Alfredo Casella - Scarlattiana for piano and chamber orchestra Op. 44 (audio + sheet music)

Описание: Alfredo Casella may not be well remembered today, but during his lifetime he was far from obscure. From his post on the faculty of the Liceo di S Cecilia in Rome (held from 1915 to 1922), and then as director and founder of a number of Italian musical organizations and festivals, he achieved a worldwide fame and influence that no Italian composer since the previous century had enjoyed (and, one might go so far as to say, no non-operatic Italian composer had enjoyed for quite some time before that). Some idea of the esteem in which Casella was held by the world's musicians (some of whom would later, ironically, find Casella guilty of musical provincialism) during the 1920s can be found in the fact that his Scarlattiana for piano and chamber orchestra, Op. 44 of 1926 -- a work written by an Italian using as its starting point the music of another Italian -- was premiered in New York City's Carnegie Hall under the directorship of a German conductor (Gustav Mahler's one-time protégé, Otto Klemperer).

Scarlattiana is a five-movement work -- a quasi-piano-concerto if you will -- in which Casella uses themes and snippets from the harpsichord sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti and builds them up into new musical shapes. It was written just a few years into Casella's exploration of a neo-Classical style of composition, and, as many have rightly pointed out, Stravinsky's Pulcinella of 1920 was likely the guiding model. The five movements are: 1. Sinfonia (Lento, grave -- Allegro molto vivace), 2. Minuetto, 3. Capriccio (Allegro vivacissimo ed impetuoso), 4. Pastorale (Andantino dolcemente mosso), and 5. Finale (Lento molto e grave -- Presto vivacissimo).

(AllMusic)

Please take note that the audio AND sheet music ARE NOT mine. Feel free to change the video quality to a minimum of 480p for the best watching experience.

Performers: Sergio Fiorentino (piano), Orchestra Alessandro Scarlatti di Napoli, Ferruccio Scaglia (conductor)
(   • Alfredo Casella: Scarlattiana op.44 (1926)  )
Sheet music: https://imslp.org/wiki/Scarlattiana%2...) (Universal Edition, 1928)