Sgambati Symphony No.1 from Naxos

[Alan Howe]

Should be one of the issues of the year - due out on 3rd December:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/sgambati-symphony-no-1-cola-roma-francesco-la-vecchia-naxos.html

[eschiss1]

yay, finally a full-orchestra recording! I have the recording that was released of the reduction and like it... so I look forward to this.

[Jonathan]

Excellent news!  Roll on symphony no.2?

[Alan Howe]

Of course, the symphony has been recorded before...
http://www.amazon.fr/Sgambati-Symphonie-Concerto-piano-mineur/dp/B00007J4XA/ref=sr_1_20?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1344506316&sr=1-20
...but not particularly well, so the newcomer should be welcomed with open arms.
The indications are that No.2 and No.3 (the "Sinfonia epitalamia" or "Epitalamio sinfonico)" will also be recorded.

[Alan Howe]

This is, by the work, a really striking work. Here's some more info from Naxos' website:
http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.573007&catNum=573007&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English#

[rosflute]

I am happy to say that Francesco's orchestra has purchased the score and parts of Sgambati's 2nd symphony from me ahead of the planned recording

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Excellent news all round. The Naxos disc already has a secure place on my 'orders' list. For those who want a foretaste of the Symphony there is a very pleasing transcription (by the composer) of the Serenata played by Pietro Spada in his collection of Sgambati's piano works.

With reference to the Naxos notes, it is interesting to ponder on the reasons why Beethoven's 3rd and 7th Symphonies weren't (apparently) heard in Italy until over half a century after their composition and first performances elsewhere across Europe. The cultural history of 19th century Europe is always far more complex than one might suppose.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Roz, for confirming that Sgambati 1 will be followed by No.2! Marvellous news.

[Alan Howe]

Excerpts from the forthcoming Naxos recording of No.1 can be heard here:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Naxos/8573007#listen
These reveal a much more expansive approach than on the one previous recording. As I said before, this'll be one of the CD releases of the year...

[Alan Howe]

After the recording I'm used to, this is a very expansive account indeed, especially in the first movement, but also in the slow movement and finale (remember this is a five-movement work featuring a very Italian-sounding fourth movement Serenata). However, with the proviso that the Rome SO's violin section isn't particularly alluring (for me the most common failing of 2nd-division orchestras), the piece is well played and convincingly presented overall. Certainly its incidental beauties (and there are many) come out in lovely fashion, especially in the almost operatic slow movement. The style? Well, it's an amalgam of Italianate lyricism with writing of a distinctly New German feel (think Liszt and occasionally Wagner). Of Brahms there's not a trace.

I really hope that this CD will be bought in numbers because the music is first-rate. I recommend it to all lovers of melodious romantic-era symphonies.

[DennisS]

I have just received an email from Amazon saying that the Sgambati CD has been dispatched. I can't wait for it to arrive!

[alberto]

I have not yet got the Naxos Cd. I love the Symphony (at first through a very domestic recording of a radio broadcast) since decades. BTW the Symphony  in practice is never performed even in Italy (the Martucci symphonies had and have slightly better luck).
In the music handbooks Sgambati and Martucci (if listed at all, in one or two lines) are presented like "twins" (I would say like Parry and Stanford according to the handbook commponplaces).
Indeed their Symphonies (as far as I know) suggest two different and indipendent musicians.
I have nothing to object to Alan's reflection (surely no Brahmsian heritage, which exists in Martucci).
I would add that IMHO the Sgambati First (compared to the Martucci First and Second) appears both aiming to a kind of nationally inflected idiom, both relatively light.
For me in particular the third and fifth movements (while not loose, and well constructed) remind a bit the world of Massenet Scenes Alsatiennes (I mean as a compliment to Sgambati). 

[Alan Howe]

David Hurwitz got this right:

Giovanni Sgambati (1841-1914) was a disciple and friend of Liszt, and one of the first Italian composers to focus on creating instrumental music. His First Symphony dates from 1881 or thereabouts, and it's a masterpiece. Containing five movements arranged in a perfect "arch" form (fast, slow, fast, slow, fast), there's nothing that sounds quite like it in the entire 19th century literature. The scoring, for standard forces plus two harps, piccolo, but no extra percussion or other exotica, is pellucidly clear and "alive". It wouldn't surprise me a bit if the fourth-movement Serenata, for small forces, acquired independent popularity. Furthermore, the outer movements really move; they have no dead spots and no single movement outstays its welcome.

Sample ... the melody from the second movement (Andante mesto) for strings (initially) and harps. Here is true Italian lyricism in a symphonic context—just lovely. There is absolutely no reason why this piece should not become as popular as the contemporaneous symphonies of Dvorák, Brahms, or Franck—it's that distinctive. Cola di Rienzo, on the other hand, is a bit more of an acquired taste. Predating the symphony by about a decade and a half, this overture on the subject of Rienzi (to use Wagner's better known designation) is nearly 20 minutes long and, while attractive moment by moment, it doesn't hold together in the same way that the symphony does. Still, it reveals a composer of considerable seriousness and ability, while the confident scoring foreshadows the music to come.

The performances are very good. Francesco La Vecchia shapes the symphony quite effectively, choosing tempos that convey the music's easy-going energy and winning lyricism with complete confidence. As with previous releases in this series, the Rome Symphony Orchestra plays quite well, especially the woodwinds, who have a lot of important solo work. The engineering, however, is not the best from this source. It has a sort of "empty auditorium" resonance that's particularly unflattering to the violins and cloudy in tuttis. Still, don't let that put you off. The music is too attractive miss.
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Drilldown?name_id1=11073&name_role1=1&comp_id=290075&bcorder=15&name_id=204586&name_role=3