Casella: Sinfonia Op 63; Elegia Eroica Op 29

Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma/Francesco La Vecchia Naxos 8.572415****

These two pieces by Italian composer Alfredo Casella (1883-1947) are both war-time works. The

Heroic Elegy

of 1916, dedicated “to the memory of a soldier killed in the war”, is an often angry, clotted eruption, full of pain, and grinding grief, with interludes of quiet despair – Casella had spent nearly two decades living in Paris, and was enthusiastic about the directions taken by Bartók, Schoenberg and Stravinsky. The Casella who wrote his Third Symphony in 1939-1940 was a different composer (his manner had tightened and lightened) and a different man (he had come under the sway of Fascism, and had even written an opera in praise of Mussolini’s occupation of Ethiopia). It’s a substantial, symphonic symphony with a confident stride, that was commissioned and premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for its 50th anniversary celebrations. See url.ie/af6o