Alfredo Casella - Symphony No. 2; A notte alta (Francesco La Vecchia)

Information

Composer: Alfredo Casella

• Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 12
• A notte alta, for piano and orchestra, Op. 30bis

Sun Hee You, piano

Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma

Francesco La Vecchia, conductor

Date: 2010

Label: Naxos

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Review

It never rains, it pours in the classical music business. Just as Chandos releases a fine recording of Alfredo Casella’s Mahler-meets-Borodin Second Symphony, along comes another, part of a four-disc series from Naxos that will include the Third Symphony (recently released on CPO) as well. Francesco La Vecchia’s performance also is very good–and quite different from Gianandrea Noseda’s Chandos version. Tempos are a bit slower in the first two movements, not a bad thing in this thickly scored music, but while the engineering isn’t as rich in the organ-drenched final pages, textures tend to be clearer, and La Vecchia brings out more of the music’s Mahlerian grotesquerie and delight in dark, gnarly sonorities. The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma sounds a bit stressed at the first allegro, but quickly settles down to deliver an aptly heroic performance.

If you have room in your collection for only one recording of the symphony, the determining factor–aside from price–may be the coupling. Chandos has Scarlattiana, a delightful neo-classical piece that’s available elsewhere. Naxos offers A notte alta, originally a tone poem for solo piano (the score is on IMSLP) but later orchestrated. This richly atmospheric, evocative piece seems to grow out of the symphony’s most mysterious passages, and it sounds like nothing and nobody else. For this work alone, in which the highly adept Sun Hee You takes the (now) obbligato piano line, I would suggest preferring this recording. But the choice is yours, and you can’t go wrong. It’s an embarrassment of riches either way.

— David Hurwitz

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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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Francesco La Vecchia (born 10 September 1954 in Rome) is an Italian conductor. He studied with his grandfather, began performing at age nine, and later led the Boccherini Quartet. At 23, he founded the Arts Academy of Rome and started his international recording career at 27. In 2002, he became artistic director and resident conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, leading it to international acclaim with tours across major global cities. La Vecchia has conducted in renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. He has recorded extensively, particularly for Naxos, Brilliant Classics and Sony.

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