Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco - Shakespeare Overtures Vol. 2 (Andrew Penny)

Information

Composer: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

1. As You Like It, Op. 166
2. Il mercante di Venezia (The Merchant of Venice), Op. 76
3. Much Ado about Nothing, Op. 164
4. King John, Op. 111
5. Il racconto d'inverno (The Winter's Tale), Op. 80

West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Penny, conductor

Date: 2010
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.572501

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Review

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968) wrote a lot more than guitar music, even though he is mostly remembered for his First Guitar Concerto. Mentored by Casella and Pizzetti, the Jewish Italian was already celebrated as a composer when he escaped Mussolini’s Italy to head for California. The extent of his fame may be gathered by the fact that a commission for a violin concerto immediately followed from Heifitz, and Toscanini continued to champion his work. Having settled in Hollywood, he plunged into film composing, not neglecting his concert output, and taught such future luminaries as Henry Mancini and John Williams. He had always been fascinated by Shakespeare’s plays and wrote two complete operas based on them, many settings of Shakespearean lyrics, and 11 concert overtures, of which five may be heard on this release. (The disc is designated Volume 2; the remaining six overtures appear in Volume 1.)

With the exception of the rollicking King John (1941), the overtures are more in the nature of episodic tone poems, replete with the full harmonies and lavish orchestrations familiar from 1940s film music. The episodes within each work are prefaced by quotations from the play; these sections each express a general mood rather than forming a dramatic arc or storyline. The comedies As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing include chirpy pastoral episodes, dominated by woodwinds, while the latter’s middle section consists of a funeral march inspired by Claudio’s call, “Now music, sound, and sing your solemn hymn.” The turbulent Merchant of Venice Overture (1933) features a recurring theme with a Hebraic melodic twist (representing Shylock) and maintains a good deal of dramatic tension throughout—not surprising in view of the composer’s circumstances at the time. The most individual work in this collection is the overture to The Winter’s Tale (1935), appropriately, since the play is one of Shakespeare’s quirkiest. The overture begins pastorally but the wintry atmospherics soon lead into a tarantella built around the figure of a falling semitone—very reminiscent of Pizzetti (in particular his Rondò Veneziano ). A sad cello theme dominates the middle section; it too undergoes some variation before the tarantella returns for the close. Castelnuovo-Tedesco effectively captures the wide contrasts in the play between comedy and tragedy, and between the nobility and the peasantry.

The overture to As You Like It (1953) is alternately jaunty and courtly, and it is clear at the conclusion that “journeys end in lovers meeting.” This is one of two of these works previously recorded, in this case by Robert Whitney and the Louisville Orchestra (to whom it was dedicated). That LP is long gone. King John was recorded by its dedicatee, John Barbirolli, and the New York Philharmonic in a vintage performance reissued by Guild two years ago. Fanfare ’s Barry Brenesal dispatched the work as “pleasant if thoroughly unmemorable” (31:6); I agree to the extent that it is less varied than its companions on the new disc.

In mid 1994 I was involved with a recording session with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and I remember reading on the schedule that it had taped some of these overtures the previous week. A couple of the orchestra members told me how much they enjoyed playing the music, which they had never heard before and had prepared in a hurry. I was intrigued and made a mental note to buy the disc. Well, better late than never! Sixteen years on, the recordings have finally been released. Why they were in the Naxos vault for all that time I have no idea. The performances are neat and even passionate when required; the orchestra is set at a slight distance but all its sections are clearly balanced by conductor Andrew Penny (best known for his excellent Naxos set of the Malcolm Arnold symphonies). The rushed taping circumstances are by no means discernible—a tribute to the musicians’ skill and high standards. If this disc is tempting, you have no reason to hesitate. I will certainly be getting hold of Volume 1.

-- Phillip Scott, FANFARE

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 8
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Feb11/castelnuovo_shakespeare2_8572501.htm
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.572501&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.com/Castelnuovo-Tedesco-Shakespeare-Overtures-Vol-2/dp/B0040MF28O

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Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 in Florence – 16 March 1968 in Beverly Hills, California) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In 1939 he immigrated to the United States and became a composer for some 200 Hollywood movies for the next fifteen years. As a teacher, Castelnuovo-Tedesco had a significant influence on other major film composers, such as Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams. He also wrote concertos for Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Castelnuovo-Tedesco

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Andrew Penny is an English conductor who was born in Hull, England. He entered the Royal Manchester College of Music in 1971 to study the clarinet with Sidney Fell. Subsequently he studied with Sir Charles Groves and Timothy Reynish as a postgraduate, and also with Sir Edward Downes. Since 1982 Penny has been Musical Director of the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra. He has made over 35 recordings for the Naxos and Marco Polo labels since 1992. Much of his repertoire is of British Music and includes symphonies by Sir Malcolm Arnold and Havergal Brian and film music by Vaughan Williams and Walton.
https://www.naxos.com/person/Andrew_Penny_31809/31809.htm

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