ILDEBRANDO PIZZETTI (1880-1968): Canti della stagione alto for Piano and Orchestra, Sinfonia del fuoco from the Film Cabiria, Preludio to Fedra.

Description: Although Pizzetti headed a movement which reacted against the "melodic indulgences" of Puccini and Mascagni, the prelude to his 1915 opera Fedra is opulently colorful and intensely expressive. Canti (1930) is a three-movement piano concerto which, more than anything else, calls to mind an Italian Rachmaninov. The 1914 film Cabiria was a four-hour spectacular on the subject of the Punic Wars; the 11-minute Sinfonia (with added chorus) accompanies a scene of Carthaginians sacrificing their children to the god Moloch. Susanna Stefani (piano), Boris Stasenko (baritone), Städtischer Opernchor, Chemnitz, Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie; Oleg Caetani. Original 1999 Marco Polo release.