GIUSEPPE MARTUCCI (1856-1909): 6 Pezzi, Op. 44, Novella, Op. 50, Fantasia, Op. 51, 2 Notturni, Op. 70.

Description: The Pezzi (1879-81) are a synthesis of elements from Italian popular culture – the gondoliers’ barcarola, the mule‐drivers’ tarantella among them – with a wide-ranging, elaborately contrapuntal and fiendishly virtuosic style which owes much not only to Brahms and Liszt but to the composer’s formidable powers of performance. The Novella and Fantasia of 1881 experiment with more delicate textures in the manner of Chopin, and this tendency is further explored in the Nocturnes, which move the form into late Lisztian realms of crepuscular harmony and dreamy phrases; the first of these Nocturnes became known in the early years of the last century through an orchestral transcription which was often programmed by Toscanini. Alberto Miodini (piano).