Franco Ferrara - Fantasia Tragica / Notte Di Tempesta - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Goffredo Petrassi was one of the most important Italian composers of the twentieth century. Beginning with the previously unrecorded Divertimento in C, this focuses on Petrassi's compositions of the 1930s and 40s. Employing an unusual mix of styles and idioms, as well as brief quotations from Ravel and Stravinsky, the Partita was the first work to win him renown. The eloquent Quattro inni sacri (Four Sacred Hymns), described by the composer as 'music of today for the faithful of today', were intended as an antidote 'to the unctuous and conformist style in use in our churches' but, in reality, are only ever heard in the concert hall. Soon after the start of the Second World War, Petrassi wrote his meditative madrigal, Coro di Morti (Chorus of the Dead), the composer's first setting of a non-sacred text and perhaps his finest achievement in the field of vocal music.

• Italian composer Alfredo Catalani is today best remembered for his opera La Wally. • Francesco La Vecchia leads the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma in a program of lesser-known but worthy orchestral compositions. • Includes 2 world premiere recordings • Booklet notes in Italian and English • Recorded 2011

Described by Gian Francesco Malipiero as Inchthe beginning of the rebirth of non-operatic Italian musicInch, Martucci' Second Symphony is his masterpiece. Drawing on his abiding love of Brahms and Schumann, and initially championed by Toscanini.