Alvaro Cassuto - Sym for Orch & Rustic Suite No. 1 / Poem - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

This acclaimed Munich production offers a rare opportunity to hear a once popular opera seria from one of the outstanding composers of his day.

Berlioz wrote his own text for L'Enfance du Christ, which he composed in 1853 and 1854. It was first performed at the Salle Herz, Paris on 10 December 1854, with Berlioz conducting. He described the work as a Trilogie sacrée. The first of it's three sections depicts King Herod ordering the massacre of all newborn children in Judaea; the second shows Mary, Joseph, and Jesus setting out for Egypt to avoid the slaughter, having been warned by angels; and the final section portrays their arrival in the Egyptian town of Saïs where they are given refuge by a family of Ishmaelites. Berlioz was not religious as an adult but remained all his life susceptible to the beauty of the religious music that had enraptured him as a child. Sir Andrew Davis conducts the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and MSO Chorus and an outstanding team of soloists in this Surround Sound SACD recording.

Bomtempo composed music for different musical ensembles. Among his works, the most important ones are, in addition to many compositions for the piano, his five concertos for piano and orchestra, his Requiem in Memory of Camões and the two symphonies here included, although early musicologists mention that he composed a total of six symphonies. Symphony No.1 shows the influence of Haydn and Mozart. It follows the classical form despite the fact that the second movement is a Menuet, and not the usual Andante. The first movement has a slow introduction and it's Allegro section follows sonata form. The Menuet has the usual contrasting Trio and the third movement (Andante sostenuto) develops along the lines of a free set of variations, with an emphasis on the use of the wind instruments. The work is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns and timpani. The oldest existing copy of the full orchestral score is in the handwriting of a copyist. Curiously, it has no trumpets. Since the timpani part is independent of that of the horns, and since the symphonies which directly influenced Bomtempo do not use timpani without trumpets, I have added two trumpets to the timpani part. The score and parts of this symphony were published in 1963 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. Symphony No. 2 is a work of much larger scope and dimension. It's musical style is clearly more Romantic than that of the first symphony and it's form much broader and more fluid. Of particular interest is the lyricisim of the Allegro moderato, which follows the slow introduction of the first movement. It's sheer size reminds us of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. Equally original is the second movement, whose rhythmic character is interrupted by a theme which resembles more an operatic aria than the middle section of an orchestral slow movement. Also noteworthy is the ea