Petrassi - Secondo Concerto

We've been off for a few days to France and as a result I haven't been able to listen to a lot of music. I've had a lot of Honegger's 4th Symphony swirling around in my head. And I listened once more to Petrassi's Secondo Concerto. There is an echo there that initially escaped me, but once you have heard it is very obvious. Indeed, there is a fair amount of Malcolm Arnold in this work, particularly in those kinds of half-jaunty, half-questioning motifs for the winds. Also the light, transparent scoring connects to some of Arnold's slow symphonic music. But the Petrassi never charges into the kind of slapstick and nose thumbing that Arnold is occasionally indulging in. Nevertheless, the parallel is really quite striking. Interesting is also that these composers are roughly contemporaneous. Arnold's Symphony nr. 2 dates from 1953, and therefore follows very closely in Petrassi's tracks with his Secondo Concerto. I assume it's unlikely that there has been a mutual influence. But one never knows! Kenneth Leighton and Peter Maxwell Davies are two respected British composers who studied with Petrassi. Anyway, if there was, it was only a passing attraction as Petrassi seemed to move in a slightly different direction with his Third Concerto. 

There is a review of the Tamayo CDs circulating on the internet (written by Guy Rickards for the scholarly journal Tempo, published by Cambridge University Press) which draws an interesting parallel with two other composers: Busoni and Hartmann. I have Hartmann's symphonic cycle in my collection but I haven't listened to it yet. I need to brush up on Busoni's (smaller body of) symphonic work too. I have a CPO disc with a mixture of shorter works (A Lustspiel Overtüre amongst them) and then of course the Sarabande and Cortège from Doktor Faustus. To be further investigated.

It's early days but judging from what I heard of the first four concertos I find these compositions extremely rewarding. It's serious music, ostensibly written in a personal voice without indulging in a quest for effect whatsoever. I was surprised to read in a program note by David Fanning on Rodion Shchedrin's First Concerto for Orchestra that "... some, such as the Italian Goffredo Petrassi, who composed eight examples between the 1930s and 1970s, have followed Hindemith’s cue, producing frankly recreational music, designed primarily to show off the qualities of the modern orchestra." I don't find Petrassi's music 'recreational' at all (despite his Third Concerto being misleadingly titled Recréation Concertante). Despite the obvious transparency of the orchestral writing and the predominantly tonal harmony it is music that is not easy to approach. I believe this may have something to do with the architecture, which does not seem to rely on traditional templates such as sonata form. Nevertheless, it does sound symphonic! Also, in Concertos 2-4 movements are played attacca, so it's not always easy to orient oneself when one cannot keep track of the indexing on the CD player (as in my case). Unfortunately the rather wordy booklet essay written by a certain Paolo Petazzi is of little help in understanding the formal aspects of the music.

One thing that captivates in all of the first four concertos is the gravitas of the slow movements. They seem to be the emotional heart of these works. They are also a vehicle to showcase Petrassi's masterly skills in orchestration, weaving ravishing sonorities into a somberly meditative, nightlike atmosphere. I've just dipped my toe into the Third and Fourth Concertos now and I look forward to continuing the journey.