GIORGIO BATTISTELLI (b.1953): Prova d'orchestra.

Catalogue Number: 03J095
Label: Stradivarius
Reference: STR 57004
Format: CD
Price: $17.98
Description: Battistelli's opera is derived from Fellini's film, which used the medium of a symphony orchestra and the interaction between its diverse members as an allegory for social diversity and stratification, conflict and co-operation, a slice of Italian society in microcosm. Battistelli extends this idea to incorporate the filming of an orchestral rehearsal, a more international gathering of characters, and diversions by way of reflections on the role of contemporary music and musicians' attitudes toward it. Necessarily somewhat chaotic for theatrical reasons, there are sufficient allusions to recognizable orchestral material of the past (a very funny Wagner quotation, for instance) to keep the piece tonally grounded, and the discursive, argumentative dialogue keeps the action progressing at a cracking pace. Ultimately highly entertaining, and of considerable musical substance in its own right, quite apart from its thought-provoking philosophical argument. Italian-English texts. Flanders Opera Symphony Orchestra and Choir; Luca Pfaff.