Goffredo Petrassi - Piano Concerto; Flute Concerto (Francesco La Vecchia)

Information

Composer: Goffredo Petrassi

• (01) Flute Concerto
• (02-04) Piano Concerto
• (05-08) La follia di Orlando – Symphonic Suite from the Ballet

Mario Ancillotti, flute
Bruno Canino, piano
Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma
Francesco La Vecchia, conductor

Date: 2014
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.573073

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Review

‘I consider the score a complete failure.’ Thus Goffredo Petrassi on his sole Piano Concerto, begun in 1936 and premiered three years later in Rome by Walter Gieseking. The great pianist would, one imagines, have revelled in the distinctly Gallic flavour of the extended central ‘Arietta con variazioni’ – that sublime melody from the slow movement of Ravel’s G major Concerto clearly left its mark – but the predominant influences here are Bartók, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and, above all, Stravinsky. (Closer to home, I was even reminded of the piano concertos of both Vaughan Williams and Kenneth Leighton, the latter a distinguished pupil of the Italian master.) For all that it comprises an intriguing, colourful and action-packed canvas, there’s no denying the far greater individuality of Petrassi’s 1942 43 ballet La follia di Orlando (based on episodes from Ariosto’s epic poem of 1516, Orlando furioso). Naxos gives us the Symphonic Suite that was first heard in December 1945, fully 17 months before the ballet was finally staged at La Scala, Milan, and consistently rewarding listening it makes, too, full of superior invention, and always displaying a refined harmonic sensibility and felicitous understanding of the orchestra.

Entirely different again is the Flute Concerto that Petrassi composed in 1960 for Severino Gazzelloni, a single-movement canvas both innovative in form and scored with fastidious, ear-pricking subtlety (the unusual instrumentation eschews violins, violas, flutes and oboes, and incorporates a very large percussion section as well as harp and guitar). Petrassi employs his own brand of serialism in this absorbing 20-minute work, which is by no means as forbidding as you might think. First-rate contributions from both soloists and energetic playing from Francesco La Vecchia’s Rome band. The sound may not be of the most glamorous but this remains a laudably enterprising release.

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Apr14/Petrassi_concertos_8573073.htm
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.573073&languageid=EN

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Goffredo Petrassi (16 July 1904 – 3 March 2003) was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century. Petrassi studied organ and composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. His early works were characteristically neoclassical in style. In later years, Petrassi's open musical mind and acute personality led him to experiment with a wide range of influences and materials. Petrassi taught composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory and at the Salzburg Mozarteum, and had many famous students.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goffredo_Petrassi

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Francesco La Vecchia (born September 10, 1954 in Rome) is an Italian classical conductor. La Vecchia's first instrument was the classical guitar. In 1972, he founded the Boccherini Quintet, and played hundreds of concerts with this ensemble in Europe, America and Asia. He began his career as conductor in 1982, and since then has conducted more than one hundred orchestras around the world. La Vecchia was named artistic and musical director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma in 2002. Specializing in Italian music, he has made dozens of recordings, mostly for the Naxos label.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_La_Vecchia

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