The Concerto for Orchestra, dedicated to the Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg, is the most substantial work here. It’s also a summation of Casella’s progress to date; in the highly animated Sinfonia various parts of the orchestra are allowed to shine, those see-sawing string figures reminiscent of Shostakovich at times. That said, there’s a boldness—an ease of invention if you like—to Casella’s writing that confirms he’s mastered his craft; the Passacaglia, artfully worked, is not as dry as one might expect, and the finale takes us on a thrilling ride…La Vecchia and his band are every bit as engaged—and engaging—in this strange, delightfully dishevelled work.

Music of unbridled energy, a big, sense-sating sound and unusually detailed liner-notes add up to a most desirable package. In short, Naxos have given us another cracker—and it’s not even Christmas!

Great fun; buy now and beat the rush. © 2012 MusicWeb International Read complete review

This music is an audacious mix that really demands an all-or-nothing approach from conductor, orchestra and recording engineers; and that’s exactly what it gets. Pagine di guerra—inspired by newsreels of the Great War—is even more visceral; and while the original images were conveyed in flickering monochrome Casella’s are delivered in extra vivid Technicolor. The relentless pounding of German artillery and a Cossack cavalry charge will rattle your window-panes; the human cost is counted in a poignant lament for Rheims Cathedral and an endless panorama of a field crammed with wooden crosses. In any other context this piece would be condemned as an amalgam of sheer bombast and crude sentimentality; that it works so well here is a tribute to La Vecchia’s judicious balancing of raw pictorialism and real feeling.

The Concerto for Orchestra, dedicated to the Dutch conductor Willem Mengelberg, is the most substantial work here. It’s also a summation of Casella’s progress to date; in the highly animated Sinfonia various parts of the orchestra are allowed to shine…That said, there’s a boldness—an ease of invention if you like—to Casella’s writing that confirms he’s mastered his craft; the Passacaglia, artfully worked, is not as dry as one might expect, and the finale takes us on a thrilling ride.

Music of unbridled energy, a big, sense-sating sound and unusually detailed liner-notes add up to a most desirable package. In short, Naxos have given us another cracker—and it’s not even Christmas!

Great fun; buy now and beat the rush. © 2012 MusicWeb International Read complete review