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Nimbus

Mario Castelnuevo-tedesco: Guitar Works / Eliot Fisk

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Details

Composer
CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO, MARIO
Artist
Fisk, Kapp
Format
CD
Label
Nimbus
Released
May 01, 2009
Catalog #
NI2536
UPC
710357253621

About

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco settled in California in the 1940s. Like many another musician cast adrift by the fascism that held sway in Europe from the 1930s to the mid-1940s he found a niche in the artistic life of the States. Hollywood embraced his music for films although none of the great films featured his work – he did however score several of the Lassie films. He moved in the same stratosphere as Heifetz and Piatigorsky; indeed the former commissioned his The Prophets Violin Concerto (No. 2 of 3) and then went on to record it (RCA); as did Perlman.

Among the operas, concertos, oratorios and solo piano music (Naxos, Somm SOMMCD 032) there are two guitar concertos, a serenade for guitar and orchestra, a concerto for two guitars and orchestra and many pieces of chamber music involving the instrument. The first concerto was written partly in Mussolini's Italy and partly in America. If the middle of the three movements of the op. 99 First Concerto sometimes drifts close to Tatiana's Letter Song it is delectable sentimental stuff. The flanking movements are sanguine and proud. They will certainly appeal to anyone who likes Rodrigo's Aranjuez. It's a lovely concerto and well worth tracking down in this very generously timed disc. I hope there is a volume 2 with the Second Concerto, the Serenade and the Concerto for two guitars.

Golondrinas (Swallows) suggests a relaxed saunter along the corniche - a summer evening with the swallows of the title diving and soaring. It's a virtuoso piece as is the eager and bustling La Primavera. The Platero suggests a delicate spray of lilies. The Rondo has some of the aristocratic elegance of the finale of the op. 99 concerto. The three movement op. 133 Suite is a work of beguiling emotional suggestion. This enchanting disc ends with the three movement op. 143 Guitar Quintet. The writing is full of interest with some incidental echoes of Ravel and of Russian nationalism. Again it is cheerful, subtly allusive, dynamic, poetic, playful and at times sweetly eerie. Unlike the much younger Brouwer this music has no truck with dissonance. Its milieu is impressionistic poetry. The string quartet writing is most inventive and by no means a dull stooge to the guitar.

After you have rifled Rodrigo's guitar treasury you must try this. This composer is no Rodrigo epigone but his music shares the Spanish composer’s mood and gift for beguiling invention. You can add this composer's name to that of Manuel Ponce as someone whose guitar music needs to be explored. By the way, do not overlook Ponce's Concerto del Sur for guitar and orchestra. Like so much else from that era including these works by Castelnuovo-Tedesco - it was written for Segovia – recorded by him and also by Alfredo Moreno with Enrique Batiz.

These recordings were originally issued in 2004 on MusicMasters. I hope that there is more to come and if not that Nimbus might find funding for a collection of this composer's concertante works for guitar. It's that good.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

Tracklist 14 tracks

  1. 1 I. Allegretto 06:21
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Allegretto
    Duration
    06:21
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
    Ensemble
    Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
    Conductor
    Richard Kapp
  2. 2 II. Andantino alla romanza 07:37
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Andantino alla romanza
    Duration
    07:37
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
    Ensemble
    Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
    Conductor
    Richard Kapp
  3. 3 III. Ritmico e cavalleresco 06:20
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Ritmico e cavalleresco
    Duration
    06:20
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
    Ensemble
    Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
    Conductor
    Richard Kapp
  4. 4 XXIII. Golondrinas (Swallows) 04:48
    Track
    4
    Title
    XXIII. Golondrinas (Swallows)
    Duration
    04:48
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
  5. 5 IV. La Primavera (Spring) 01:51
    Track
    5
    Title
    IV. La Primavera (Spring)
    Duration
    01:51
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
  6. 6 XXVIII. Á platero en el cielo de moguer (To Platero in the Heaven of Moguer) 05:00
    Track
    6
    Title
    XXVIII. Á platero en el cielo de moguer (To Platero in the Heaven of Moguer)
    Duration
    05:00
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
  7. 7 Rondo, Op. 129 07:35
    Track
    7
    Title
    Rondo, Op. 129
    Duration
    07:35
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
  8. 8 I. Preludio: Quasi un' improvisazione 05:12
    Track
    8
    Title
    I. Preludio: Quasi un' improvisazione
    Duration
    05:12
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
  9. 9 II. Molto moderato - Espressivo e malinconico (al modo dei Canti Scozzesi) 06:01
    Track
    9
    Title
    II. Molto moderato - Espressivo e malinconico (al modo dei Canti Scozzesi)
    Duration
    06:01
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
  10. 10 III. Capriccio: Furioso 05:04
    Track
    10
    Title
    III. Capriccio: Furioso
    Duration
    05:04
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
  11. 11 I. Allegro, vivo e schietto 05:46
    Track
    11
    Title
    I. Allegro, vivo e schietto
    Duration
    05:46
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
    Ensemble
    Shanghai String Quartet
  12. 12 II. Andante mesto 06:55
    Track
    12
    Title
    II. Andante mesto
    Duration
    06:55
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
    Ensemble
    Shanghai String Quartet
  13. 13 III. Scherzo: Allegro con spirito, alla marcia 04:41
    Track
    13
    Title
    III. Scherzo: Allegro con spirito, alla marcia
    Duration
    04:41
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
    Ensemble
    Shanghai String Quartet
  14. 14 IV. Finale: Allegro con fuoco 05:46
    Track
    14
    Title
    IV. Finale: Allegro con fuoco
    Duration
    05:46
    Composer
    Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
    Performer
    Eliot Fisk
    Ensemble
    Shanghai String Quartet