DA VINCI PUBLISHINGMyricae, Piano Four Hands in 20th-Century Italy

Additional information

Artist(s)	Blasio-Redorici Piano Duo, Gianluca Blasio, Lisa Redorici
Composer(s)	Alfredo Casella, Ferruccio Busoni, Marco Enrico Bossi, Mario Pilati, Ottorino Respighi
EAN Code	7.46160919454
Edition	Da Vinci Classics
Format	1 Cd
Genre	Instrumental
Instrumentation	Piano duet
Period	Modern
Publication year	2026

Description

When surveying the most recent musicological publications, one cannot but observe a phenomenon that might aptly be described as emblematic. In recent years, indeed, scholars and performers alike appear to have shown a gradual increase of interest in initiatives aimed at enhancing the value of Italian piano music. This clarification, seemingly almost superfluous in itself, is in fact highly significant for introducing the context in which the original idea underlying the recording project here presented took shape. In line with the movement of rediscovery that, for several decades now, has been focused particularly on the Italian early twentieth century, this album offers a listening itinerary whose individual stages correspond to some of the foremost compositions originally conceived for piano four hands by masters hailing from the Belpaese. The period of reference extends from the final decades of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth, and in this respect it seems useful to provide a few historical remarks to frame the scenario in which our composers operated.
Throughout the nineteenth century in Italy, melodrama was by far the dominant genre, overshadowing all others; it not only marked the most significant events in the musical life of the nation, but also shaped the taste of both public and critics. This state of affairs corresponded to the near-total absence from public performance of music associated with the instrumental tradition, whose most illustrious manifestations had been interrupted around the mid-eighteenth century. Consequently, for most of the nineteenth century, the development within Italy of a piano literature of any considerable significance was in effect stifled—contrary to what occurred on European concert stages, where the presence of charismatic pianist-composers and virtuosi of the calibre of Fryderyk Chopin, Franz Liszt and many others considerably increased public interest in the keyboard.
This tendency began to be challenged in the second half of the nineteenth century, when a significant awakening of national artistic consciousness led to a gradual rehabilitation of instrumental music. Credit is due above all to a group of composers—among them Giovanni Sgambati, Giuseppe Martucci, Marco Enrico Bossi and Ferruccio Busoni—who, looking to the output of the great Romantic masters of Central Europe, helped to rethread the strands of a discourse long severed, as well as—more significantly—to the work of many composers born at the close of the century. Some of these—Ottorino Respighi, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Gian Francesco Malipiero and Alfredo Casella—are famously encompassed within the label generazione dell’Ottanta coined by Massimo Mila, while others, such as Mario Pilati, emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was, in fact, above all through the work of the latter that a true process of renewal of language and style took place—one which reflected, on the one hand, the ferment of avant-garde aesthetics coursing through Europe, and, on the other, the allure of rediscovery of the past and the fascination exerted by folk traditions.
As in the case of instrumental music conceived for other ensembles, so too did Italian piano production, in the transitional period between the two centuries, progressively emancipate itself from subordination to the operatic tradition. Although for some of our composers the piano was not among the privileged means for conveying the highest realisations of their musical poetics, it nonetheless—particularly in the four-hand medium—provided an important laboratory for experimentation, far removed from the salon context to which it had long been confined.
Turning to the compositions featured on this recording, it is interesting to note how the works under consideration can be linked by a notional fil rouge underpinning the structure of the entire album. Two central themes, identifiable with the archetypal symbols of travel and genius loci, are represented not only through the suggestions evoked by the composers’ places of origin, but also through the changing atmospheres experienced by the composers themselves in their perception of distant places and situations. In this light, travel—arising from real experience—tends emblematically to assume idealised connotations, revealing in these refined creations the multifaceted character of the Italian musical spirit.
The programme opens with Ottorino Respighi’s (1879–1936) Sei piccoli pezzi P. 149, composed in 1926 and ideally dedicated to the world of childhood. Distinguished by a simplicity more apparent than real, the individual numbers—explicitly intended to delineate a musical itinerary touching such geographical areas as Sicily, Armenia and Scotland, as well as to evoke particular situations—form a collection of refined character pieces, replete with veiled allusions to composers beloved of the Bolognese master, such as Schumann (Romanza), Fauré (Canzone Armena) and Bartók (Piccoli highlanders).
