Francesco La Vecchia has brought renewed attention to the later works of Italian composer Goffredo Petrassi with a new recording of his final two concertos for orchestra. The performances, by the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma under La Vecchia's direction, capture the fierce contrasts and dramatic potency that characterise Petrassi's music from the 1960s and 1970s.
Petrassi, born in 1904 just months after Luigi Dallapiccola, was a significant figure in 20th-century Italian music. His early works were neoclassical, but after 1945 he incorporated elements from the European avant-garde. He was also a distinguished teacher, counting Ennio Morricone, Peter Maxwell Davies and Cornelius Cardew among his students.
The eight concertos for orchestra form the core of Petrassi's orchestral output, and Naxos has now released recordings of all of them. The seventh and eighth concertos, composed in 1964 and 1972 respectively, are described as trenchantly argued, with fierce contrasts between strings and wind. While the musical ideas may not always be memorable, the music is praised for its resource and dramatic power.
The album also includes a bonus piece, the Sonata da Camera for harpsichord and 10 instruments, composed in 1948. The performances are described as utterly secure, bringing Petrassi's rarely heard music to life for modern audiences.
