CD REVIEW
– CHERUBINI
DISCOVERIES
Filarmonica Della Scala /
Riccardo Chailly
Decca 4831591
(74:22)
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Celebrated Italian
conductor, Riccardo Chailly
– recently named Diapson
D'Or magazine 'Artist of the
Year' – and his Milanese
opera house orchestra have
already twice been
enthusiastically reviewed on this
website: firstly, when he became
musical director in 2017 (Decca 4831148) and then for
their lauded 2019 Fellini album (Decca 4832869). In this latest
release they turn their attention
to Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842),
who Beethoven regarded as the
greatest of his contemporaries.
The Florence-born
French composer (named Marie
Louis Charles Zénobi Salvador
Cherubini) was best known for his
operas and sacred music, but
today is rarely heard.
Mendelssohn praised his music for
being "free, bright and
bold." So, here are spirited
accounts of his Overture in G
minor and sole Symphony
(in D Major) which in 1815,
together with a composition for
chorus and orchestra, were
commissioned by the Royal
Philharmonic Society, who brought
him to conduct them in London.
Apart from the
last track, his March
Funèbre, the second half of
the disc is the album's raison
d'être: the world premiere
recordings of nine occasional
marches written for various
public/social events. Scored for
wind ensemble and percussion,
there is music for a king's
coronation, an heroic general's
funeral, a homage to an extremely
influential Viennese figure, the
appointment of a new department
prefect, a tribute to a family
the composer had stayed with
while recuperating, and a piece
connected to his receiving the
Legion of Honour. The composer's
writing right across the disc is
characterized by his typical use
of alternating contrasting moods.
Why Decca have
waited almost five years to
release these recordings is
something of a mystery; although
I suppose it is appropriate to
have the album in the 250th year
since the birth of Cherubini's
chief admirer.
Readers who have
recently enjoyed Auber and/or
Cimarosa should also savour this
release.
© Peter
Burt 2020
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