Alfredo Casella's Divertimento for Fulvia, Op. 64, is based on a ballet for children called La camera dei disegni ('The Room of Drawings'), which was expanded from his earlier Eleven Children's Pieces.
Composer Biography
Alfredo Casella, a central figure in this recording, was born into a family of professional cellists and pianists, with his mother, a fine pianist, being his first teacher.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Gian Francesco Malipiero, a composer on this album, condemned almost all of his early music written before 1918, wishing he had not emerged from silence until 1911.
Compositional Technique
Alfredo Casella's Divertimento for Fulvia features a keen interplay between music with and without sharps and flats, joyously amplifying juxtapositions of white and black notes from the original piano pieces.
Compositional Technique
Giorgio Federico Ghedini's Concerto grosso for solo wind quintet and strings is a modern counterpart to Baroque concerto grosso form, exploring textural and thematic relationships between soloists and strings.
Composer Biography
Franco Donatoni, a composer featured on this album, secretly ghostwrote film scores in the style of Casella to earn money as a student, before developing his own distinctive voice.
Historical Context
Alfredo Casella's parents were advised by leading Italian composers to send him abroad for proper musical tuition, highlighting the perceived quality of Italian conservatories at the time.
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