I must admit that brief excerpts from The Jewels of the Madonna
and Susanna’s Secret are the only pieces I have
ever come across by Wolf-Ferrari. From these previous experiences
I expected frothy and tuneful and that’s exactly what
this new CD offers. There are, apparently, two other recordings
of these concertinos currently available. I have no idea how
good they are but I can’t imagine they could be much better
than this Naxos offering either musically or technically.
The music is all very charming and tuneful, almost what you
could put into the category of light music/easy listening but
that’s meant as a compliment not as a criticism. So what
does it actually sound like? A number of thoughts came to mind
when listening to these concertinos for the first time. The
oboe and cor anglais works are like romantic 20th
Century homages to their baroque counterparts. Is this what
Albinoni and Cimarosa would have written in another era? The
Concertino for bassoon is somewhat more contemplative and doleful
but this style fits the instrument perfectly and the work still
has its jolly moments. In all three pieces there are also patches
where the Respighi of Ancient Airs and Dances and the
Stravinsky of Pulcinella creep in. Putting these passing
allusions to one side the overriding conclusion is that what
we have here - a guilty pleasure of a CD if ever there was one
- is a disc containing well-crafted music with underlying elegiac,
wistful feelings in the slow movements and a Rossini-like sparkle
in the faster passages. Many of the romantic melodies clearly
come from a composer with his roots in the opera house. The
tunes given to the wind soloists could easily have been penned
with operatic tenors in mind. Wolf-Ferrari doesn’t seem
to think much of minor keys, either! It’s very infectious
and cheerful and I’m pleased to have discovered it.
The performances are first class and the orchestra plays with
great spirit. What they are given to do isn’t especially
challenging or original. It is, however, very lush and enticing
to listen to and conductor Francesco La Vecchia provides fine
support for his soloists, all of whom are members of his most
accomplished Rome orchestra. The recording quality is natural
and warm with soloists set forward. The solo playing is excellent
and the close-up placement can be justified in that the solo
lines are allowed to dominate proceedings without masking the
orchestral detail.
To sum up, this is 77 minutes of sheer joy. There’s nothing
taxing or particularly original on offer but you can’t
help but smile when you listen to it. Give it a try.
John Whitmore
see also review by John
Sheppard
alternatively
CD: MDT
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Sound
Samples & Downloads
Andrea Tenaglia (oboe); Willian Moriconi (cor anglais); Giuseppe
Ciabocchi (bassoon)