Ildebrando Pizzetti
(1880-1968)
Rondo Veneziano (1929) 23:32
Preludio a un altro giorno (1952) 11:34
La Pisanella (1917) 22:40
Tre Preludii Sinfonici per L'Edipo Re (1903) 17:40
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä
Hyperion CDA67084 (CDH55329) 76:03
In Italy, Pizzetti was known much more for his operas, vocal works and theater pieces than for his symphonic and chamber music. He was a conservative composer, although he was one of the founders of the journal "Dissonanza" in 1914. Pizzetti was not only a composer but a writer and music critic.
Pizzetti's strong lifelong interest in the theater carries over to these instrumental pieces. If you are pleased by orchestral Debussy, Respighi, and tone poems of Richard Strauss, you will enjoy these works. The first piece, Rondo Veneziano, makes use of Italian folk-like material. La Pisanella is set in Venetian-controlled Cyprus, and the modality is characteristic of that location. These works are exciting and they are all brilliantly orchestrated.
Marco Polo issued two volumes of Pizzetti's chamber music that unfortunately have been discontinued. They are worth looking for.
