Futurism without tears

Francesco Balilla Pratella & Marco Anzoletti - Music for Viola & Piano

In February 1909, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti published his Manifesto of Futurism. Futurist ideas flourished in poetry and the visual arts, but they were also taken up early by the Italian composer Francesco Balilla Pratella. Pratella wrote his own Manifesto of Futurist Musicians in 1910, with more polemic work to follow.

Martinelli had said that "Art, in fact, can be nothing but violence, cruelty, and injustice", but there's little evidence of those futurist traits in Pratella's Viola Sonata, written in 1917. This work seems to toe the standard modernist line; if anything, it's romantic and often pretty. A lovely work, in fact, but hardly violent or cruel. Other works by Pratella seem to veer more towards the savage side, but it seems that the true music of futurism would have to wait for Luigi Russolo and his acoustic noise generators, which he called intonarumori.

This album, performed by violist Federica Cardinali & pianist Lisa Redorici, also includes the 7 Compositions for Viola & Piano by the Italian composer Marco Anzoletti (1867-1929). These undated character pieces are short passages with varying moods: march-like, passionate, pastoral, mock heroic, antique, rustic and satiric. The final piece, the "Serenata Maligna", is a wonderful scary trifle that features the viola pizzicato; it fits the upcoming season well. I listened to it again & again, and thought it would be perfect in Wes Anderson's next movie. It makes for a wonderful encore for this slightly puzzling but hugely entertaining recital.

The cover features a painting by the Italian abstract painter Osvaldo Licini.

This album will be released on November 6, 2026.

 

Reuse, Recycle, Reduce

Antonio Vivaldi: The Paris Concertos

The well known aphorism, that Vivaldi didn't write 500 (or 450, or 600) concertos, but one concerto 500 times, has been nicely debunked by Linda Shaver-Gleason, at her blog Not Another Music History Cliché. I'm pleased with this, because I'm a diehard Vivaldi fan. What impresses me about Vivaldi, especially as I learn more about his operas and sacred music, as well as his concertos and chamber music, is its incredible variety. Yes, there is a special Vivaldi sound, but I don't consider this self-plagiarizing, but more like an accent, or a way of expressing himself. It made me think of Jimmy Stewart's trademark hesitations. "You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it."



But here's a time when Vivaldi actually was recycling his music. Sad to say, the Red Priest from time to time involved himself in some rather shady business dealings, which is something he had in common with such great composers as Handel, Haydn and Beethoven. He promised brand new concertos to a German music lover, but delivered instead a mix of new and slightly used music. The very detailed essay written by Maestro Sardelli doesn't say whether Vivaldi's deception was ever found out. More likely, the buyer was too busy enjoying this hugely enjoyable music. And speaking of recycling, you'll need to look closely at copyright dates in the fine print to see that this Tactus release is actually a re-issue of a recording that Modo Antiquo made in 1999, previously issued on Tactus in 2000. That's not a real problem in this case, luckily, since these are marvellous performances, which still sound very fresh. I highly recommend that you pluck this album from the blue box and put it on your CD or MP3 player.