Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco - Violin Concerto No. 3; String Trio; Sonata (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

• Concerto No. 3 for Violin and Piano, Op. 102
• Trio for Violin, Viola and Cello, Op. 147
• Sonata for Violin and Cello, Op. 148

Davide Alogna, violin

Federico Stassi, viola

Roberto Trainini, cello

Fiorenzo Pascalucci, piano

Date: 2018

Label: Naxos

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Review

Cut off from his Italian/Jewish roots and culture, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco once referred to his experience of emigration to America as like ‘a dress rehearsal for death’. The music presented here, composed in the decade following his flight from Fascist Italy in 1939, tells an exactly opposite story. Conservative in style, these pieces are written with such lyricism and enjoyment for the task that their dimensions can get a little out of hand: the Sonata for Violin and Cello, one of numerous chamber works sparked into life by congenial musical gatherings in Los Angeles, bubbles away for nearly 35 minutes. Since the composer’s day job, aside from teaching, was writing brief cues for Hollywood films, you can understand his itch to luxuriate.

Even when material is stretched thinly, the lyrical flow in these works – all unpublished, and previously unrecorded – remains irresistible, especially in these passionate Italian performances, captured in resonant acoustics. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s command of instrumental resources is always impressive. The varied string registers are imaginatively exploited; while the unusual ‘concerto’ written for Jascha Heifetz, who never played it, easily conjures a grandiloquent orchestral tapestry, cadenza and all, just from the gestures of violin and piano. The work’s finale, spiced with a few jazz rhythms, marks the only point where the American scene enters; the entire piece was designed as a musical recreation of the composer’s experiences as an emigrant sailing into New York in 1939. Otherwise, traditions of the old world rule. Deep in his heart, his musical heart, Castelnuovo-Tedesco never left Italy at all.

— Geoff Brown

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Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 — 15 March 1968) was an Italian composer. A student of Ildebrando Pizzetti, he gained recognition in the 1920s but was forced to emigrate to the U.S. in 1939 due to Mussolini's anti-Semitic laws. Settling in Hollywood, he composed concertos for piano, violin, cello and guitar, and wrote overtures for 12 Shakespeare plays. He also set Shakespeare's poems and sonnets to music and composed two Shakespearean operas. Castelnuovo-Tedesco's chamber and piano works are noted for their symphonic scope, while his vocal music reflects the melodic tradition of the Italian school.

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Davide Alogna is an Italian violinist who graduated from the Conservatorio "G. Verdi" in Como and earned advanced diplomas in violin, chamber music and composition in Paris and Siena. He has performed in prestigious venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Teatro alla Scala and the Berliner Philharmonie, collaborating with leading orchestras, soloists and conductors. Alogna has recorded for different labels including Naxos, Brilliant Classics, Amadeus, Velut Luna, Phoenix Classics, and been featured on major radio stations. He currently teaches violin at the Conservatorio "L. Marenzio" in Brescia.

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