A sudden change of scene comes with the two polyptychs by Alfredo Casella (1883–1947), both dating from 1915. The Pagine di guerra Op. 25 immediately project the listener into the impetuous, hallucinatory atmosphere of these four “musical films”, each inspired by the viewing of cinematic footage from various fronts of the First World War. It is interesting to note how the Turinese composer succeeds in conveying the madness of the wartime climate through a harsh, astringent language privileging, among other things, polytonality, dissonant chromaticism, and harmonic parallelisms. These same compositional devices are largely employed also in Pupazzetti Op. 27, although here the artistic aim is rather to emphasise the grotesque, as well as the parodistic and at times childlike estrangement that characterises these short pieces. Ultimately, they offer an emblematic stylisation of influences traceable to Casella’s Parisian experience, between Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and Stravinskian neoclassicism.
The accumulated tension is here released in the lightness of Marco Enrico Bossi’s (1861–1925) Suite de Valses Op. 93, composed in 1893. In the succession of these seven elegant waltzes, it is particularly evident how the composer from Salò, whilst maintaining his own stylistic imprint, looked to the example of the masters beyond the Alps, and in particular to the piano music—both solo and four-hand—of Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms.
An analogous attitude of admiration for different musical traditions also characterises Ferruccio Busoni’s (1866–1924) Finnländische Volksweisen (Finnish Folksongs) Op. 27 (K 227), composed in 1888—the year in which the pianist-composer from Empoli was appointed to a teaching post at the Helsinki Conservatory. During his stay in Finland, a genuine interest in the local culture and traditions bore fascinating fruit in the form of a set of variations on four folk melodies drawn from Wegelius’s collection, reworked into a cultivated context suffused with contrapuntal writing. The result is two pieces in which the succession of tempo markings corresponds to a juxtaposition of distinct sections and changes of character, ranging from rigorous sobriety to enthusiastic exaltation.
Finally, the Entrata alla ciaccona by the Neapolitan composer Mario Pilati (1903–1938)—the focus of a captivating process of rediscovery initiated in recent years—constitutes a rarity in the repertoire for piano four hands. It is the only piece for this medium to have been published by the composer, although the catalogue of works compiled by his heirs also lists a Minuetto, of which no trace has to date been found in primary sources. Details regarding its genesis are likewise uncertain, although it is possible to hypothesise an initial draft in 1924, followed by a revision in 1930 in preparation for its publication, which took place in 1933 by Ricordi. The result is a composition of refined workmanship, in which the austere character of the dance assumes sophisticated connotations in a canonic form, enriched by a harmonic palette in which the young composer appears to have two principal points of reference: on the one hand, the tradition descending from the Neapolitan compositional school, in whose sources he had himself been immersed; on the other, the music of Ildebrando Pizzetti, the contemporary whom Pilati esteemed above all others from his student days in the conservatoire.
In conclusion, one might affirm that the representative hallmark of the album lies in its variety. From the symbolist transfiguration of Pupazzetti to the cinematic tension animating Casella’s Pagine di guerra, from the intimate and popular atmospheres of the musical worlds of Busoni and Respighi to the cultivated elaboration of dance forms linking Bossi’s Suite de Valses and Pilati’s Entrata alla ciaccona, there clearly emerges its ultimate purpose: to promote the rediscovery of a musical heritage which, despite its heterogeneity, reveals a profound poetic coherence and a surprising expressive modernity.
Gianluca Blasio © 2025

Artist(s)

The Blasio-Redorici Piano Duo is a young chamber music ensemble born within the International Academy “Incontri con il Maestro” in Imola, where it obtained its diploma in Chamber Music under the guidance of Nazzareno Carusi, and is formed by pianists Gianluca Blasio and Lisa Redorici. Their concert activity, described through suggestions such as «great sensitivity» (S. Möller, Vienna, 2023) and based on «great balance and understanding» (M. Cerrito, Napoli, 2022), has already seen them perform for various musical realities in Italy (Torino, Milano, Ravenna, Bologna, Roma, Napoli) and abroad (Austria, Germany, Spain). Their work bridges performance and analysis, with a research-based approach to the four-hand repertoire, featured in lecture-recitals, academic conferences, and radio programs. Their collaboration recently expanded into practice-led research, with appearances at the “Federico II” University of Napoli and the University of Pavia-Cremona.

