I'd like to put in a plug for Fr. Lorenzo Pelosi. The Italian label Bongiovanni has done yeoman's work in bringing the composition of this very unjustly neglected composer to light. I was first introduced to his music via his choral works. He was a Catholic priest and wrote many very beautiful masses in a traditional manner. As I explored the recordings further I then discovered his chamber works which I also found charming and beautiful, well crafted, memorable melodies. Finally I discovered his large scale choral works (there are several large impressive oratorios) and his orchestral works and concertos.
I think he is one of the most unjustly underrated Italian composers of the 20th century and deserves a wider audience.
For some reason I don't quite understand only about a third of the Bongiovanni discs of his work are available from the main retailers (Amazon, CDConnection, ArkivMusic), but this Italian internet retailer seems to have the entire catalog:
http://www.ibs.it/cd/ser/serpge.asp?ty=exa&x=25137 (http://www.ibs.it/cd/ser/serpge.asp?ty=exa&x=25137)
If anyone else is familiar with Perosi, I would love to hear of your impressions.
I've tried Perosi, And tried, and tried. But I fall asleep every time at his sickly sentimentality and rambling inconsequentiality. Oh dear - sorry. Evidently not my cup of tea...
It's nice to see a reference to this composer - so obscure and hardly known at all.
I have seven of the Bongiovanni discs and very much enjoy them all. The orchestral suites are evocative and romantic and the chamber music is delightful. They all are imbued with a sort of "Italianism" - very attractive.
Perosi's piano concerto is fine, too.
Perosi is better known as a catholic liturgical composer (he was in fact the Music Director of the Sixtine Chapel in Rome) but I find him best in his chamber music. As John said, his chamber music is well crafted, memorably tuneful, varied and inventive, and surely a surprise for those that only have heard his masses and oratorios. His chamber music style is similar to that of his contemporaries Respighi and Wolf-Ferrari. It is also astonishing that the main body of it (16 String Quartets, 4 Piano Quintets and 3 String Trios) was composed in the interval of just three years (1928-1931).
However, the main drawback (and what a drawback!) is the third-rate rendition of all these works by the so called "Ensemble Perosi" in the Bongiovanni label (the only recording available so far). It is not a question of the performance being stylish or not (which might be a matter of taste). It is just that these guys go badly out of tune far too often. Thus, the greatness of this music can be only envisaged rather than actually perceived through these recordings. This problem (poor sound and shabby performances) is recurrent with Bongiovanni, making it a sort of Jekyll and Hyde label. One the one hand, you may think that it is better to have these deficient recordings than nothing. On the other hand, the release of the works may surely deter others from recording the same repertoire (not specially profitable from the economic point of view) thereby stealing the opportunity of a decent version by other labels that do things better. So, I cannot join an indiscriminate applause to them.
For those of you liking the music of Perosi, I would like to bring to your attention also the music of his successor as Music Director of the Sixtine Chapel, Domenico Bartolucci (1917-2008). He is much less known than Perosi but wrote music in the same vein. He produced also much church music but, as Perosi, had also a penchant for symphonic and chamber music. I heartily recommend a CD containing his Sinfonia Rustica (a beautiful symphony with some surprising Nielsenesque turns) and Piano Concerto (with a final movement that is a real joy) as well as another CD of chamber music with his beautiful Sonata en SOL for violin and piano, and a piano trio. These CDs have been issued by the Italian label Capella Sistina and can only be found at specialized Italian shops (such as the website mentioned by John). The sound and performances are not first class but still decent.
lol ;D I wouldn't worry too much about Bongiovanni's recordings deterring other labels from releasing Perosi. After all, time and again we see hitherto obscure - or even unrecorded - composers suddenly appear on two labels simulatneously. It happens all the time.
Personally, I repeat that I easily can tolerate - and enjoy - the Bongio CDs, regardless of their perceived shortcomings. The music speaks for itself, anyway. Don't be too critical and thereby miss hearing what are now, largely, the only extant discs of Perosi's attractive works.
Old thread, I know. but much of Perosi's recorded music can be found at Radio me la suda.
Amazing how many of his huge oratorios have been recorded, if only at live performances.
J
One of the most justifiably neglected composers IMHO...
