Alfredo Casella; Guido Turchi - Works for String Quartet (Quartetto di Venezia)

Information

Composer: Alfredo Casella; Guido Turchi

• (01-04) Casella - Concerto per archi, Op. 40
• (05-09) Casella - Cinque pezzi, Op. 34
• (10-12) Turchi - Concerto breve

Quartetto di Venezia
Andrea Vio, violin
Alberto Battiston, violin
Giancarlo Di Vacri, viola
Angelo Zanin, cello

Date: 2013
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.573019

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

The Alfredo Casella Project (unofficially named, of course) continues apace at Naxos with this superb release of his Concerto for Strings, receiving here its world premiere recording, and his Cinque pezzi. Both written in the early 1920s, they nevertheless represent the composer in his full maturity, incorporating several elements in his music from the aesthetic of Schoenberg as well as some of Stravinsky’s form. As the excellent liner notes by Giacomo Fornari point out, Casella seems to have found a perfect equilibrium between these two modern but diverse styles without sacrificing his own individual voice. The composer himself said that writing the Cinque pezzi brought him to “the very end of the Stravinskyan influence and the total disappearance of any tonal preoccupations.” As for the Concerto, its title signifies the particular style here of writing for the string quartet as a small orchestra rather than in the conventional style of a four-way musical conversation.

Both pieces are splendid in their own way. The Concerto, programmed first, is a perfect example of how to compose in the shadow of two musical giants without leaning too heavily on them. Despite the ambiguous harmonies, there is real melody creation here, particularly in the lyrical second movement (marked as a Siciliana ), which moves from a song-like opening to a rather jolly, rollicking section full of humor and surprise. Casella keeps his listeners off balance by reserving the right to move back and forth between these two moods at will, meanwhile adding elements to the music to keep it developing. The third movement ( Minuetto. Recitativo. Aria: Allegretto grazioso e molto moderato ), oddly enough, seems to follow Austro-German models of the minuet rather than imparting Italian flavor, but it does have a Casella-like accent. The bitonality here keeps the listener a bit off-balance even as the melody and rhythm follow prescribed minuet lines. The Finale ( Canzone: Allegro giocoso e vivacissimo ) really flies, pulling the listener through an amazing sequence of phrases, set to a vivacious, folk-like rhythm that forces the listener’s full attention. This is marvelous music.

Despite their episodic nature as part of a suite, the Five Pieces combine Stravinsky’s sense of structure and harmony with humor, particularly in the second of them ( Ninna nanna ), which sounds like a sort of danse macabre, as well as the loping, ironic-sounding fox-trot Finale. Casella also achieves a misterioso quality in both the “Valse ridicule” and the Notturno: Lento grave funebre.

Guido Turchi, a composer new to me, composed his Concerto breve in 1947. The notes indicate that he was influenced by Hindemith, though he dedicated this piece to the memory of Bartók and uses an incomplete 12-tone series. It’s an interesting and well-crafted piece, although to my ears a bit more academic, much more pre-planned and lacking in spontaneous creation.

The sound quality of this disc is simply stunning: crisp, clear, almost razor-sharp in its realistic presentation of the string sound, and the equally crisp playing of Quartetto di Venezia makes it a pleasure to hear.

-- Lynn René Bayley, FANFARE

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Feb14/Casella_Turchi_concertos_8573019.htm
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.573019&languageid=EN

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfredo Casella (25 July 1883 in Turin – 5 March 1947 in Rome) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. He entered the Paris Conservatoiry in 1896 to study piano under Louis Diémer and composition under Gabriel Fauré. In this period, Casella developed a deep admiration for Debussy's output, but pursued a more romantic vein in his own writing. His work on Italian Baroque composers put him at the centre of the early 20th Century Neoclassical revival and also deeply influenced his own compositions. The resurrection of Vivaldi's works in the 20th century is mostly thanks to the efforts of Casella.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Casella

***

The Quartetto di Venezia is one of the most famous contemporary string quartets. The quartet officially made its debut in September 1983, although the members (Andrea Vio, Alberto Battiston, Luca Morassutti and Angelo Zanin) had already played together for some time during their studies at the Conservatorio di Venezia. The quartet has played in the most important concert halls in the world, recorded for several radio stations, and also made numerous records for some prestigious labels. In 2010 Giancarlo Di Vacri replaced Luca Morassutti as violist of the quartet.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartetto_d%27archi_di_Venezia
http://www.quartettodivenezia.it

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!