A new Harp concerto premiered and recorded by Floraleda Sacchi.
Music by Manuel de Sica
Kojiki for harp and strings
I. Prelude 4’38
II. Epitaph 7’08
III. Dance 2’25
14’18”
Floraleda Sacchi (Harp)
Flavio Scogna (director)
Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini
© Brilliant Classics, 94905
Manuel de Sica’s music is difficult to categorise, and that in itself is its strength: it seamlessly crosses borders between ‘serious’ and ‘light’ music, touches on tragic events (In memoriam for the victims of the earthquake of Abruzzo and Emilia) or illuminates ironically films.
The diversity of De Sica’s inspirations points at his eclectic and unconventional style. With this CD we have the chance to explore the oeuvre of this contemporary Italian composer, best known for his contributions to the world of film; for example, Il giardino dei Finzi Contini, the last track on the release, won an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. Much of De Sica’s work centres around the themes of pain and suffering, where music is invested with the power to help alleviate the indifference that surrounds so much human grief – as in pieces such as Kojiki.
The titles translates ‘News form ancient times’. This is a short symphonic poem inspired by the bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941. The story told regards the childhood, adolescence, falling in love, suffering for the war and a death full of unanswered questions of a kamikaze pilot who might have taken part in the bombing. The final dance describes his assent to the empyrean world of his ancestors.
Performing this music is the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, one of Italy’s most important symphony orchestras and which has appeared under conductors of the calibre of Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel and Kurt Masur – to name but a few. The ensemble provides the background to a wonderfully lively instrumental fantasy in which the harp, violin, viola and piano — here astutely performed Floraleda Sacchi, Maristella Patuzzi, Anna Serova and Michelangelo Carbonara respectively – becomes the soloists in a fascinating, wide-reaching musical fabric. Flavio Emilio Scogna conducts.