Well, someone here likes him, at least, and some of his contemporaries like Puccini held him in high regard. I don't know enough of his work to make an informed personal assessment, but I suppose it comes down to personal taste. I was very surprised to find the lengthy and quite impressive orchestral prelude to his oratorio La Risurrezione di Lazzaro on a ca. 1910 12" double-sided Fonotipia disc, quite sensitively performed by the Musica della Regia Marina Italiana (Royal Italian Navy Band) under Seba Matacena. The band transcription seemed colourful, though suitably sombre overall, and it was certainly an intricate and intriguing piece. I thought it an unusual work to find its way into the band repertoire even in Italy; then again, this group recorded something like 300 sides for Fonotipia between 1907 and 1911, running the gamut from maxixes to Wagner (including the Forest Murmurs from Siegfried) to the overture to Emile Jonas's incredibly silly operetta Le canard à trois becs. A 'catholic' repertoire indeed.
I think that "sickly sentimentality and rambling inconsequentiality" is an unfair and inappropiate description of the chamber music (and I don't know any of Perosi's music apart from the Bongiovanni discs of the quartets).
Part of the problem is of course the quality of those recordings. If you manage to 'hear through' those indequate recordings it is possible to imagine the music in far more effective performances, and music of a perhaps modest but certainly pleasing quality.
The real problem though is that quite astonishing developments are happening in the musical world of the 1920s, and Perosi, for good or ill, seems wholly unaffected by the music around him. Imagine being at a gathering of excited people, and over there in the corner is Perosi delivering a long monologue all to himself. If you stopped your ears to all the cackle around you I'm sure you would find Perosi a perfectly competent and fluent speaker, and certainly producing stuff of a reasonable quality. However in the whole scheme of things it just isn't terribly interesting because he seems to have no awareness of what else is going on in the room. (Apologies for the rather clumsy analogy!)
In my view Perosi is at his best in the two piano quintets in the Bongiovanni discs (composed as far as I remember in the early 1930s?)
All four of the piano quintets are available. I agree, they are among his better pieces. I also like the 1916 Piano Concerto.
Jerry
We at Edition Silvertrust have recordings of String Quartet Nos.1-10, a String Trio, a String Quintet (2 Vla),and 2 of the 4 Piano Quintets. I do not know what else, chamber music-wise, has been recorded. But our researches have determined that there is a lot which has never been published or recorded.
We offer his String Quartet No.3 which Ricordi agreed to print and reprint. I have played it many times and the melodies are wonderful and though there are several episodes which are not particularly suited to the string quartets style and are very hard to pull off, nonetheless, it is a good work and one which does not have the numerous problems that most of the others have. A pity one is never going to hear it performed live (except possibly in Italy). Of course, one could say that about the works of many composers.
Talk about a Vielschreiber, these things just rolled off his pen like an assembly line production. In 1928 alone, I think he produced eight string quartets and not surprisingly there are techical and other problems and no doubt explains why Ricordi initially refused to publish most of his chamber music. He certainly did not take the pains he took with his masses and other religious works. If he had been as slip shod as he was with his chamber music, the pope would have fired him as Perpetual Director of the Sistine Choir.
He is by all accounts a very interesting character.
I always liked Perosi's uncomplicated and sincere music. During my LP life period I had all these LPs with liturgical works issed by the Angelicum company, revealing nice interpretations and sound. There was a lovely Requiem Mass, if I am not wrong. And thanks to this thread I discover right now that Angelicum has reissued some masses and oratorios on two 4-CD albums!
I absolutely can't abide his music. It's sentimental and has no backbone. And it goes on and on and on. Not for me!
Well, for some people much Wagner and Mahler are, to use Calvin Trillin's phrase about pretentious "Continental Cuisine" in places like Kansas, "Stuff-Stuff with Heavy" and they certainly can go "on and on and on", but I wouldn't undertake to say so...or should I? Ehhhhh...no. ;)
Why not say so? All reasoned opinions are welcome here!
;) 8)
Oh dear, he also wrote 14 string quartets. Some people reported he had frequent bouts of madness...
Our research has determined that he wrote at least 16 string quartets. Also, 3 string trios, 3 string quintets, 4 piano quintets, and numerousl sonatas and suites for various instruments. Unlike his religious music, Perosi made no great effort to promote his chamber music and to have it performed and very few pieces were published and needless to say performed.
