Orchestral Works - Volume 3
Italia - Rhapsody for orchestra, op.11 (1909) [19:39]
Introduction, Chorale and March, for woodwind, brass, timpani, percussion,
piano and double basses, op.57 (1931-35) [7:41]
Symphony no.3, op.63 (1939-40) [41:45]
BBC Philharmonic/Gianandrea Noseda
rec. MediaCity UK, Salford, England, 28 June (Italia) and 6-7 November
2012.
CHANDOS CHAN 10768 [69:35]
By an unfortunate coincidence Chandos have found themselves playing
catch-up to Naxos since the release of the first volume in this now
three-strong series dedicated to the orchestral works of the criminally
neglected Italian composer Alfredo Casella. Naxos's own cycle kicked
off around the same time but already six CDs have been issued.
In any case, is Casella's music even worth two sets of recordings? Though
the thinly disguised snootiness of a number of critics down the decades
would appear to suggest otherwise, the answer is in fact a resounding
yes: like his close and better-known contemporary Respighi, he was not
only a master orchestrator/colouriser but a composer of considerable
imagination and invention. His music is also extremely audience-friendly
- a fact no doubt connected, ironically, to the ambivalence of certain
writers, including even his biographer John Waterhouse. Under Gianandrea
Noseda especially, the BBC Philharmonic is the finest orchestra to have
recorded most of these works, and that is frankly no more than Casella
deserves.
There is a work featuring the piano on all three discs, in the first
two volumes with the sterling Martin Roscoe contributing a spotlit solo
role.
A Notte Alta is a hugely atmospheric and surprisingly
modern-sounding work, Casella's only programmatic piece. It comes from
a period when Casella was considered part of the vanguard, as absurd
as the idea sounds in retrospect. Apparently based on a Verklärte-Nacht-style
scenario, the two moonlit lovers turn out to be the composer himself
and his wife-to-be Yvonne. Scarlattiana is rightly one of Casella's
most popular works, said to draw upon, in the course of its 28 minutes,
up to ninety of Domenico Scarlatti's highly varied sonatas. Many years
later Casella returned to this idea for his Paganiniana op.65.
Italia is ostensibly based on traditional Sicilian and Neapolitan
tunes - fans of Mario Lanza, Luciano Pavarotti and the like should recognise
one or two - but the first half of this atmospheric tone poem is by
turn dark and serene, reflecting the Sicilian subject matter. The big
tunes arrive from Naples about halfway through, building up for a typically
exuberant finish. Italia is followed by the brief but engaging, Stravinsky-recalling
Introduction, Chorale and March. The Concerto for Orchestra is also
vaguely neo-classical, certainly of a lighter, at times almost filmic
character. The Symphonic Fragments from 'La Donna Serpente' is a much
better work than its title suggests, a carefully connected, coherent
suite of generally lively music from Casella's only full-blown opera.
Though he did in fact follow the Italian tradition and compose for the
stage, the fundamentally symphonic nature of this suite reveals where
the composer's true affinities lay.
The three symphonies are arguably Casella's most important works, as
their substantial proportions hint. The First, no less extended than
those featured here, is doubtless reserved for volume 4. The Naxos series
has already pipped Chandos to the premiere (8.572413 - see
review).
The brilliance and power of the Second, underlined by the Tchaikovsky's
'Manfred'-like appearance of the organ in the 'Epilogue', is awe-inspiring.
It may seem like damning with faint praise, given the relative lack
of competitors, but this work is surely one of the greatest symphonies
ever to have come out of Italy. Though revealing the influence of both
Tchaikovsky and even more so Mahler, it has a more compelling claim
on a place in the symphonic repertoire than one or two of those composers'
relatively weaker works. Noseda takes a noticeably punchier pace than
Francesco La Vecchia on the Naxos recording (8.572415 - see
review),
and this only adds to the musical intensity. The Third is hardly less
compelling, its wartime provenance giving it a times an acidulent Shostakovichian
character. In his notes Gerald Larner interprets the ending as a triumphal
salute to the Mussolini regime, although with a Jewish wife Casella
was surely never that enthusiastic about the dictatorship. The first
recording of this came, incidentally, from CPO in 2009, Alun Francis
conducting the WDR Symphony Orchestra (777 265-2 - see
review).
In cultural terms BBC Radio 3 may be - is - a shadow of its former self
nowadays, but it still has engineers who know how to record music properly,
and these three discs, one recorded at New Broadcasting House in Manchester,
the latter two at MediaCity UK in Salford, rank among Chandos's finest
orchestral achievements of recent times. The label's trilingual notes
are as informative and well written as ever. Curiously, the latest volume
reverts to the incredible wastage that comes from ludicrously oversized
margins - the first two booklets were completely orthodox.
Byzantion
Contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk
See also reviews of Volume 1 by
Dan
Morgan, Volume 2 by
David
McConnell and
Ian
Lace & Volume 3 by
Michael
Cookson
