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CASELLA, A.: Concerto for Orchestra / Pagine di guerra / Suite (Rome Symphony, La Vecchia)

Composer(s):Casella, Alfredo
Artist(s) La Vecchia, Francesco, Conductor • Rome Symphony Orchestra
Period(s) 20th Century
Genre Classical Music
Category ConcertosOrchestral
Catalogue 8.573004
Label Naxos
Quality   320kbps
Album Price
 
FLAC
USD 7.99
 

 
MP3
USD 6.99
 

 


Alfredo Casella identified three different periods in his composing career, and this disc features one work from each. The Suite in C major is early Casella, a fascinating combination of influences from the French Baroque through Domenico Scarlatti to Mahler. War Pages are images of the horrific mechanised warfare of 1914–18, as seen on silent cinema newsreels: among the music’s admirers was Puccini. Casella himself felt that the Concerto, Op 61—a commission for the 50th birthday of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra—was his ‘most complete achievement in the field of orchestral music’.


   




Review By Michel Fleury,Classica,


8.573004_Classica_fr.pdf


Review By François Laurent,Diapason,


8.573004_Diapason_fr.pdf


Review By Don O’Connor,American Record Guide,January 2013

Playing, interpretation, and sound are all good. This pioneering Naxos survey of the Italian symphonic tradition has opened my ears to a worthwhile composer. © 2013 American Record Guide Read complete review on American Record Guide online



Review By Robert Moon,Audiophile Audition,December 2012

The longest and most important work on this disc is the magnificent Concerto for Orchestra (1937). The powerful brass call to action majestically opens the Sinfonia, but it’s the moving central theme and Casella’s brilliant orchestration that stays in the mind. The central Passacaglia builds to an aching climax that will leave Mahlerians weeping with joy. The triumphant conclusion is infused with an Italian warmth that leaves the listener in a state of jubilation. Casella called this work, ‘undoubedly my most complete achievement in the field of orchestral music.’

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Review By John von Rhein,Chicago Tribune,December 2012

CASELLA, A.: Concerto for Orchestra / Pagine di guerra / Suite (Rome Symphony, La Vecchia) 8.573004
CASELLA, A.: Donna serpente Suites (La) / Introduzione, aria e toccata / Partita (Sun Hee You, Rome Symphony, La Vecchia) 8.573005

Classical CDs full of aural pleasures

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Review By Jerónimo Marín,Ritmo,December 2012

Es inexplicable como no suena más la música de Alfredo Casella (1883–1947); tiene todo para ser uno de los autores preferidos de los comienzos del siglo XX, pero el destino le ha deparado un puesto secundario a todas luces injusto. Ahora bien, cómo no va a tener un puesto secundario, si las tres excelentes obras aquí grabadas, de su producción sinfónica, incluyendo la que quizá sea considerada su mejor obra, el Concerto Op. 61 (no hay solista, es concierto para orquesta a la manera de Bartok aunque sin tanto solista demostrando su valía), son tres primicias mundiales. El propio Casella consideraba que había tres etapas en su producción: una primera con muchos ecos mahlerianos, a la que pertenece su Suite

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Review By Remy Franck,Pizzicato,


8.573004_Pizzicato_112012_FR.pdf


Review By Christophe Huss,Le Devoir,October 2012

La couverture accroche sur le titre Concerto pour orchestre et l’image représente un canon, mais de ces trois premières mondiales, c’est la Suite op. 13 qui est renversante. Hommage à Mahler, dont Casella (1883–1947) dirigea la musique, cette oeuvre culmine dans une bourrée finale qui entremêle la 4e Symphonie du compositeur morave et la 3e Symphonie de Sibelius. Inattendu et subjugant. © 2012 Le Devoir



Review By David Hurwitz,ClassicsToday.com,October 2012

These performances are extremely fine. Chandos just released the Concerto in its own Casella series…but I prefer Francesco La Vecchia’s more relaxed way with the music. If his orchestra isn’t perhaps as polished as the BBC Philharmonic, his approach gives the piece just that much more breathing room to make an impression. He allows its Italianate lyricism to blossom naturally, while the neoclassical chatter of its rhythms never turns mechanical. The engineering also ranks with the best in this generally excellent ongoing series. Both the Suite and Pagine di guerra are recording premieres. This disc is a treat, and a major release. © 2012 ClassicsToday.com

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Review By Dan Morgan,MusicWeb International,October 2012

…here is a tribute to La Vecchia’s judicious balancing of raw pictorialism and real feeling.

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Review By Dan Morgan,MusicWeb International,October 2012

The start of the Overture is a thinly disguised mélange of Mahler and Richard Strauss, which soon morphs into a gaudy—and resolutely Italian—free-for-all. These Romans certainly make the most of those dancing rhythms, annunciating fanfares and sizzling cymbals. The Sarabande is more sedate—grave, even—and it boasts lovely tunes that float free of the orchestra in a quite magical way. Happily the recording combines transient tizz and tingle with compensating warmth and weight; this ensures Casella’s darker, more sonorous writing is also well caught. The boisterous Bourrée brings to mind the high spirits of Mahler’s Fourth, whose wide-eyed innocence is soon lost in a blaze of festal energy.

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