By way of an apologetic digression on the "Stuff-Stuff with Heavy" and "on and on and on" musical fronts, my tastes are individual, and voicing contrary opinions about the "greats", no matter how mildly expressed, can get you in a lot of trouble around the Eastman School of Music. It's been a hard road for me here. That said, the one small piece of Perosi in band transcription I heard didn't seem to excite either ire or passion, but certainly a slight interest, which may very well diminish if I investigate his music further. As for "great" composers I looked forward to when I was young and was monumentally disappointed in when I encountered them in performance, I think the all time winner for me was Richard Strauss in his operas. ELEKTRA seemed interminable after its fortissimo D unison at the opening, which is all I remember after forcing it out of my mind - it's a loooooooong 1-acter, and I do recall getting madder and madder as it didn't seem to ever stop - and I remember sitting through ROSENKAVALIER with indifference wondering what everyone saw in it until in the last act my father, a reasonably seasoned operagoer who had not yet encountered Strauss, unconsciously expostulated (in a whisper - he was a courteous man) "He's ending it again!" Maybe I'll come back to Strauss's operas eventually, once I exhaust other items on the menu. Of Wagner, I generally take Rossini's famous opinion, and it is a little fun to say to dedicated Wagnerians that my favourite Wagner operas are DAS LIEBESVERBOT and RIENZI, and the urtext FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER that was recorded alongside Dietsch's VAISSEAU FANTOME, which I also enjoyed. (I will confess that the last time I listened closely to RIENZI during a five-hour drive it did seem slightly ham-fisted at times; an essay in Meyerbeerian style without Meyerbeer's kaleidoscopic skill. I never get bored in Meyerbeer operas, which statement may be taken down in evidence against me if you choose.)
Perosi reminds me a bit of Joseph Marx - on and on - but I really do like Marx's music. Better than Perosi, I think. But then Perosi's works for orchestra alone are few and far between so any kind of comparison seems difficult to make.
J
Marx's music has backbone...
Yes, Alan, definitely!
In any case, Marx's music is genuinely symphonic and elaborately constructed. He knew Respighi personally and even wrote Respighi's orbituary in 1936. Marx's "Castelli Romani" is a real homage to Respighi. Perosi is a much more "esoteric" and simple affair :-)
I would spend just one word in praise of Perosi (not pretending at all that he had been an important composer).
But I like the three orchestral Suites which I know : Tortona, Torino, Milano (there are others). Each of them is dedicated to an Italian town. They are in no way programmatic and contain no descriptive or folkish element, and have no connection with the city of the title.
The performances of the available recordings, on Bongiovanni label, are modest. The suite "Torino" I own in a second recording by the (no longer existing) Nuva Era label and it is not better.
I don't know much of his vocal works. I remember to have attended many years ago the performances of a short cantata and of a short oratorio, conducted both by Gianandrea Gavazzeni, who was the last advocate of fame (so far) of Perosi.
I recently discovered Perosi and was intrigued enough to buy the only english-language biography, and reviewed it (Don Perosi by Leonardo Campra) elsewhere thusly:
"Ciampra's book is a pioneering study, being the first in english, of an pretty obscure name in classical music these days which makes its shortcoming all the more regrettable. Perosi (1872-1956) was a Catholic priest who had great success with a succession of oratorios as well as much other religious and secular music, although he never completed an opera. Astonishingly popular, especially on the continent in his day, Perosi was also a leading light in the movement supporting more traditional music, with sincerity of sentiment, within the church as well as friends with such figures as Mascagni, Puccini, Wolf-Ferrari and the like. HIs music comprises an interesting mix of a Gregorian plain chant style with some operatic features and deserves reassessment and greater popularity. As it is the existing CD releases are fairly hard to acquire, his work rarely revived in an age of different tastes and where modernism has long passed him by.
This book attempts an overview of a career which included two or three notable episodes, such as Perosi's interaction with Mussolini and artistic politics within the Catholic church. Not least was a mysterious episode in 1922 when the composer apparently suffered a breakdown of some sort. The suspicion is that this was manufactured, or exaggerated, by a church uncomfortable with Perosi's views on priestly celibacy and other issues. He was later rehabilitated.
Ciampa's work is a sincere, if frustrating, attempt to pull everything into context. The writer (who is also a composer and choral director) clearly has an affinity for his subject and has done some new and interesting research. But the result sufferers from wandering too far from a strict consideration of his subject, covering a whole supporting cast to a degree which makes one wish that Perosi's work and views were given greater and more detailed consideration. There is no chronology of the musical workaholic Perosi's life for instance and, even more of a lack, no attempt at a list of works either. Perosi wrote, apparently, 3-4000 pieces. While the oratorios which are the composer's main achievement are given (less than detailed) attention, his orchestral and chamber works are covered in less than a page! There is a tiny amount of music analysis to be found anywhere here, and one longs for critical analysis and reports from long-gone concerts, rather than the number of elderly panegyrics we are presented with - which may be pleasing to the composer's remaining admirers, but really do nothing for the interested reader, seeking an authoritative guide to the music, other than take up space. Instead we have rather a rambling account of an obscure career, and are treated to such illustrations as the sunset seen from the author's home - although there are plenty of others it must be said which are more relevant. In short, a useful work, but surely only a stop gap until more heavy spadework is done by a dedicated academic. Perosi is a middle ranking composer who shined in his special field, and whose time in the sun really ought to come again."
