struggles to dominate the winds. This is very reminiscent
of Hindemith, and, as Gerald Larner points out on his excellent
notes, it is possible that Casella knew Hindemith’s Concert
for Orchestra, written in 1925. At 3:30, the driving rhythm
ceases, and the strings finally produce a soaring melody that
belies Casella’s Italian heritage. The anxious motor rhythm
quickly reasserts itself, the string’s melody again subsumed
by the wind writing, until the music at 6:30 reaches another
moment of repose. The movement ends as these two conflicting
musics arrive at an uneasy truce.
The second movement is an eight-measure chromatic Passacaglia,
introduced by the lower strings. The passacaglia repeats 14
times, with continuous variation by other sections of the orchestra.
As expected the variations become increasingly complex, arriving
at a tam-tam laden climax at 3:14. The passacaglia theme then
moves into the upper strings, and the music becomes calmer and
more mysterious, with some ravishing playing by the BBC Philharmonic,
especially the forlorn trumpet solo at 4:54. A variation featuring
gorgeous writing for the first violin follows, the music winding
down to almost nothing, leading into a canonic variation between
upper and lower voices. The orchestral timbre is a kaleidoscope
of color, giving several members of the orchestra a moment to
shine. The music makes a half-hearted attempt to return to its
opening frentic music, but this energy gives way to the prevailing
tranquil mood, the movements ending with a soft chord played
by the flutes. This mood is immediately dispatched by the sharp
downbeat that begins the final movement, again featuring rhythmically
vigorous, disjunct writing that never pauses for a breath. The
movement ends in joyful optimism, surely intended to bring an
audience to its feet. Why do we never hear this music in the
concert hall?
The next work, A notte alta, a “Poema musicale
per Pianoforte ed Orchestra” was originally written for
piano solo in 1917 . Casella dedicated it to Yvonne, his second
wife, with whom he started a relationship in Paris when she
was his student - and when he was already married. Yvonne became
his second wife after the first marriage was annulled, and Casella
orchestrated the work during their honeymoon. The programme
note is not included in the liner notes, but Larner does write
that the music is about “two lovers at night,” which
has an obvious parallel with Schoenberg’s Verklärte
Nacht. The opening is laden with mystery, descending chords
over a throbbing bass line, that in turn lead into chords of
open fifths moving in parallel motion. It is hard not to hear
the influences of Enescu and Ravel in this music, both of whom
were classmates of Casella at the Paris Conservatoire. Strangely,
for a piece dedicated to his new bride, the music suggested
to me that things do NOT work out well for the couple. This
piece appeared on one of the Naxos recordings done by Orchestra
Sinfonica de Roma, with pianist Sun Hee You. While the Naxos
recording has a strong sense of atmosphere, and You’s
playing strikes me as equally fine to Marin Roscoe’s here,
La Vecchia allows momentary losses of tension. Noseda’s
handling of the piece’s many transitions is more organic
and natural sounding. Additionally, the Chandos recording is
more opulent that what Naxos provides for the Italians.
The recording closes with Symphonic Fragments from “La
donna serpente”.The opera, which premiered
in 1932, has a convoluted plot that Casella readily acknowledged
had a kinship with the fairy tale operas of Rimsky-Korsakov.
In 1932 Casella was firmly in his third and final neo-classical
stage, and many parts of this music displayed a sharpness and
transparency of texture that reminded me of Nielsen’s
Maskarade. Throughout its 26 minute duration I often
heard a passage that reminded me of a widely divergent list
of composers, including Richard Strauss, Puccini, Stravinsky,
Respighi, Vivaldi, Mozart, and the above-mentioned Nielsen.
Yet a clear, individual voice still emerges and I am once again
dumbstruck by how engaging and wonderful this music is.
The orchestra plays its collective heart out, and the Chandos
recording is stunning in its realism and impact. I was thrilled
to see that the CD Cover states “Orchestral Works: Volume
2.” I eagerly await future release from these performers.
David A. McConnell
see also review by Ian
Lace (June 2012 Recording of the Month)
Martin Roscoe (piano)