Orchestral works by Malipiero

Malipiero’s profound individuality runs through all three works in this album. The two violin concertos are rather different in conception: the first is intensely lyrical, with modal and almost madrigalian beauty at its core; the second exudes angularity and dissonance but is still rooted in Malipiero’s natural melodic richness. Per una favola cavalleresca is an orchestral patchwork sewn together from a still-unperformed opera in what is a colourful, descriptive and almost filmic suite.


Includes World Premiere Recordings
8.573075

Gian Francesco MALIPIERO (1882–1973)
Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 *
Per una favola cavalleresca

Paolo Chiavacci, Violin *
Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma
Francesco La Vecchia

This release couples Gian Francesco Malipiero’s two contrasting violin concertos with the world premiere recording of his kaleidoscopic orchestral work Per una favola cavalleresca, evoking legendary scenes of love, tournaments, battles, moonbeams and heroes. Malipiero’s First Violin Concerto is one of his most beautiful and joyful works, a remarkable achievement for a composer who is said to have played the violin badly in his youth. His Second Violin Concerto, written 30 years later, sounds astonishingly different on a first hearing, but reveals itself to be inspired by the same lyrical impulse as the earlier concerto.

Listen to an extract from Violin Concerto No. 1:
III. Allegro
About the Artists

Paolo Chiavacci is the first violin and founder member of the Quartetto Fonè, with which he has given concerts at leading venues in Italy. He has appeared as a soloist and guest performer with various orchestras, including Mario Brunello’s Orchestra d’archi Italiana, the Padua and the Veneto Orchestras, and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, with which he has recorded Ghedini’s Contrappunti (Naxos 8.573006).

Francesco La Vecchia assumed the position of artistic director and resident conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma in 2022. The ‘Maestro’ series of recordings, named after him, was first released in 1999. Since then, he and the orchestra have recorded for Naxos an important and wide-ranging series of works by 19th- and 20th-century Italian composers, including many world premiere recordings. He is the recipient of several important official awards in Italy and abroad.

The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma was established in 2002 by the Rome Foundation. Under its artistic and musical director Francesco La Vecchia, the orchestra performed regularly in Rome at the Teatro Argentina, Teatro Sistina and Auditorium Conciliazione. It received critical and public recognition at distinguished venues in Asia, the Americas and Europe, with notable success in 2007 at the Berlin Philharmonie.

Other releases featuring the music of Gian Francesco Malipiero
8.572409
Impressioni dal vero
Pause del silenzio

Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma • La Vecchia
‘The orchestra plays very well, conductor Francesco La Vecchia (as in his Casella series) leads with a masterly sense of pacing, and the sonics are excellent. This is just wonderful.’
ClassicsToday.com
8.574173
★★★★
★★★★
‘The conducting and playing are excellent, with beautiful dynamic refinement and balances. The recorded sound is fine.’
American Record Guide
8.573291
Fantasie di ogni giorno
Passacaglie • Concerti

Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma • La Vecchia
★★★★
‘Francesco La Vecchia is in full possession of the keys of this enigmatic universe: with him, the rediscovery of the greatest Italian musician of the 20th century begins auspiciously.’
Classica ★★★★
8.574393
MALIPIERO, G.F.:
Cello Concerto
GHEDINI, G.F.:
L’Olmeneta

Shugaev • Prokofiev • Rostov Academic Symphony Orchestra • Uryupin


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