Gianluca Blasio is a pianist and musicologist with a distinctive profile that blends performance and artistic research. He graduated with honors from the “San Pietro a Majella” Conservatory in Napoli, and later he earned a Chamber Music diploma at the International Academy “Incontri con il Maestro” in Imola. He also holds degrees in Cultural Heritage and Musicology.
Described as a musician of «vivid imagination and strong technical command», Blasio performs regularly across Italy (Torino, Milano, Ravenna, Bologna, Roma, Napoli, Martina Franca) and Europe (Madrid, León, Wien, Berlin).
Also active as a scholar, he carried out an internship in cataloging printed musical scores at the “Vittorio Emanuele III” National Library of Napoli and published booklet notes for CDs (Da Vinci Classics, Stradivarius) and articles for specialized journals («d.a.t.»; «Live. Performing & Arts»).
Always interested in the relationship between musicological investigation and performance, he has held seminars and lecture-concerts on the subject and participated in conferences and lectures – for associations such as Il Saggiatore musicale and Società Italiana di Musicologia among others – at the Conservatories of Napoli, Firenze and Livorno, the Humaniter Foundation of the Società Umanitaria, the Universities “Federico II” in Napoli, Pavia and “Alma Mater Studiorum” in Bologna and the Centro Studi Opera Omnia “Luigi Boccherini” in Lucca.
Former adjunct professor as part of pre-academic courses at the “Vecchi-Tonelli” Conservatory in Modena, he is currently pursuing a PhD in Learning Sciences and Digital Technologies with a focus on piano pedagogy and performance.

Lisa Redorici is an Italian pianist and dedicated chamber musician. She graduated in Piano Performance and Chamber Music with an advanced postgraduate diploma from the International Academy "Incontri con il Maestro" in Imola, Italy while also obtaining a Master Degree in Physics with honors from the University of Bologna. Her multifaceted artistic and scientific education enables her to innovatively connect both music and science. A soloist and chamber musician, Lisa has performed in Italy, Austria, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden, where she held a masterclass at the Royal College in Stockholm. She meticulously works on the four-hands piano repertoire in the Blasio-Redorici Piano Duo, acclaimed for its high sensitivity and great balance (S. Möller, Wien, 2023). She also focuses on strings, collaborating with cellist C. Sette in Duo Karis, and, as an accompanist, she worked alongside violist D. Waskiewicz in her teaching courses at the “Accademia Filarmonica” in Bologna where Lisa played with “I Solisti dell’Accademia dell’Orchestra Mozart”. She teaches Acoustics and Piano Practice in different Conservatories in Italy.

Composer(s)

Casella, Alfredo (b Turin, 25 July 1883; d Rome, 5 March 1947): After studying with his mother, he showed precocious promise as a pianist, first playing in public in 1894. He also became intensely interested in science, and for a time wavered between two possible careers. Music prevailed and in 1896, following the advice of Martucci and Bazzini, his parents sent him to study at the Paris Conservatoire. The rich musical and cultural life of the French capital (which remained his base for the next 19 years) broadened his horizons and had a lasting influence on him. Before long the focus of his interests shifted from the piano to composing, and in 1900–01 he attended Fauré’s composition classes. His close friends at this time included Enescu and Ravel; and he developed immense enthusiasm not only for the music of Debussy but also for that of the Russian nationalists, Strauss, Mahler and in due course Bartók, Schoenberg and Stravinsky. Revolutionary trends in the visual arts (cubism, futurism, pittura metafisica) also affected him strongly and, he believed, influenced his development. His taste and culture thus became both adventurous and cosmopolitan – a tendency enhanced, after he left the Conservatoire in 1902, by travels which twice took him as far afield as Russia in 1907 and 1909.

