Alfredo Casella:
Symphonic Fragments from ‘Le Couvent sur l’eau’, Op. 19
Elegia eroica, Op. 29
Symphony No. 1 in B minor, Op. 5

Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic here present a fourth captivating volume of orchestral works by Alfredo

Casella, part of our ongoing Musica Italiana series. In 1912, with his music for the ‘choreographic comedy’ Le Couvent sur

l’eau, Casella demonstrated that stylistic versatility was no disadvantage for a ballet composer, and although Diaghilev

turned down the work for the Ballets Russes, Casella selected the highly colourful and once popular ‘symphonic

fragments’, heard here, for concert use. Similarly, the Elegia eroica is stylistically eclectic, constructed, according to

Casella, as a ‘vast triptych’, opening with a dissonant funeral march and ending with a comforting, tuneful lullaby. Casella

wrote this piece, which he dedicated ‘to the memory of a soldier killed in the war’, after Italy had entered the First World

War and suffered enormous losses.The three-movement Symphony in B minor is an early work (1906) of creative energy

and burning conviction, in which Casella’s enthusiasm for Russian music is revealed already in the sombre Mussorgskyan

opening theme. This hypnotic first movement is almost pleasantly oppressive in comparison to the gentler, melodious

second, and the bold final movement represents the adventurous exploits of an ambitious young composer.