Wolf-Ferrari: Orchestral Works Alban Beikircher, Philharmonie Pilsen & Chuhei Iwasaki

• Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876 - 1948): Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 26:
• 1 Wolf-Ferrari: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 26: I. Fantasia 11:10
• 2 Wolf-Ferrari: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 26: II. Romanza 08:25
• 3 Wolf-Ferrari: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 26: IIIa. Improvviso. Agitato con passione 04:59
• 4 Wolf-Ferrari: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 26: IIIb. Rondò finale. Allegro assai 14:42
• Divertimento in D Major, Op. 20:
• 5 Wolf-Ferrari: Divertimento in D Major, Op. 20: I. Variazioni su un tema capriccioso 06:42
• 6 Wolf-Ferrari: Divertimento in D Major, Op. 20: II. Canzone pastorale 03:35
• 7 Wolf-Ferrari: Divertimento in D Major, Op. 20: III. Siciliana 04:45
• 8 Wolf-Ferrari: Divertimento in D Major, Op. 20: IV. Rondo finale 05:12
• I gioielli della Madonna (Excerpts):
• 9 Wolf-Ferrari: I gioielli della Madonna (Excerpts): Festa popolare 04:02
• 10 Wolf-Ferrari: I gioielli della Madonna (Excerpts): Intermezzo 04:10
• 11 Wolf-Ferrari: I gioielli della Madonna (Excerpts): Serenata 03:26
• 12 Wolf-Ferrari: I gioielli della Madonna (Excerpts): Danza napolitana 03:44
• Total Runtime 01:14:52

Info for Wolf-Ferrari: Orchestral Works

It is regrettable that the music of the German-Italian Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) is largely forgotten today.

Yet until the 1930s he was considered a legitimate successor to Verdi and Puccini and was one of the most frequently performed opera composers in the world.

Not only did the First World War and fascism in Italy and Germany plunge him into a creative crisis, musical history overtook his tonal language, which then seemed finally obsolete after the Second World War.

A Wolf-Ferrari renaissance is still pending, but the present successful recording with instrumental music will contribute to an overdue revision.

"In the four-movement Divertimento, we hear Wolf-Ferrari as an entertaining composer. The suite I gioielli della Madonna’ (The Jewels of the Madonna) from his fifth opera in the verismo style depicts the teeming street life of Naples. The CD opens with the Violin Concerto, which at the time of its composition in 1943 was considered almost impertinent, since it adhered ironclad to tonality and romanticism and thus testifies to great inner freedom on Wolf-Ferrari’s part. The tone is probably based on the closeness to the dedicatee Guila Bustabo, which goes beyond the musical.

Alban Beikircher knows how to resurrect this world and make it resound with his playing in the right tone. He tastefully expresses the autumnal melancholy that one might hear in the composition that the almost 70-year-old composer in love wrote for the just 20-year-old violinist.

He is supported by the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Chuhei Iwasaki. This Japanese conductor, trained primarily in the Czech Republic, knows how to convey the cultivated entertaining character of the music to the orchestra in such a way that it can immediately translate that into musical value, making these recordings an elegantly pleasant listen." (Uwe Krusch, pizzicato.lu)

Alban Beikircher, violin
Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra
Chuhei Iwasaki, conductor

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