MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS
Sound Samples & Downloads

Osvaldo COLUCCINO (b.1963)
Attimo, for string quartet (2007) [17:10]
Aion, for string quartet (2002) [18:26]
Eco Immobile, for piano quartet (2002) [8:11]
Talea, for violin and cello (2008) [11:24]
Teatro La Fenice String Quartet (Roberto Baraldi, Gianaldo Tatone (violins); Daniel Formentelli (viola); Emanuele Silvestri (cello)); Achille Gallo (piano)
rec. Teatro La Gran Fenice, Venice, Italy, 25-26 October 2010. DDD
NEOS 11130 [55:13] 

Experience Classicsonline




The front cover promises the 'String Quartets' of Italian composer Osvaldo Coluccino, but in fact only two of the four works live up to the bill, the remaining two being a Piano Quartet and a Duo for violin and cello. On the other hand, none of these works really bears any resemblance to more traditional forms - Coluccino is a post-modernist.
 
That much is evident from a cursory look at the booklet notes. Coluccino doubles up as a poet, but there is little lyricism in the theatrical post-structuralist jargon of his notes. Coluccino's original Italian is obscure enough, and the English translator must have had a testing time attempting to render such hermetically sealed language. In fact he does not altogether succeed and the reader is left to ponder formulations like the following: "The event regenerates itself from the moment it leaves its habitual surroundings (whether historical or conceptual), after which it is transfigured, acquiring a surface sheen on which sensations are reflected like flashes of light. The sensations flit past at the maximum speed we are able to perceive. In their wake comes the sum-total of our experience (which becomes anti-episodic)." Coluccino goes so far as to quote extensively from a grand master of metaphysical smoke and mirrors, Gilles Deleuze. Pointedly, the citation is only available to those who read French, although as it does not make much sense, little harm is done.
 
What does emerge in any case from all this is the fact that Coluccino is a very earnest composer, and this is certainly reflected in these works. From a sonic point of view they all explore similar avenues, whatever forces are employed. Coluccino's music is gossamer, almost ephemeral, flickering in and out of existence like meaning in a Deleuzean text. It is also very slow-moving, apt to slide into stasis or short periods of silence. There is little contrast or differentiation even in the two parts of Aion. In each work Coluccino's music seems to float like a creeping mist on a hilltop, disorienting yet not frightening. Admirers of Luigi Nono should enjoy themselves, if that is the right word, but others will need to work at their listening to extract the intellectual secrets locked up in Coluccino's music.
 
These are premiere recordings, and kudos to the string quartet of 'La Fenice' for having the spirit - and the skill - to tackle these tricky pieces. Sound quality is good, though the recordings were made at an astonishingly low volume. The digipak case stores the booklet in a rather fragile cut-out slot. In fact, the cellophane-sealed review disc came pre-torn at one side of the slot.
 
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk
 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Error processing SSI file