Alfredo Casella; Guido Turchi - Works for String Quartet (Quartetto di Venezia)

Information

Composer: Alfredo Casella; Guido Turchi

• Casella - Concerto per archi, Op. 40
• Casella - Cinque pezzi, Op. 34
• Turchi - Concerto breve

Quartetto di Venezia

    Andrea Vio, violin

    Alberto Battiston, violin

    Giancarlo Di Vacri, viola

    Angelo Zanin, cello

Date: 2013

Label: Naxos

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Review

Naxos’s 19th- and 20th-Century Italian Classics series has done sterling work in bringing into the spotlight forgotten repertoire by a number of Italian composers – Casella, Alfano, Ghedini and others – who largely avoided the operatic medium. This latest release is a bit of a mixed bag, in terms of repertoire at least.

Performing works by Alfredo Casella (1883–1947) and Guido Turchi (1916–2010), the Venezia Quartet opens unpromisingly with Casella’s 1923 Concerto for Strings. Apart from its second movement, alternating a lilting Siciliana with a children’s song, it’s an almost wholly pedestrian piece, and certainly no kind of vehicle to show off the quartet. Casella’s Five Pieces of three years earlier are more adventurous and here the players revel as much in the ‘barbaro’ style of the opening Prelude as in the mysteriousness of the second movement’s muted berceuse. The ‘Valse ridicule’ (third movement) is played almost deadpan, to great effect.

Closing the disc is Turchi’s Short Concerto. Written over 20 years after the two featured Casella pieces, it’s more adventurous harmonically and the players keenly convey its more troubled nature. The group is slightly let down by a dryish, almost boxy sound, though that shouldn’t deter those interested in this repertoire.

— Edward Bhesania

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Alfredo Casella (25 July 1883 – 5 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. He studied in Paris under Louis Diémer and Gabriel Fauré before returning to Italy in 1914 to teach at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome. From 1927 to 1929, he served as principal conductor of the Boston Pops. Casella played a key role in reviving interest in Antonio Vivaldi's music, notably through organizing the 1939 Vivaldi Week. A major figure in the Neoclassical revival, his own compositions were deeply influenced by earlier Italian music. His notable works include La Giara, Paganiniana, and concertos for various instruments.

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Guido Turchi (10 November 1916 – 15 September 2010) was an Italian composer. He studied at the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia, earning diplomas in piano and composition, and later excelled under Ildebrando Pizzetti. Rejecting 19th-century Italian traditions, Turchi drew on earlier sources like Gregorian chant and Renaissance madrigals, as well as contemporary European influences. His early music was influenced by Goffredo Petrassi, Béla Bartók and Paul Hindemith. Notable works include Concerto breve (1947) and Piccolo concerto notturno (1950), and Il buon soldato Svejk (1962), his only opera.

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The Quartetto di Venezia is an Italian string quartet active since 1981. They have performed at prestigious venues and festivals worldwide, including the National Gallery in Washington, UNESCO Hall in Paris, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Known for their collaborations with renowned artists like Bruno Giuranna and the Borodin Quartet, they have recorded for major labels such as Decca, Naxos and Dynamic. Their work has earned Grammy nominations and has been featured on international radio and TV networks. Their repertoire spans classical and contemporary chamber music.

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