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Symphony No 2 / Scarlattiana
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As part of the Musica Italiana series, the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda are delighted to present two important works from Alfredo Casella's oeuvre. This largely forgotten Italian composer was one of the most important of his generation.
Italian composers in the early years of the 20th century were not much interested in the symphony. Alfredo Casella, however, was a major exception. On the advice of Giuseppe Martucci the 13-year-old Casella had been sent to the Paris Conservatoire. There, alongside outstanding fellow students as Maurice Ravel and George Enescu, he received the all-round professional training that would not have been available to him in Italy.
Symphony No.2 in C minor is dedicated to George Enescu, and here receives its premiere recording. There are many examples of themes, harmonic colours and orchestral sounds deriving directly from the music of his hero figure, Mahler but no one who knows the two composers could ever mistake one for the other. Casella has his own distinctive personality and his own agenda, and his passion turns into exhilarating frenzy.
Scarlattiana, a neo-classical work is drawn from perhaps as many as 90 of the hundreds of Scarlatti sonatas available to him, Casella presents an abundance of melody, its general light-heartedness effectively offset by such thoughtful episodes as the matching slow introductions to the opening Sinfonia and the Finale.
These two orchestral works marvellously demonstrate the fascinating tonal language of Casella and beautifully conducted by Gianandrea Noseda who has long championed his works.