I have often wondered why the music of the Florentine Mario
Castelnuovo-Tedesco has been so rarely heard at least in Britain.
He was after all hugely influential and after moving to America
taught well-known figures like André Previn and Henry
Mancini. He was also an extraordinarily prolific composer.
I have known the Violin Concerto for several years and it has
received a few good recordings for example by Itzhak Perlman
(EMI
Classics 754296 2). I also knew a little about his film
music in the 1950s and 1960s but little else. I suspect that
he has been elbowed out because he appears less important or
original than his contemporaries Pizzetti, Dallapiccola and
Casella. Despite my interest and the purchasing of a few piano
pieces - mostly when in Italy and second-hand - I did not realize
the composer’s obsession with Shakespeare: two operas
The Merchant of Venice and All’s Well That Ends
Well, thirty-five sonnet settings and thirty three separate
songs. There are also eleven concert overtures which are less
overtures and more like symphonic poems. I somehow managed to
miss Volume
1 in this series, which is a pity because it includes his
first effort in this genre, The Taming of he Shrew. Nevertheless
what we have on the present disc are five overtures ranging
from the longest, composed in 1930, to the last of over twenty
years later.
Let’s take them in chronological order. The Merchant
of Venice, weighing in at over fifteen minutes, could almost
be described as a tone poem. It has an opening unison string
melody which does indeed sound rather Eastern - perhaps I could
say Jewish - and it does, of course, represent Shylock. The
mood later on however is sometimes reminiscent of Scheherazade.
There is, suitably, a romantic moment when, after about seven
minutes a lyrical tune enters possibly representing the lovers
Jessica, Shylock’s daughter and Lorenzo with whom she
elopes. Although printed in the Comedies the work ends in the
minor key in a serious and almost tragic vein, which seems quite
appropriate.
A Winter’s Tale is something of a disappointment
in many ways. Whilst it is true, to quote the excellent notes
by conductor Andrew Penny and Graham Wade, that when listening
to these pieces we should know that they the composer set out
to “create impressions of specific aspects of the drama
rather than following closely the details of the plot”
I still found that there was a lack of momentum and power. The
first part of the play is taken over by King Leontes’
all-consuming jealousy when he comes to believe that his wife
has produced a bastard son by his childhood friend Polexenes.
There is a faster and slightly wild passage half-way through
but this does not convey the mood satisfactorily. The beautiful
Bohemian second half of the play as well as a strong mood of
nostalgia earlier in the music dominate the work therefore not
representing the contrasts found in the plot.
Shakespeare’s quite early play King John is a misunderstood
and rarely performed political drama. Castelnuovo-Tedesco heads
up his score with a quote from the end of the play beginning
“That England never did, nor never shall, Lie at the proud
foot of a conqueror”. This sonata-form structure begins
with a militaristic Elgarian march and there is even a touch
of lyrical English pastoralism in the second subject that possibly
reflects the (brief) feminine influences on the King or of his
innocent young son Prince Henry. The piece though is not particularly
programmatic but it was a suitable choice for a work written
in 1941 during a time of fervent hopes for an allied victory
in Europe. I really took to it. Concision and memorable ideas
abound and this should be heard in Britain.
You will spend a most enjoyable ten minutes in the presence
of the Much Ado About Nothing. This features those
two young bickering characters, later lovers, Beatrice and Benedict
who became also the leading personalities behind Berlioz’s
comic opera. The overture is divided into five sections: an
Introduction recalling pipers and general gaiety, then Badinage
followed by a fine Funeral March which reaches a great climax
and finally a Love Duet ending happily and in elation. This
is suitable music for a most joyous play.
The last Overture is for As you like it. In this we hear
hunting horns setting the forest scene in Arden where Duke Senior
has been exiled. There also Rosalind and Celia, his daughters,
will hide away. A general sense of anticipation and jollity
rules the day. The style is a little Hollywood at times and
while I know that Shakespeare had a wobbly sense of geography
Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s forest seems to be more Mediterranean
than a fresh English Spring or summer wood. We even have a dance
section with castanets! That said, it’s a successful piece
of really light music; and none the worse for that I hear you
cry.
The disc is recorded at a slightly low level and the volume
control will need to raised otherwise some sections of the orchestra
can sound rather recessed. Unless I’ve missed a trick
I can’t see why this disc has had to wait sixteen or so
years to emerge, but it has been worth it. The music is unfailingly
attractive, is colourfully orchestrated and sympathetically
played. And so, for such a modest outlay, this is well worth
searching out.
Gary Higginson
West Australian Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Penny 
