Alfredo Casella was deeply influenced by Gustav Mahler, considering Mahler's symphonies the 'greatest work of musical genius since Wagner's Parsifal' and keeping a giant photo of Mahler on his wall for life.
Composition History
Alfredo Casella's Symphony No. 2 was never published during his lifetime and remained unheard for eighty years after its initial performances in 1910-11.
Composition History
The first performance of Casella's Symphony No. 2 in Paris in 1910 occurred just six days after the French premiere of Gustav Mahler's monumental Symphony No. 2, which Casella tirelessly helped organize.
Composer Biography
Alfredo Casella, a composer, pianist, conductor, and writer, was a tireless proponent of musical modernity and founded the Società Italiana di Musica Moderna in 1917.
Compositional Technique
Casella's Symphony No. 2 is a homage to Mahler, featuring a direct quotation of a march theme from Mahler's Second Symphony and saturating itself in the Mahlerian soundworld, including the use of tolling bells.
Recording & Production
The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, established in 2002, is a rare example in Europe of a completely privately funded orchestra and is undertaking a series of recordings for Naxos of Italian composers.
Composition History
A notte alta ('In deepest night'), a musical poem for piano and orchestra, was inspired by emotional events in Alfredo Casella's personal life and dedicated to Yvonne Müller, who became his second wife.
