MALIPIERO

[semloh]

I see that Gianfranco MALIPIERO has been mentioned in other threads as an unsung 20thC symphonist, and I would be interested to hear your reactions to his compositions.

I am utterly astounded that he repudiated his works composed prior to his 'Damascus experience' of attending the premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in 1913. His Sinfonie del Silenzio e de La Morte (1909-10) is utterly beautiful, full of variety, powerful, charming and skillful. 

Listening immediately afterwards to his 1st & 2nd Symphonies (1933 & 1936) it is clear that he has begun to sacrifice these qualities in pursuit of his post-Stravinskian vision. The 1st is still a fine work, but the 2nd less so for me, and I expect the 3rd continues the drift in the primitivist direction, that rhythm will increasingly crowd out melody, dissonance will supplant harmony, and I'll be increasingly lost! 

I know it's a matter of taste, but can anyone advise me otherwise, before I invest in more Malipiero? 

[alberto]

I think that the recent Naxos 8.572409 (Impressioni dal vero, 3 sets; Pause del Silenzio, 2 sets) is absolutely the Malipiero "must".
And a Cd which gives the possibility to follow the way of the composer since Debussy influences to more than moderately modern, but very , very personal utterance (and, anyway, the possibility of stopping oneself).
For me it is maybe the most revelatory record of the year (but it is, obviously, matter of taste).

[semloh]

I think that the recent Naxos 8.572409 (Impressioni dal vero, 3 sets; Pause del Silenzio, 2 sets) is absolutely the Malipiero "must". ...............

Interestingly, Alberto, at least according to Wiki, it was his Impressioni dal vero that Malipiero picked out as his only pre-Stravinsky piece of merit, and Pause del Silenzio as one of his most important works. So that Cd does sound like a must! 

I actually don't mind the 2nd Symphony, by the way - I'm just sorry to lose that lovely shimmering beauty that I hear in his early work.

[Dundonnell]

I agree with alberto

The recent Naxos disc is superb. These early works by Malipiero do show him to have been a great composer. The unfortunate thing about the later symphonies, many of which are extremely terse, is that the playing on the Marco Polo/Naxos discs by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra sounds tentative ands under-rehearsed.

[erato]

I agree with alberto

The recent Naxos disc is superb. These early works by Malipiero do show him to have been a great composer. The unfortunate thing about the later symphonies, many of which are extremely terse, is that the playing on the Marco Polo/Naxos discs by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra sounds tentative ands under-rehearsed.

I second everythin you say. How nice if Naxos were to extend their Italian classics series to include new recordings of the Malipiero cycle.