ALFREDO CASELLA (1883-1947): Suite in C, Op. 13, Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 61, Pagine di guerra, Op. 25bis.

Description: World Premiere Recordings of the Suite (1909-1910) and "War Pages (1915 and the last of the five pieces, 1918). The former is a three-movement, 26-minute work heavy with Mahlerian echoes as well as reminiscences of French baroque styles and the bright orchestral sonorities of Chabrier (remember, Casella was known as a "musical chameleon") while the Pagine are brief impressions after short newsreel footage of World War I ("In Belgium: Advance of German Heavy Artillery", "In France: Before the Ruins of Rheims Cathedral", "In Russia:  Cossack Cavalry Charge", "In Alsace:  Wooden Crosses..." and "In the Adriatic: Italian Cruisers carrying Armaments") - these total only eleven minutes and are in Casella's second, "futuristic" style, highly chromatic and brutally rhythmic. The traycard states that all are first recordings - and they're right even though Chandos' June release (06N003) of the Concerto (recorded five months after this one) was released three months earlier... Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma; Francesco La Vecchia.