LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA (1904-1975): Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 - Partita, Dialoghi for Cello and Orchestra, Three Questions with Two Answers, 4 Liriche di Antonio Machado for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra.

Description: The major work here is the early (1932) Partita which gets its world premiere recording. Lasting 29 minutes, its first three movements are a stately, subdued Passacaglia, a scherzo-like Burlesca with a lovely, lyrical trio and a Recitativo e Fanfara (the former offering individual instruments solos against a nocturnal backdrop, the latter violent gesture which gives birth to a new melody) which are followed by something completely different: a ten-minute, folk-song-like finale for soprano, singing a medieval lullaby in Latin with wonderfully diaphanous scoring, ending in a celestial coda adorned by celesta, harps and bells. From Dallapiccola's mature period comes Dialoghi (1960), which, like Three Questions of 1963, is laid out in classic Schoenbergian dodecaphonic style and is in the composer's characteristic five-movement form with fast, expositive movements alternating with slower ones in which themes disintegrate in almost pointillistic fashion. The four brief Spanish poems handle twelve-note melodic ideas with great resourcefulness. Italian-English texts. Gillian Keith (soprano), Paul Watkins (cello), BBC Philharmonic; Gianandrea Noseda.