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Antonioni: My River - Music for Strings / I Solisti Aquilani
Brilliant Classics

Antonioni: My River - Music for Strings / I Solisti Aquilani

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Details

Composer
Francesco Antonioni
Artist
I Solisti Aquilani
Format
CD
Label
Brilliant Classics
Released
Feb 16, 2024
Catalog #
BRI97086
UPC
5028421970868

About

The legendary pianist and conductor joins his clarinettist son and Italian musicians in music by one of Italy’s most powerfully individual living composers. Born in 1971, Francesco Antonioni studied in Rome with Azio Corghi and then in London with Julian Anderson and George Benjamin: a formidable pedigree of teachers testifying to the strength of both his technique and his creative voice, which became internationally known in 2001 with a string quartet written for the Venice Biennale. Since then, Antonioni has gone on to assemble a substantial catalogue of fastidiously crafted works for both the stage and the concert hall.

This collection features two pieces for string orchestra, Ballata and Sull’ombra, alongside his concerto for clarinet and viola, Lights after the Thaw. Premiered in 2009, Ballata arose from a commission of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, to be conducted by Benjamin, and takes its initial inspiration from an anonymous lullaby, and a ballad by the 14th-century composer Francesco Landini. These are songs about love, seen from two opposite points, near the beginning and the end of life, and their meeting-point in this modern Ballata is bittersweet and charged with tension.

The origins of Sull’Ombra are no less distinguished. Yuri Bashmet conducted the Moscow Soloists in the premiere in 2014. Antonioni found himself moved to write it by lines of John Donne, which themselves reminded him of poetry by Eugenio Montale. The shadows here are dark indeed, though always lit with imagination, and harmony that leads the listener on, just as the concertante Lights after the Thaw draws out the intrinsically songful character of both solo instruments, in search of a point of reference amid a pervasive melancholia. There is a refined ear for harmony and texture evident in all three works, which reward attentive listening by anyone interested in the music of today.

Tracklist 10 tracks

  1. 1 I. Scorrevole 04:12
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Scorrevole
    Duration
    04:12
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy
  2. 2 II. Dolce e Scorrevole 08:10
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Dolce e Scorrevole
    Duration
    08:10
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy
  3. 3 III. Un poco Mosso 05:51
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Un poco Mosso
    Duration
    05:51
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy
  4. 4 I. Monologues and Dialogues: Andante tranquillo 07:14
    Track
    4
    Title
    I. Monologues and Dialogues: Andante tranquillo
    Duration
    07:14
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Performer
    Ada Meinich, Dimitri Ashkenazy
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy
  5. 5 II. It Was Thaw and Little by Little Gold: Allegro molto 05:38
    Track
    5
    Title
    II. It Was Thaw and Little by Little Gold: Allegro molto
    Duration
    05:38
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Performer
    Ada Meinich, Dimitri Ashkenazy
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy
  6. 6 III. Liebeslied: Andante 09:27
    Track
    6
    Title
    III. Liebeslied: Andante
    Duration
    09:27
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Performer
    Ada Meinich, Dimitri Ashkenazy
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy
  7. 7 IV. My River: Presto 05:00
    Track
    7
    Title
    IV. My River: Presto
    Duration
    05:00
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Performer
    Ada Meinich, Dimitri Ashkenazy
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy
  8. 8 I. Allegro non Troppo 06:05
    Track
    8
    Title
    I. Allegro non Troppo
    Duration
    06:05
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy
  9. 9 II. Andante Inquieto 04:32
    Track
    9
    Title
    II. Andante Inquieto
    Duration
    04:32
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy
  10. 10 III. Allegro Leggero 06:17
    Track
    10
    Title
    III. Allegro Leggero
    Duration
    06:17
    Composer
    Francesco Antonioni
    Ensemble
    I Solisti Aquilani
    Conductor
    Vladimir Ashkenazy