Gian Francesco Malipiero - Symphonies Vol. 5 (Antonio de Almeida)

Information

Composer: Gian Francesco Malipiero

• (01-12) Sinfonia dello zodiaco
• (13-15) Symphony No. 9 "dell'ahimè"
• (16-19) Symphony No. 10 "Atropo"

Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Antonio de Almeida, conductor

Date: 1994
Label: Marco Polo
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.223697

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 8

The Moscow Symphony Orchestra in 1993 was basically a pick-up band, and not the world’s greatest by a long shot, but these nevertheless are appealing performances of some very strange music. The Sinfonia dello zodiaco covers a lot of territory: the 12 months of the year, signs of the zodiac, divided into three “partitas”, each representing one of the seasons. It’s colorful, curiously wistful music well worth getting to know. The two symphonies are later works, written in an acerbic chromatic idiom. No. 9, “dell’ahimè”, features a violent scream at the beginning of its finale, hence the title. No. 10, “Atropo”, is a very brief piece in four pithy movements, dedicated to Hermann Scherchen, who championed so much modern music. It’s possible to imagine more unanimity from the strings, or some sweeter-toned reeds, but it probably will be a long time before something better comes along. Until then, this series is more than respectable.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Jan11/malipiero5_8570882.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Feb11/malipiero_v5_8570882.htm
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/m/mpl23697b.php
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.570882&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.com/Symphonies-Nos-Sinfonia-Dello-Zodiaco/dp/B002VFCEB0

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Gian Francesco Malipiero (18 March 1882 – 1 August 1973) was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor. Malipiero studied mostly with Marco Enrico Bossi. In 1913, Malipiero moved to Paris, where he attended the première of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, and after that, repudiated almost all the compositions he had written up to that time. Malipiero had an ambivalent attitude towards the Austro-German musical tradition, and was strongly critical of sonata form. His orchestral works include seventeen compositions he called symphonies, of which however only eleven are numbered.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gian_Francesco_Malipiero

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Antonio de Almeida (20 January 1928 in Neuilly-sur-Seine – 18 February 1997 in Pittsburgh) was a French conductor and musicologist of Portuguese-American descent. He studied with Alberto Ginastera and Paul Hindemith, and also studied conducting with Sergei Koussevitzky, Leonard Bernstein and George Szell. He recorded for many labels, including Columbia, EMI, Erato, Naxos, Philips, RCA and Supraphon. Almeida's recordings were instrumental in restoring compositions of Ernest Chausson, Henri Duparc, Florent Schmitt and Jules Massenet to the active repertory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_de_Almeida_(conductor)

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