Casella Symphonies 1 & 2

[febnyc]

... and yet. Although I have really enjoyed listening to the first two Casella symphonies quite a lot over the last couple of months and really like the colour and grandeur of his canvas, I'm starting to get irritated by his inability to know when to stop. He is just so profligate with his ideas. One gets the impression that he'd rather invent something new and throw that into the mix than develop something which he has already introduced. It's both lazy and exhausting.

Mmmm...sure.  But there's something to be said for a good wallow now and then.  I believe profligate can be defined as "wildly extravagant".  Heck, to paraphrase Barry Goldwater, extravagance in the pursuit of musical enjoyment is no vice.   

[Mark Thomas]

I completely agree that a good wallow now and then is great. I hope I made it clear that I've been enjoying wallowing in Casella's First and Second. It's just that, like too much cream dulls the palate, after repeated listenings the ear (and brain) tires of the over-generous piling on of new material in such sumptuous clothing. You crave something more disciplined and ascetic.

[febnyc]

So, what to be said about the First Symphony?  Any comments?  Is it as emotional (read: profligate) as the Second?

[eschiss1]

So, what to be said about the First Symphony?  Any comments?  Is it as emotional (read: profligate) as the Second?

Side comment: the full score is available outside the EU (where it's still in copyright) for free download. (Otherwise, it was first published in 1906, and is oo(c).) ( http://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony,_Op.5_(Casella,_Alfredo))  Whether the score answers your second question depends on whether or not you're a fantastic score-reader, I suspect

Eric

[febnyc]

I am able to read a score - but not fantastically.  My question nevertheless was meant to evoke a response from someone who has heard the Casella First Symphony and would care to comment.

[Alan Howe]

Casella's 1st is cut fom very much the same cloth as his 2nd...

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=12874

If you enjoy No.2, you'll like No.1 too!

[febnyc]

Casella's 1st is cut fom very much the same cloth as his 2nd...

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=12874

If you enjoy No.2, you'll like No.1 too!

Grazie mille!

[Alan Howe]

...but with less Mahler in the mixture!

[Mark Thomas]

It's a bit tauter and less episodic, too, but these distinctions are relative with Casella.

[Alan Howe]

Even his Shostakovitch-like No.3 runs to nearly 45 minutes. But that is in a much more astringent idiom.

[febnyc]

Even his Shostakovitch-like No.3 runs to nearly 45 minutes. But that is in a much more astringent idiom.

For sure.  After hearing his smaller (Serenade for Clarinet, Italia, "Triple" Concerto) works, the first of the symphonies I picked up was the Third, on cpo.  It really didn't do a lot for me and certainly, as I wrote above, did not prepare me for the kaleidoscopic Second.

[albion]

At long last the Naxos Casella series reaches Symphony No.3, due out at the end of May, coupled with the Elegia eroica - although some members have expressed a preference for the Chandos version of the second symphony, I've greatly enjoyed listening to the previous instalments in the Naxos series and am really looking forward to this one.



Catalogue No: 8.572415



It available for pre-order from Amazon for only £3.99 - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Casella-Symphony-No-3-Elegia-Eroica/dp/B004YJZ8CI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305552448&sr=1-1

[Alan Howe]

Although there's a price difference, I'd certainly recommend consideration of the superb performance on cpo with, I think, the much superior WDR Orchestra of Cologne under Alun Francis. For once I agree with David Hurwitz...
http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=12314
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2009/Oct09/Casella_7772652.htm
MDT have it on offer at present:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/pages/search/searchresults.asp?sComposer=casella&sGeneralSearchSection=General&sAdvancedSearch_1=francis&sCatalogueNumber=&sAdvancedSearch_2=&sLabel=&sAdvancedSearch_3=&startfrom=1&ctgry=Advanced%2BSearch&serial=11051669200145080&x=86&y=13

[JeremyMHolmes]

And there is more Casella on its way from Noseda on Chandos, according to the article on the Gramophone web site about his recent appointment as Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic. Symphony No 1? No 3? Just as long as he keeps up with the Rufinatscha series as well!

http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/israel-philharmonic-orchestra-recruits-gianandrea-noseda

[alberto]

I think Chandos could rather release one or two works still unrecorded : the "Missa pro pace" (from the second wartime) and "Pagine di guerra" (frome the first wartime, unrecorded in orchestral version).
"Elegia eroica" is a dark and expressionist work (composed just after the end of first world war) according to me worthy the price of the Naxos. There is already a recording in a double CD Signum, under the -not always right- title "expressionism"- it contains, among other composers's works, Casella's "Concerto Romano" for organ, strings and brass: a substantial neo-classical work lasting more than 30').