Pizzetti Symphony on Naxos - May 2017

[patmos.beje]

This for me is a long awaited release and the one I had most hoped for in 2017.  ;D

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.573613

[Dundonnell]

At last.........

[Christo]

Hope to hear the symphony at last - and don't think I ever heard the Harp Concerto either.

[cilgwyn]

Indeed! I am looking forward to this one. More Pizzetti is always welcome. I like most of the music I've heard by this composer. The rightly praised Hyperion cd,of course and his choral music is very good. I also like his Canti della stagione alta,which no one else seems to like. A gorgeous hyper romantic work for Piano and Orchestra,almost filmic;marred by some moments of bombast. I love the way he brings back the wonderful melody,in the opening movement,back in the finale. There's another beautiful one in the second movement. I recall some Gramophone critic giving a later release of this work a rotten review. And this from a rotten rag that was going rapidly downhill.......although now,slightly,improved! (I loved it as a youngster!) I didn't think so much of his Concerto de L'estate when it was released by Naxos;but it sounds very nice in the more convincing,earlier recording,available on the Decca Eloquence label. I also rather liked what I heard of Fedra,in the Accord release of the opera,which was largely ignored by critics. No english libretto,though!! >:( :(  Pizzetti's gift for sweeping orchestration and ear for voices aside;you need to be able to follow the libretto with a work of this kind.

[patmos.beje]

The Symphony can be heard on You Tube albeit in poor 1940's sound from a Japanese recording.  I am aware of 3 uploads.  Avoid the Naxos improved sound version for the final-fourth movement as it lacks the final moments.  I have read that the performance is somewhat wayward in its tempo.

If you like Fedra, the Summer Concerto and the Piano Concerto you may not like the Symphony.  It is more akin, in my mind, to the Cello Concerto and Violin Concerto and altogether more somber.

The new Naxos release holds the prospect of hearing some of the rhythmic and orchestral textures that are lost in the 1940 recording.

[cilgwyn]

Thanks for the warning! I may like it,as I have wide tastes? Perhaps best to sample tracks from the cd first,when it's released?! It is a budget price release,though. I will look closely at reviews and posts. An enterprising release,though.

[patmos.beje]

Thanks for the warning! I may like it,as I have wide tastes? Perhaps best to sample tracks from the cd first,when it's released?! It is a budget price release,though. I will look closely at reviews and posts. An enterprising release,though.

If you like Pizzetti's music don't hesitate to purchase the CD!

The closing moments of the Symphony (just over 2 minutes), when the motto theme of the superb first movement reappears in a tranquil and more lyrical form, have remained firmly etched in my memory since I first heard the Symphony in 2011/12 (I think). In my opinion it is beautiful music, right up there with the lyrical effusiveness of the lengthy closing scena in Fedra - one of my favourite moments in Italian opera.   

[Dundonnell]

Let's be in no doubt. The absence of a proper modern recording of the Pizzetti Symphony has been one of the mysteries of the classical discography for decades. Much ink has spilt by many people over the years lamenting this absence. The fact that, at very long last, the gap is being filled is cause for genuine celebration. The new recording will give us the opportunity to more properly evaluate a work which is and should be seen as one of the real highlights of 20th century Italian orchestral music.

[patmos.beje]

Extracts of both the Symphony and the Harp Concerto can be heard on iTunes and Amazon.  The former (90 seconds from each movement) are longer than the latter (30 seconds from each movement).

The extracts, as anticipated, disclose the Naxos version, certainly in sound quality, as vastly superior to the 1940 Japanese recording of the Symphony and better than the 1960s RAI recording of the Harp Concerto.

The link to Amazon UK is:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pizzetti-Symphony-Major-Concerto-E-Flat/dp/B06ZYBJSS3/ref=tmm_msc_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

[Gauk]

And a reminder that for a very modest annual subscription, you can listen to any track from any Naxos CD. Good value!

[patmos.beje]

Now available in downloadable format from Chandos:   https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/NX%20361

On a short holiday in Taipei I have now listened to the Symphony in A about 20 times whilst visiting historical sites, parks and night markets.

In my view, Pizzetti's very best orchestral work.  Of far greater depth and emotional impact than the four concertante works and the Concerto dell'estate - all of which I like and some of which (the Cello and Violin Concertos) I am enthusiastic about. The Symphony joins Fedra and Debora e Jaele as my favourite Pizzetti!

The orchestral detail can now be heard in its full glory as can harmonies obscured in the poor sound of the 1940 version.  Well worth the wait. An excellent performance and, for me, fabulous stuff!  ;D  :D 

My last holy grail in Italian music which, when I was a teenager, contained a plethora of holy grails.

Physical release due on 12th May.

[Dundonnell]

I received the new Naxos disc yesterday and can concur that the Symphony is a splendid work with claims to be the finest 20th century Italian symphony. Goodness knows what the Japanese made of it in 1940; it cannot have been what they were wanting or expecting! It is a troubled and often rather grim work. Is this the best performance we could get? I am not quite sure of that but it may well be the only one we shall have for a long time (unless Chandos and Noseda go for it?). It is absolutely astonishingly that we have had to wait for well over half a century to hear it in proper sound!

[patmos.beje]

I received the new Naxos disc yesterday and can concur that the Symphony is a splendid work with claims to be the finest 20th century Italian symphony. Goodness knows what the Japanese made of it in 1940; it cannot have been what they were wanting or expecting! It is a troubled and often rather grim work. Is this the best performance we could get? I am not quite sure of that but it may well be the only one we shall have for a long time (unless Chandos and Noseda go for it?). It is absolutely astonishingly that we have had to wait for well over half a century to hear it in proper sound!

When the Chandos Noseda series was first announced, Pizzetti was promised.  So far nothing.  The Naxos CD is great to have but, it seems to me, there is still certain orchestral detail (e.g. certain pianissimo counterpoint by the strings in the first movement) that might get greater clarity in a different version.  It took 77 years to get the Naxos CD following the release of the original 1940s 78 discs.  I would welcome a second version if I live long enough to see it released!

[patmos.beje]

Review by Rob Barnett on MusicWeb:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2017/May/Pizzetti_sy_8573613.htm