I have managed to download a dozen or so CD filled with his works, mostly vocal and some concerti and have been modestly impressed. Even though his is not a major or ground breaking talent, there is still something which brings me back to him in a way that I can't say is true of other composers of similar stature. I say this even though I am not in the least religious and so Perosi's most significant output would be thought to be of less interest! His long-breathed structures in the oratorios and often languid pacing reminds me a little of Schmidt, while the charming string tutti which begins the first violin concerto say alone ought to be enough to show that he is more than a one-trick pony. The CDs which have been issued imho are less convincing with the performances of the chamber music and one would hope that the gentle revival in his music would bring alternatives issues in due course.
This is the first post from a newby here. Good to know you all.
I enjoy Perosi's oratorios, I have no trouble at all with his "sickly sentimentality".
The Italian monthly magazine Amadeus has just (issue of February '17) released (together with the magazine itself) a Cd with the Piano Concerto (1916) and the Orchestral Suite n.2 "Venezia" (1907).
I didn't know these particular two works (already recorded by Bongiovanni).
Anyway I have always known various orchestral works by Perosi in modest performances (Bongiovanni and, in one case, Nuova Era labels).
The new Cd (with the Orchestra of the Teatro Regio, Torino; conductor Donato Renzetti) appears IMHO absolutely in a much better class and allows a better assessment of this music (which, personally, I find enjoyable, even if a bit long-winded and loosely constructed).
Thanks, Alberto, for this very interesting news.
I have tried to order the magazine at Amadeus' website; unfortunately, their registration form requires an Italian tax number of some sort which I (obviously) don't have, so I can't complete the order.
Something must have changed. A couple of years ago some of us successfully downloaded Sgambati's second symphony from the magazine, for around 7 Euros.
see http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5531.msg58932.html#msg58932 (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5531.msg58932.html#msg58932)
I can't find a link to a download on their website.
I have both versions of Sgambati's Symphony No. 2, the one conducted by Francesco Attardi and the other one by Ola Rudner.
Well Alan, I couldn't exactly remember what I had done to get the Sgambati, but I played around with the site and eventually managed to download the Perosi concerto for 7 Euros.
On the home page (http://www.amadeusonline.net/ (http://www.amadeusonline.net/), bottom right, you will see four options. Click on the second one down ((LA RIVISTA DIGITALE). This takes you to a page where you will see a selection of editions you can buy. The one you want is no. 327 (currently top left as it is the most recent).
Click on "ACQUISTA ORA" in blue below it. This takes you to your basket, you then click CASSA and you can pay in a variety of ways (I used PayPal). At some point the site logged me in (I must have registered last time). I was then able to click on a download icon and download a Zip file containing the music. You can download the file 100 times.
As far as I can remember this is what happened - I didn't want to go beyond CASSA again in case I bought a second copy.
I hope this works for you.
David
If anybody wants the other interpretation (Rudner), or the one in question (Attardi), I can send MP3 or .wav files to anybody via wetranfer, asking me for this via messenger. I have cancelled my old upload of the Rudner version because from time to time I must make space for new uploads in my Mediafire space.
Again, I simply can't complete the registration process, so I give up...
For those of us who dig Perosi, I see that Bongiovonni has released a recording of his Suite #2 - Venezia and some other shorter goodies...... long work, just short of 40 minutes!
J
I'm planning on listening to a few oratorios by Lorenzo Perosi, and from this thread I get the impression that the reception of Perosi's music is, well... mixed.
Still, I'm intrigued by this composer, mostly because of the fact that he mainly composed oratorios and masses instead of operas. (Yes, I'm aware that's kind of an easy generalization ;))
I'm trying to find out which composers in a way may have influenced Perosi in his music, but so far it's been a bit difficult to pinpoint any.
What are your ideas on this subject?
Perosi was the exponent of the so-called "movimento Ceciliano", resuscitating Gregorian Chant and ancient sacral polyphony. See my earlier postings. He influenced a lot of sacred music composers, but I fear they are all obscure Italian ones, except:
Marco Enrico Bossi. He wrote a beautiful and monumental Organ Concerto. He dedicated it to Sgambati.
https://imslp.org/wiki/Organ_Concerto,_Op.100_(Bossi,_Marco_Enrico)
(no full score)
There once was a Bongiovanni CD:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7eSUet2iXefyFNbKqCibB1
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/42019--bossi-m-e-organ-concerto-in-a-minor-op-100/browse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-APpDkmS6ZA
This is more interesting:
https://www.amazon.de/Works-Organ-Orchestra-Meldau-Enrico/dp/B01MTM7VVD/ref=sr_1_9?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=marco+enrico+bossi&qid=1559198222&s=music&sr=1-9
This has his Concerto, his Concertstück and the Fantasia Sinfonica. Very recommendable.
