Forum Members:
I feel it would greatly benefit members of this forum to have some feedback on the Italian composer, Bruno Bettinelli.
While I do realize that he may just be a personal favorite of mine, I would like to know why his music still languishes in obscurity.
If it is just a personal preference, I should be able to perceive that with some help from fellow forum members.
Bettinelli was extremely prolific, his music is very unique and much of it I would describe as quite driven.
I guess he could loosely be described as an Italian Bartok, especially in temperament. As he got older, his music became more even more
dissonant (but not less accessable in my opinion.)
According to the Naxos bio, (who have recorded a few meager guitar pieces) Bettinelli was "profoundly influenced by the music of Stravinsky, Hindemith, and Bartσk, as well as by the previous generation of eminent fellow countrymen such as Malipiero (18821973), Casella (18831947), and Petrassi (19042003)". The few obscure guitar works are such an extreme understatement of his output as seen by huge volume of orchestral works listed on Wikipedia with 7 Unknown symphonies to his credit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_BettinelliMost of what I have heard is from the archived broadcasts from RIAA Italy which are posted on Youtube.
A word of caution applies as the earlier works (circa 1925-35) suffer from flawed audio, but the newer pieces..eg 1970's are fine. For me, in spite of the audio, the older music still shines and are primie candidates for new recordings and performances.
His angular and captivating Sinfornia Breve of 1954 was conducted and recorded on a now defunct Ricordi CD by Leonard Bernstein, who recognized his talent and conducted the work in Italy. I feel a good place to start listening is with that work:
Mvts 1,2
Mvts 3,4
Be they Negative or positive, all comments are welcome..
Jolly Roger