Nevertheless, Casella gradually became aware that to fulfil himself properly he had to return to Italy, to create there ‘an art which could be not only Italian but also European in its position in the general cultural picture’ (1941). The decisive step (both for himself and for Italian music) was taken in 1915, when he became professor of piano at the Liceo di S Cecilia, Rome. At once he began to introduce the music of Ravel, Stravinsky and others to the ignorant, provincial Italian public; and by 1917 he had gathered around him a group of young composers who in varying degrees shared his views, among them G.F. Malipiero, Pizzetti, Respighi, Tommasini, Gui and Castelnuovo-Tedesco. With these companions-in-arms (some much more active than others) he founded the Società Nazionale di Musica, soon renamed the Società Italiana di Musica Moderna (SIMM). During the next two years this controversial group gave many concerts of modern music (both Italian and foreign) and published a lively, subversive magazine, Ars nova. Casella’s public appearances at this time – as composer, conductor and pianist, both in the SIMM concerts and elsewhere – provoked predictably violent protests from the public. Yet the impact of the SIMM on Italian musical life was crucial and lasting, though its activities ceased in 1919.

After the war Casella again began to travel widely, as pianist and conductor, and in 1922 he resigned his post at the Liceo (by then renamed Conservatorio) di S Cecilia. Nevertheless his fight for the modernization of Italian music continued, and in 1923 he, Malipiero and Labroca, with enthusiastic encouragement from D’Annunzio, founded the Corporazione delle Nuove Musiche (CDNM). This was a somewhat different organization from the SIMM: no longer a close collaboration of young Italian musicians seeking to establish themselves but, rather, a ‘window on the world’, aiming to bring to Italy ‘the latest expressions and the most recent researches of contemporary musical art’ (1941). In keeping with this aim the CDNM became integrated, almost at once, with the Italian section of the ISCM. It continued, however, to have some autonomy until 1928, by which time it had taken such works as Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire and Stravinsky’s Les noces on tour throughout Italy.

In the 1930s Casella became a leading light in yet another Italian modern music organization: the Venice Festival Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea, which he at first (1930–34) directed in rather uneasy collaboration with Lualdi, assisted by Labroca. Meanwhile (1932) he was put in charge of the advanced class in piano at the Accademia di S Cecilia, Rome. There can be no doubt that in these years Casella, like so many other Italians of otherwise good judgment, fell under the spell of fascism: his opera Il deserto tentato was written in praise of Mussolini’s Abyssinian campaign. But the fact that the 1937 Venice Festival, thanks entirely to Casella’s initiative, still found a place for the music of Schoenberg is itself enough to prove the absurdity of claims that he became, in later life, a stalwart of narrow Italian provincialism.

In 1939, in keeping with his growing interest in early music (which had first been kindled about 1920), Casella helped to found the Settimane Senesi at the Accademia Chigiana, Siena. Soon afterwards his life entered its tragic final phase: not only was his family’s position endangered by the fact that his wife was a Jew and a Frenchwoman, but in the summer of 1942 he suffered the first attack of the illness which was in due course to kill him. Not until 1944, however, did he cease to compose; and he remained active as a conductor until 1946 and as a piano accompanist up to three weeks before his death.

JOHN C.G. WATERHOUSE (bibliography with VIRGILIO BERNARDONI)
From The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

Ferruccio Busoni: (b Empoli, 1 April 1866; d Berlin, 27 July 1924). Italian composer and pianist, active chiefly in Austria and Germany. Much to his detriment as composer and aesthetician, he was lionized as a keyboard virtuoso. The focus of his interests as a performer lay in Bach, Mozart and Liszt, while he deplored Wagner. Rejecting atonality and advocating in its place a Janus-faced ‘Junge Klassizität’, he anticipated many later developments in the 20th century. His interests ranged from Amerindian folk music and Gregorian chant to new scales and microtones, from Cervantes and E.T.A. Hoffmann to Proust and Rilke. Only gradually, during the final decades of the 20th century, has his significance as a creative artist become fully apparent.

