ALFANO AT NAXOS
Franco Sciannameo CFA | 07/28/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"ALFANO AT NAXOS
CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN, CELLO AND PIANO
SONATA FOR CELLO AND PIANO
NAXOS 8.570928
In his New Grove's entry on Franco Alfano (1875-1954), leading authority on 20th-Century Italian music John CG Waterhouse added the composer's name to those of Pizzetti, Malipiero, Casella, and Respighi, the "traditional" quadrumvirate that identified the fathers of Italian modern music. With that acknowledgement, Waterhouse administered theoretical and critical justice to Alfano's artistic creativity, which for too long had been confined exclusively to Alfano's lauded and criticized completion of Puccini's Turandot.
Musicologists' re-evaluations or re-discoveries usually go sterile unless attentive performers "listen" to their calling and sacrifice time and effort for causes which may or may not bring them due reward. The present Naxos CD, dedicated to Franco Alfano's chamber music, stands at the pinnacle of a fortunate synergy between scholarship and performance practice as it indeed combines great discovery, excellent music, and superlative performance.
The two world premiere recordings comprising this disc, Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano (1932) and Sonata for Cello and Piano (1925), were particularly dear to Franco Alfano. A gifted pianist, Alfano participated in the performance of these works as often as he could, searching for refuge in their intimate thoughts in contrast to the magniloquent and omnivorous world of opera in which he also excelled. Resurrezione (1904), La leggenda di Sakuntala (1921), and Cyrano de Bergerac (1936) are titles still in the operatic repertoire. They never fail to marvel audiences and critics alike and then they make listeners wonder about Alfano's symphonic and chamber music. This recording is aimed at satisfying such curiosity.
Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano begins in the spirit of a new Italian style characterized by severity, formal asceticism, and neo-Renaissance qualities, which Alfano subtly transforms into a melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic language that oscillates between the Iberian harmonic world of Joaquin Turina and the lyrical counterpoint of Ernest Bloch. This concerto, in effect a traditional piano trio, is very approachable in both form and content, making an excellent overture to the following more complex Sonata for Cello and Piano.
This sonata bears at first Ravel's imprint especially in the tip-toeing, bluesy second movement. However, the piece blossoms into its own full bloodied, passionate development, which concludes with an epilogue of extreme emotional delicacy.
The music heard in this disc is far removed from both verismo opera and the angular modernistic models proposed by Casella and Malipiero. Its essentially cosmopolitan style reminds the listener about tonal patches heard in the works of Turina, Bloch, Delius, Bridge, and Arnold Bax, however, in Alfano's music there is always a strong creative individuality hidden deep down that only great performers can bring to the fore; such is the great value of this disc.
Pianist Scott Dunn, violinist Elmira Darvarova, and cellist Samuel Magill, who takes the lion's share of the program, are artists of the first order who have challenged themselves with music of great beauty never recorded before. One would love to hear them perform Alfano's Sonata for Violin and Piano, the Piano Quintet and his three string quartets.
Naxos deserves great credit for releasing such an exemplary recording.
Franco Sciannameo
College of Fine Arts
Carnegie Mellon University
07/19/09
"
Fascinating Music, Brilliantly Performed !
Robert Wolovitz | New York, NY | 07/29/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Franco Alfano's music is presently enjoying a worldwide revival in the concert halls, as well as on opera stages, such as the Metropolitan Opera, where his opera Cyrano de Bergerac was recently performed, starring Placido Domingo in the title role.
The Cello Sonata and the Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano are fascinating chamber works in which Franco Alfano presents an extreme emotional amplitude and deeply lyrical moments, alternating with high drama, nostalgic serenity and exotic folk dances.
Composed in 1925, the technically demanding Cello Sonata explores the entire tonal range of the instrument, establishing a verismo style atmosphere while employing harmonies closer to Ravel or Debussy. Gentle lullaby co-exists with turbulence, and the agony of deep personal statements is profoundly felt throughout.
The 1932 Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano, actually a piano trio, is a sparkling amalgam of extreme virtuosity and gentle lyricism, spiced up with vigorous folk dances. The last movements of both works are firmly rooted in twentieth-century techniques, evoking the Prokofiev/Bartok orbit.
These truly fascinating chamber works are recorded for the first time by violinist Elmira Darvarova, cellist Samuel Magill and pianist Scott Dunn, in brilliant renditions which leave the listener breathless and deeply moved by the dramatic story-telling and the heart-rending elegy. The virtuoso elements intertwine with languorous love duets in an extremely wide range of colors. With gorgeously rich tone and employing a great variety of vibrato speeds and inflections, Elmira Darvarova and Samuel Magill maintain their impeccable intonation throughout, interweaving their shifts and slides to match one another in their highly charged dialogue. Pianist Scott Dunn's mesmerizing fluidity and fervor translate in a highly elaborate and architecturally accomplished interpretation. The balance between the instruments is so good that it borders on the miraculous. Truly magnificent performances of Alfano's fascinating chamber works! Highly recommended world premiere recordings!"
Franco Alfano Chamber Music - trio and cello sonata
E. S. Wilks | Hockessin, DE USA | 08/29/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I liked the "concerto," which is really a piano trio. My reaction to the first movement was that it was very strongly influenced by the chamber music of Chausson and Fauré. I thought that the change to a very slow section near the end of the movement was an anomaly. The next two movements seemed to be more in the style of Ravel. I found the first movement to be the most interesting.
Despite the information given in the sleeve-notes about how deeply personal a work the Cello Sonata is, I must confess that I didn't find it, particularly the first movement, very interesting; to me, the thematic material, especially in the last movement, simply isn't very ingratiating. Compared with cello sonatas by Shostakovich, Debussy, and Rachmaninov, this Sonata seemed not to offer very much, even though it contains several impassioned sections.
The balance of sound between the soloists is good and overall the execution is top-notch. On my stereo, the recording of the Trio is excellent; the recording of the Cello Sonata is a little bass-heavy. I don't like to pass judgment on the musical style of such a distinguished cellist as Samuel Magill, but I thought there might have been a little too much use of exaggerated glissando. Perhaps this comes from Mr. Magill's long experience in performances of operatic scores, where it lends poignance, but it seems out of place in the Cello Sonata.
"
