The name of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) is now emerging from the shadow cast by his wartime collaboration with Italy's Fascist regime. Operas such as I quattro rusteghi and I gioielli della Madonna occupy a place on the fringes of the repertoire, and Brilliant Classics have made a persuasive case for him as a composer of chamber music in a post-Brahmsian mould with the release of his piano trios. This album was recommended by Classics Today for the 'eloquently sustained' performance of Trio ArchÃ¨, displaying 'a whimsical discursiveness... that might be described as the lovechild of Schubert and FaurÃ©.' Much the same might be said of Wolf-Ferrari's piano music on the evidence of this new recording by the Italian pianist Costantino Catena, who has made many well-received albums with the Camerata Tokyo. To open the album, Catena has made his own completion of an early, substantial (19-minute) Bagatelle that Wolf-Ferrari left unfinished. Theatricality and high contrast mark the Bagatelle throughout, as one would expect from an experienced composer for the stage, and they lend beguiling variety to the other first recordings here, of Variations on the minuet from Verdi's Falstaff, a Chopin-Phantasie in B minor and a Scherzino, all dating from Wolf-Ferrari's prodigious twenties when he was the toast of new Italian music. Wolf-Ferrari turned to the Romantic genre of character-piece in three Impromptus Op.13 (1904) and three KlavierstÃ¼cke Op.14 (1905), but he addressed the form in a personal and authentic manner. Some of the rhythmic sophistication may remind us of Brahms, and the delicately embroidered harmony of Hugo Wolf, but Wolf-Ferrari's characteristic sweetness of tone does not descend into decorative mannerism or affected sentimentalism: he was, to the core, a German-Italian composer with a foot on both sides of the Alps.

Tracklist:

6 Bagatelle
Undici Variazioni
Chopin-Phantasie In B Minor
Scherzino
3 Impromptus, Op. 13: I. Andante
3 Impromptus, Op. 13: II. Tranquillo, Rubato
3 Impromptus, Op. 13: III. Appassionato, Cantando
3 Piano Pieces, Op. 14: I. Melodie
3 Piano Pieces, Op. 14: II. Capriccio
3 Piano Pieces, Op. 14: III. Romanze

UPC: 5028421958682
Label: Brilliant Classics
Release Date: 2.1.19
Format: CD

Costantino Catena - Piano Music (CD)