Marco Enrico Bossi (b Salò, Lake Garda, 25 April 1861; d Atlantic Ocean, 20 Feb 1925). Italian composer, organist and pianist. Born into a family of organists, he studied with his father, Pietro Bossi (1834–96), then at the Liceo Musicale, Bologna (1871–3), and at the Milan Conservatory (1873–81), where his teachers included Ponchielli. In 1881 he was appointed organist at Como Cathedral, and in due course he won worldwide renown as one of the finest organists of the day. He moved to Naples in 1890 as teacher of harmony and the organ at the conservatory, later becoming director of the Licei Musicali in Venice (1895–1902) and Bologna (1902–11) and of the Liceo (Conservatorio from 1919) di S Cecilia, Rome (1916–23). He died at sea while returning from New York.

Bossi’s few completed operas had little success; but he won lasting respect, mainly in Italy, for his instrumental and choral compositions. Internationally he is remembered largely for his organ pieces, the best of which (e.g. the widely performed G minor Scherzo op.49 no.2) are still very effective. However, the Canticum canticorum was particularly highly praised in its time, in Germany as well as Italy. Today the work perhaps impresses more by sincerity and solid craftsmanship than originality, but the opening pages of Il paradiso perduto – a representation of chaos, with pulseless rhythms, bare 5ths and flattened 7ths – show that Bossi was capable of vivid poetic evocation, while Giovanna d’Arco, the most dramatic of his choral works, suggests that he had more sense of the theatre than his operas revealed. Among his orchestral pieces, a vigorous if slightly academic Organ Concerto and the elegant rather Wolf-Ferrari-like Intermezzi goldoniani have continued to be revived occasionally in Italy; and of the chamber compositions, the two violin sonatas have proved especially worthy of renewed attention: the profoundly expressive, subtle-textured slow movement of the second is one of Bossi's most inspired utterances.

With Martucci and Sgambati, Bossi led the revival of Italian non-operatic music at the turn of the century, and, like them, he turned to northern Europe for the main sources of his style: there are signs of the influences – not always fully assimilated – of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Franck, Brahms and (in more adventurously chromatic pieces such as the Konzertstück op.130) Reger. In his last years he showed little sympathy with the radical young; but such new departures as the very refined chromaticism of the Five Pieces for piano op.137 (1914), or the ladders of perfect 4ths in Santa Caterina da Siena, reveal that he was not wholly unreceptive to the new sounds of the 20th century.

(b Naples, 16 Oct 1903; d Naples 10 Dec 1938). Italian composer and critic. He studied composition with A. Savasta at the Naples Conservatory before teaching at the Liceo Musicale in Cagliari (1924–6) and at the Milan Conservatory (1926–30). He returned to Naples, where he held the professorship of counterpoint at the conservatory there (1930–33) and then, that of composition in Palermo, before returning to Naples Conservatory at the end of his life. He was active as a critic for various newspapers and journals, including Rassegna Musicale, and published guides to two operas by Pizzetti, Orséolo and Fra Gherardo. Pilati shared with many other early 20th-century Italian composers an interest in reviving instrumental music of the past, both Italian and European (his Suite for piano and strings and Piano Quintet are clearly neo-classical and reminiscent of Ravel, while later works assume the characteristics of sonatas of the Romantic era). The influence of Pizzetti is significant, especially in his assimilation of linguistic and formal models (Il battesimo di Cristo for soloists, chorus and orchestra) and in a structural rigour, tempered in Pilati's case by a rich vein of folksong inspiration which finds full expression in his last works.

Ottorino Respighi (b Bologna, 9 July 1879; d Rome, 18 April 1936). Italian composer. Despite the eclecticism and uneven quality of his output as a whole, the colourful inventiveness of his most successful works has won them an international popularity unmatched by any other Italian composer since Puccini.