The Florence Conservatory figured heavily in the lives of these two Italian composers. It was there that Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968) received his musical training between 1912 and 1918 from Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880–1968, see the newsletter of 10 September 2010), and where Luigi Dallapiccola (1904–1975) got a degree, becoming a professor of piano in 1931. But the rise of the Nazis (1933–45) with their anti-Semitic policies soon created hardships for both men.

Being Jewish, Mario fled to the United States in 1939, where he’d spend the rest of his life, supplementing his income by writing Hollywood film scores like his fellow expatriates Schoenberg (1874–1951), Korngold (1897–1957, see the newsletter of 9 August 2007) and Tansman (1897–1986, see the newsletter of 11 May 2009). As for Luigi, who was Aryan, his having a Jewish wife made their life in Italy increasingly difficult, to the point where they were forced into hiding on a couple of occasions during World War II (1939–45).

Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote tonally based music of late romantic persuasion throughout his career, while Dallapiccola adopted the serialist principles of the Second Viennese School in his later works. All of the selections on the two CDs featured here are either tonal or soft-core dodecaphonic.

The first one is devoted to piano music by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and begins with the world première recording of his second piano concerto. Written between 1936 and 1937, which were some of the worst years in fascist Italy for the composer, it had to wait until he escaped to America for its first performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City (1939). In the standard three movements, the piano is set off against a medium-sized orchestra made all the more colorful with the inclusion of a variety of winds and even a bell. The animated opening movement has a couple of attractive thematic ideas the composer develops with some attendant keyboard pyrotechnics reminiscent of Rachmaninov (1873–1943).

The following romanza...is the concerto’s emotional core with two alternating spun-out melodies that are sequentially graceful and introspective. It segues directly into the restless angular finale that may remind you of Paganini’s (1762–1840) more showy moments. The closing measures contain impressive bravura piano passages, and a fiery finish for full orchestra.

Five works for solo piano fill out the disc, beginning with two related to the sea. They are La sirenetta e il pesce turchino – Flaba marina (The Little Mermaid and the Turquoise Fish – A Mmore....

Review By Stephen Estep,American Record Guide,September 2010

The Petite Concerto for Muriel Couvreux, for piano and chamber orchestra, is a delightful 20-minute piece in six short movements. It is light and charming, but with the blood of seriousness pulsing through it, making for an excellent balance and keeping it from sounding cloying. A simple pentatonic melody opens the work, but it’s not long before Dallapiccola tweaks our ears with a tritone out of nowhere. Movements follow—slow, dreamy, beautiful, drifting, 12-tone, march-like, but always interesting.