Castelnuovo-Tedesco...1st Violin Concerto.

[Alan Howe]

VC1 is a truly lovely - indeed juicily gorgeous - piece. About as romantic a violin concerto as one can imagine. Although it would be an anachronism, it could be titled "The Hollywood Concerto"...

[eschiss1]

and we don't want to cause misunderstandings between Corigliano and Castelnuovo-Tedesco('s estate) by inserting that "The"...

[Alan Howe]

 

[DennisS]

This thread immediately caught my eye. Already an admirer of Castelnuovo-Tadesco's music ( I have his 2 piano concertos, his guitar concerto and his violin concerto no 2), I straight away put this CD on my wish list. I did not purchase the disc immediately as I already had a large number of CDs on order and in addition, I already had a very fine version of  his VC no 2 (Itzhak Perlman and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin Mehta). Then 2 weeks ago, I could wait no longer and immediately ordered the CD. Since its arrival, I have listened to the VC no 1( Concerto italiano for violin and orchestra) at least half a dozen times and I must say that I too think that this is a marvellous work which is fast becoming one of my favourite VCs. Indeed, I already prefer it to VC 2! For those who don't know VC2, in can be described as, and I quote "an impassioned work of biblical character and inspiration with an almost cinematic sweep to it". As has already been stated in this thread, VC 1 also has a very pronounced cinematic feel to it. I felt this even before learning that C-T,forced to leave Italy because of the war, moved to America and was initially based in New York for about a  year before moving to Hollywood in 1940 . From 1940 until 1956, C-T wrote a tremendous amount of film music and some sources credit him with having worked on as many as 250 movies, although he did not always receive screen credit! Listening  to his 2 VCs, I can readily understand why he was so in demand in Hollywood!!!VC1 comprises 3 movements, with the opening movement as long as movements 2 and 3 combined. The first movement opens with a delightful melody, leading to a long lyrical passage. At 6:15 into the movement , this theme takes on almost a "swing" element to the music ( interestingly, I detected what seemed to me almost the same theme given this swing treatment at 0:40 in movement 3 of the second VC –  but not being a musicologist, I leave it to the experts to determine whether elements of VC1 are reprised in VC2!). The first movement continues with some dense but very striking orchestration, becoming quite dramatic before returning to a long lyrical passage, followed by a long cadenza, culminating with a big dramatic finish for both violin and orchestra. Movement 2, as the Arioso title indicates, is a lovely, song-like movement, rhapsodic and very beautiful with many delightful orchestral touches. Limpid, delicate and of great beauty, this movement is also  not without its moments of drama. Movement 3 effectively closes the the VC on a very satisfyingly emotional high, albeit a little abruptly.With a rondo feel to the music, the movement is dance-like, and again has many lyrical passages. The VC is all too quickly over! I particularly appreciated the playing of Tianwa Yang, who  produces an absolutely beautiful tone throughout both works. I can well understand why this violinist is widely recognized as one of the outstanding rising stars on the world classical music scene.

[alberto]

There is also a Concerto for guitar and orch.n.2 and one for two guitars and orch.

[eschiss1]

not to mention a serenade for guitar and orchestra (Op.118), a harp concertino (Op.93), a concerto da camera (Op.146) with oboe, a cello concerto (without Op.), among other concertante works...

[DennisS]

Alberto and Eschiss thank you for mentioning other works by C-T. The list of works I referred to in the post above was never an exhaustive one as I know there is a lot of music by C-T out there. I was merely referring to CDs I had purchased,i.e. works that I was specifically interested in. I will though follow up on your suggestions.

[eschiss1]

some of the ones I mention are probably still unrecorded, mentioned in the guide to Castelnuovo-Tedesco's papers (with worklist) at the Library of Congress.