The Italian label Tactus produced a CD edition (as far as I remember 13 volumes!!) of Bossi's complete organ works. MDG also started a series...
Bossi also composed a Requiem for mixed chorus and organ:
https://www.amazon.de/Missa-Pro-Defunctis-Op-83-Orgelwerke/dp/B000EDWL5U/ref=sr_1_41?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=marco+enrico+bossi&qid=1559198450&s=music&sr=1-41
There are also some vocal items:
https://www.amazon.de/Verschiedene-Werke-Sopran-Violine-Orgel/dp/B0001EJ78Q/ref=sr_1_43?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=marco+enrico+bossi&qid=1559198450&s=music&sr=1-43
Bossi's Piano Trios were issued by Hungaroton:
https://www.amazon.de/Klavietrios-Op-107-Hungarian-Piano-Trio/dp/B0009S4VS0/ref=sr_1_42?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&keywords=marco+enrico+bossi&qid=1559198450&s=music&sr=1-42
Very interesting are his six "Intermezzi Goldoniani" for string orchestra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buL3sNvAlS0
There is a (deleted) CD by the label Agora - now an Amazon Marketplace item.
Gustav Mahler conducted these Intermezzi at Carnegie Hall in February 1910.
Here is an audio selection:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buL3sNvAlS0
Bossi (a pupil of Ponchielli) also composed some operas! Mortari, Ghedini and Malipiero figured among his pupils.
Bossi died in 1925, on board of the steamer from New York to Le Havre which brought him back from his USA tour. He was an acclaimed organ virtuoso.
(Another composer who died on board of a ship was Enrique Granados. That happened in 1916; whilst crossing the Channel, the ship was torpedoed by a German U-Boot. The composer was on his way to the USA, to give a private piano recital at the White House. He was accompanied by his wife ...)
(Perhaps a suggestion to open a separate thread on Bossi?)
------
In the Italian city of Tortona (Perosi's birthplace), there is an "Accademia Musicale Lorenzo Perosi", organising a regular Perosi Festival (not sure if it is still running).
They had a website, but it does not work anymore.
The 2010 program was:
https://festivalperosiano.wordpress.com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/festivalperosiano/5599956752
In 1997 they performed Perosi's complete chamber music there.
Marco Enrico Bossi also had a son, Renzo Rinaldo, who became a composer. He is mostly remembered for the composition of an Opera on the libretto of Giovanni Pascoli (Nell'anno mille).
Renzo Bossi is (or was) present on disc.
The Agorà Cd, above quoted by Hadrianus about the "Intermezzi Goldoniani" by his father Marco Enrico, contains also a set of "Ricreazioni" of music of M.E. Bossi and a set of "Ricreazioni" of ancient italian music.IMHO i find it a playful record.
However a Bongiovanni Cd containing the Violin Concerto (1906), a "Dittico" for orch., "Otto canzoni" for strings, "Bianco e Nero"for orch. presents IMHO the shortcomings in performances not unusually associated to the label.
Thanks Jor and alberto for these completing infos :-)
Bongiovanni, unfortunately, has a lot of such unsatisfactory CDs - and many (also good ones) have been cancelled...
On Perosi's influence - just this observation:
Perosi was actually a contemporary of Respighi; Bossi was just a generation older.
Respighi wrote his lovely "Suite per archi ed organo" (in G) in 1905; Bossi's Organo Concerto op. 100 (with an accompaniment of strings, 4 horns and timpani) was first performed in 1895 (and published in 1900).
From 1902 until 1911, Bossi was director of the Liceo Musicale of Bologna (renamed in 1945 "Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini") where Respighi had studied from 1891 till 1899. Martucci, Respighi's composition teacher, had been Bossi's predecessor. The organ room at he Bologna Conservatory is named after Bossi ("sala Bossi").
Respighi's Suite has stylistical similarities with Bossi's Concerto - and, indirectly, because of its "sacred music" atmosphere, it may also be a "heritage" of Perosi. Two pieces of this Suite have sacral titles "Aria" and "Cantico". The Aria (originally a 5 year's earlier piece for violin and organ) is intended as an "Aria da chiesa" (Church aria) - and the "Cantico" sounds indeed like a meditative religious celebration.