Orchestral works by Franco Ferrara on Naxos

[alberto]

F.F. (1911-1985) was an ill-fated, short-career conductor. An obscure illness no longer allowed him to conduct public concerts. He kept on teaching conducting and composing-conducting movie scores (his own or other composers'). He left few recordings (for instance the 3 sets of Respighi Ancient Airs and Dances). I knew nothing about his music (nor any of his movie scores attained fame).
Now Naxos presents first recordings of four orchestral works (not -at least not directly) for -or from- movies, from various periods: Preludio, Fantasia tragica, Notte di tempesta, Burlesca. They sound worthy, well written, decidedly late-romantic.
The Naxos booklet is hardly informative about the four works, concentrating instead on Ferrara' life.
In particular the booklet writes about,  but leaves obscure, the relationship between "Fantasia tragica" and the -earlier- third movement of Shostakovich Symphony n.13. It is rather clear that the Ferrara work was modelled on that Shostakovich movement. Remains obscure -in the Naxos booklet- if the movie score for "The condemned of Altona" (an unsuccesful, but rich international production of 1962, after a J.P.Sartre's drama) at the same time:
-was composed by F.Ferrara "a la manière de Shostakovich"
- contained passages from Shostakovich Sym.13, mov.3 (the Naxos booklet claims only this second fact)
I think that both things are true and that Ferrara's "Fantasia tragica" is a by-product by the score for the said movie.
May anybody clearify that?
(Naxos 8.572410. F.La Vecchia, Orch. Sinf. di Roma)

[Sicmu]

It's actually borrowed from the Symphony No.11, I have this CD and I'm disappointed  : this is not only very derivative but also bland compared to the original.

[alberto]

Sorry. Twice I wrote Shostakovich Sym. n.13, miswriting n.11 (I meant n.11).