Elisabetta Brusa - Symphony No. 2; Symply Largo (Daniele Rustioni)

Information

Composer: Elisabetta Brusa

• Symphony No. 2, Op. 22
• Simply Largo, Op. 21

Ulster Orchestra

Daniele Rustioni, conductor

Date: 2020

Label: Naxos

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Review

The Italian composer Elisabetta Brusa is that modern rarity, a convincing 21st-century symphonist with a powerful stylistic voice and some urgent substance to communicate. The classical structure she adopts in her Symphony No. 2 is handled with rigour, offering strong foundations upon which she builds a crunchy harmonic language with more than a few nods towards bitonality and polytonality. A former pupil of Peter Maxwell Davies and Hans Keller, among others, Brusa has a strong pedigree and an individual approach that pays ample dividends in these world-premiere recordings.

The symphony, Brusa says in her booklet note, took ten years (2000-10) to write due to the ‘vicissitudes’ of fate. Although it is an abstract work, it seems easy to imagine that the five harsh, hammered-out chords which open the first movement, and batter down the more lyrical music later, form a fate motif of sorts. The work follows a traditional four-movement format with slow movement placed second, and the orchestration is rewardingly colourful. Some of the instrumental writing is really challenging, the proliferation of high, loud brass in particular, and the Ulster Orchestra carries some of these elements off with conviction. Unfortunately the strings do not always match up with confidence or intensity of tone, while the balance of both orchestra and sound quality could perhaps be stronger. The short Simply Largo for string orchestra, however, gives its players a chance to shine brighter: here the richness of Brusa’s language and the expressive lament the music crystallises speak compellingly to the listener.

— Jessica Duchen

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Elisabetta Brusa (born 1954 in Milan) is an Italian-British composer. A graduate of the Milan Conservatory, she later studied in England with Peter Maxwell Davies and Hans Keller. She won First Prize at the 1982 Washington International Competition for Composition and received fellowships from the Fromm Music Foundation and the Fulbright Commission to study at Tanglewood. From 1988 to 1990, she was a resident at the MacDowell Colony, where she wrote her First Symphony. Brusa taught composition and orchestration at the Milan Conservatory (1985–2018). Naxos has released five volumes of her music.

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Daniele Rustioni (born 18 April 1983 in Milan) is an Italian conductor known. A graduate of the Milan Conservatory and London's Royal Academy of Music, he began at Teatro alla Scala's children's chorus and has since held major posts, including Music Director of Opéra National de Lyon and the Ulster Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony. Honored as "Best Conductor" at the 2022 International Opera Awards, he has led over 70 operas worldwide. In 2024, France named him Chevalier des Arts et Lettres for his cultural achievements.

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