LORENZO PEROSI (1872-1956): Suites for Orchestra No. 5 "Tortona" and No. 7 "Torino".

Description: Perosi wrote a dozen orchestral suites named after Italian cities and, up to now, only No. 1 "Milano" had been recorded. Tortona (c. 1908) is for chamber orchestra, its three movements lasting 22 minutes. It very much has the character of a serenade with a northern European feel - a kind of Anglo-German delight in clear, sunny weather which suffuses Brahms' Serenades (although Perosi does not sound like Brahms). There is no date for the large-orchestra, larger scale Torino, whose three movements last almost 48 minutes but the general optimism and phlegmatic expansiveness is much the same, especially in the often-rollicking and celebratory 20-minute final Vivo. No orchestral collector should miss these, even at Bongiovanni's newly jacked-up price! Orchestra Sinfonica "Nuova Cameristica di Milano"; Arturo Sacchetti.