Orchestral Works Vol. 3 - Piano Concerto No. 1 / La canzone dei ricordi

"Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909) is a composer of no little success during his lifetime. Hailed as one of the premiere pianists of the age, he was also named the conductor of the Orchestra Napoletana, widely considered to be the best in Italy at the time. Naxos has embarked on a complete orchestral music series. Martucci would certainly be pleased, as these performances are outstanding, played to perfection by the Rome Symphony and captured is excellent sound. The First Piano Concerto was not published until 95 years after it was written, and the composer evidently didn't think much about it. Perhaps that is because it is so redolent of Mendelssohn and Chopin in places. However, even here we are given hints of the vast originality of this man's music that would become so evident in just a few years. This is a not-to-be-missed series." (AudAud Five Stars Nov 2009)

The First Piano Concerto, while indebted to Chopin and Mendelssohn and prefiguring Rachmaninov, nonetheless has its own expressive immediacy. By turns sensuous and serene, nostalgic and intensely yearning, The Song of Remembrance is a rare example of a song cycle for voice and orchestra composed in nineteenth-century Italy.

2009 marks the centenary of the death of Giuseppe Martucci.