Franco Alfano - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (Israel Yinon)

Information

Composer: Franco Alfano

• Symphony No. 1 in E Major, "Classica"
• Symphony No. 2 in C Major

Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt

Israel Yinon, conductor

Date: 2004

Label: cpo

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Franco-Alfano-1875-1954-Symphonien-Nr-1-2/hnum/3926666

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

These two symphonies sound very much alike, being big, somewhat formless hunks of glittering orchestration featuring plenty of harp, triangle, glockenspiel, and celesta in an idiom midway between Puccini and Schrecker. Crescendos are almost invariably capped with suspended cymbals, final chords would be nothing without a flourish of tam-tam: in short, it’s all very theatrical, very pretty, and great fun. If the tunes were more memorable we would really have something, but the rich, impressionistic harmony and sheer atmosphere offer ample compensation, while the slow movement of the Second Symphony really is quite beautiful. Heaven knows where the First got its “Classica” nickname: you might as well name your pet goldfish similarly, for all that the term applies to any musical form or function. Israel Yinon does his usual fine job in bringing this rarely-heard music to life, and his Frankfurt forces, aside from a touch of occasionally tepid brass, play with enthusiasm. The sound is just right: warm and full. Now how about the symphonies of Casella?

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
https://www.allmusic.com/album/franco-alfano-symphonies-1-2-mw0001388729

https://www.amazon.com/Franco-Alfano-Symphonies-1-2/dp/B0007ORDQS

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Franco Alfano (8 March 1875 – 27 October 1954) was an Italian composer and pianist. Born in Posillipo, Naples, Alfano studied under Camillo de Nardis and Paolo Serrao at the Conservatory San Pietro a Majella in Naples, and later pursued further studies with Hans Sitt and Salomon Jadassohn in Leipzig. From 1918 he was Director of the Conservatory of Bologna, from 1923 Director of the Turin Conservatory, and from 1947 to 1950 Director of the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro. He is best known today for his opera Risurrezione (1904) and for having completed Puccini's opera Turandot in 1926

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Alfano

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Israel Yinon (11 January 1956 in Kfar Saba, Israel – 29 January 2015 in Lucerne, Switzerland) was an Israeli conductor. Yinon was born in Israel but who spent much of his professional life based in Germany. He was the first conductor to record the works of Viktor Ullman and was a committed champion of the music of Ernest Bloch, Karol Rathaus and Pavel Haas. Yinon also specialized in reviving works of forgotten German composers who were forbidden under Adolf Hitler. He was a guest conductor with numerous orchestras around the world, including the Royal Philharmonic and the Vienna Symphony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Yinon

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