Ildebrando Pizzetti - Songs (Hanna Hipp; Emma Abbate)

Information

Composer: Ildebrando Pizzetti

1. Sera d'inverno
2. L'annuncio
3. Cinque Liriche: I. I Pastori
4. Cinque Liriche: II. La madre al figlio lontano
5. Cinque Liriche: III. San Basilio
6. Cinque Liriche: IV. Il clefta prigione
7. Cinque Liriche: V. Passeggiata
8. Épitaphe
9. Antifona Amatoria di Basiliola
10. E il mio dolore io canto
11. Incontro di Marzo
12. Due canti d'amore: I. Adjuro vos, filiae Jerusalem
13. Due canti d'amore: II. Oscuro è il ciel
14. Scuote amore il mio cuore
15. Tre Canti Greci: I. Augurio
16. Tre Canti Greci: II. Mirologio per un bambino
17. Tre Canti Greci: III. Canzone per Ballo

Hanna Hipp, mezzo-soprano

Emma Abbate, piano

Date: 2025

Label: Resonus

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Review

Pizzetti died in 1968 so this aptly serves as a 50th anniversary reminder of his under-valued songs. It forms part of a series on Resonus anchored by pianist Emma Abbate who has recorded Castelnuovo-Tedesco with Ashley Riches and a compilation album – Respighi, Casella, Alfano and Malipiero – with Julian Perkins.

There are 17 songs in this selection, out of the 31 he composed, and they chart a progress of half a century from the very earliest years of the twentieth-century until a decade or so before his death. Pizzetti favoured contemporary poets – D’Annunzio and Ungaretti were prominent – though he ranged widely to include little-known names such as Parma-born (as was Pizzetti himself) Mario Silvani, whose Sera d’inverno gives its name to the disc title. This calm and measured setting offers a reflective Pizzetti, as does the succeeding L’annuncio. Contrasts, meanwhile, permeate Cinque Liriche. Here the incisively flowing first song, I pastori (1916) reveals a debt to impressionism, both pianistically and in the vocal line, though the powerful drama of the following song, La madre al figlio lontano, shows Pizzetti’s more abrasive, intense qualities as a song composer. Then, too, he could mine elements of the antique, as in San Basilio without sounding pastiche-flecked or could throw himself into erotic efflorescence in the final setting, Passeggiata.

For all the elements of measured reserve sometimes to be encountered here, Pizzetti is more than capable of moments of melismatic rapture – try the sublimely brief Antifona amatoria di Basiliola – or the ode to dejection that constitutes E il mio dolore io canto. The melisma is something of a favoured device, in fact, appearing in the first of the Due Canti d’amore, along with echo effects; his settings, frequently syllabic do vary when it comes to the use – here quite extravagant – of melismas. He can also be crabby. Mezzo Hanna Hipp and Abbate perform one of the three settings from another love cycle Tre Canti d’amore – it’s a modern translation of a poem by Sappho - and it turns out to be a slightly sullen affair, brief, taut and fast. Pizzetti’s air of remoteness permeates Tre Canti Greci in which the Greek folk texts, translated by Pio Bondioli, are for the most part elusive even when at their most strenuous and extrovert – though it’s true that there’s a welcoming theatricality to the end of the final setting.

Hipp sings with tonal richness and real textual sensitivity – a vital matter in so text-conscious a composer as Pizzetti - and Abbatte is supremely alert whether the piano writing is spare and allusive or more generously forthcoming. This latest Resonus disc has certainly fulfilled its brief and its excellent notes prove suitably superior.

— Jonathan Woolf

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Ildebrando Pizzetti (20 September 1880 – 13 February 1968) was an Italian composer. Born in Parma, he studied at the Parma Musical Conservatoire from 1895 to 1901. After graduation, Pizzetti dedicated his life to composing, teaching and writing about music, with a focus on theatrical works. His style blended late-Romantic lyricism, early Italian structural clarity, and tonal flexibility. A respected educator, he served as director of the Florence Conservatory (1917–23), Milan Conservatory (1923–36), and succeeded Respighi at St Cecilia (1936–58). Among his notable students was Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

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Polish lyric mezzo-soprano Hanna Hipp studied at the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy, Guildhall School and National Opera Studio. Renowned internationally, Hipp has performed major roles such as Offred in The Handmaid's Tale, Der Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro. A former member of the Royal Opera House's Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, she has appeared at prestigious venues including Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne and Seattle Opera. Her discography includes Les Troyens (Warner Classics) and La Traviata (on Opus Arte), as well as a debut recital album of Pizzetti songs.

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Emma Abbate is a Neapolitan pianist acclaimed for her work as a piano accompanist and chamber musician. After graduating from conservatoires in Naples and Rome, she studied in London at the Royal Academy of Music. She has performed widely across Europe and the US, appearing at venues like Wigmore Hall and the Royal Opera House. Abbate is known for her recordings of Italian vocal chamber music, including works by Alfano, Pizzetti and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, collaborating with singers such as Hanna Hipp and Anna Pirozzi. Based in London, she teaches at Guildhall School and works as a coach at the Royal Opera House.

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