Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975): Orchestral Works

Luigi Dallapiccola, composer

Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions.

It was Richard Wagner’s music that inspired Dallapiccola to start composing in earnest, and Claude Debussy’s that caused him to stop: hearing Der fliegende Holländer while exiled to Austria convinced the young man that composition was his calling, but after first hearing Debussy in 1921, at age 17, he stopped composing for three years in order to give this important influence time to sink in. The neoclassical works of Ferruccio Busoni would figure prominently in his later work, but his biggest influence would be the ideas of the Second Viennese School, which he encountered in the 1930s, particularly Alban Berg and Anton Webern. Dallapiccola’s works of the 1920s (the period of his adherence to fascism) have been withdrawn, with the instruction that they never be performed, though they still exist under controlled access for study.

His works widely use the serialism developed and embraced by his idols; he was, in fact, the first Italian to write in the method, and the primary proponent of it in Italy, and he developed serialist techniques to allow for a more lyrical, tonal style. Throughout the 1930s his style developed from a diatonic style with bursts of chromaticism to a consciously serialist outlook. He went from using twelve-tone rows for melodic material to structuring his works entirely serially. With the adoption of serialism he never lost the feel for melodic line that many of the detractors of the Second Viennese School claimed to be absent in modern dodecaphonic music. His disillusionment with Mussolini’s regime effected a change in his style: after the Abyssinian campaign he claimed that his writing would no longer ever be light and carefree as it once was. While there are later exceptions, particularly the Piccolo concerto per Muriel Couvreux, this is largely the case.

Liriche Greche (1942–45), for solo voice with instruments, would be his first work composed entirely in this twelve-tone style, composed concurrently with his last original purely diatonic work, the ballet Marsia (1943). The following decade showed a refinement in his technique and the increasing influence of Webern’s work. After this, from the 1950s on, the refined, contemplative style he developed would characterize his output, in contrast to the more raw and passionate works of his youth. Most of his works would be songs for solo voice and instrumental accompaniment. His touch with instrumentation is noted for its impressionistic sensuality and soft textures, heavy on sustained notes by woodwinds and strings (particularly middle-range instruments, such as the clarinet and viola).

The politically charged Canti di prigionia for chorus and ensemble was the beginning of a loose triptych on the highly personal themes of imprisonment and injustice; the one-act opera Il prigioniero and the cantata Canti di liberazione completed the trilogy. Of these, Il prigioniero (1944–48) has become Dallapiccola’s best-known work. It tells the chilling story of a political prisoner whose jailor, in an apparent gesture of fraternity, allows him to escape from his cell. At the moment of his freedom, however, he finds he has been the victim of a cruel practical joke as he runs straight into the arms of the Grand Inquisitor, who smilingly leads him off to the stake at which he is to be burned alive. The opera’s pessimistic outlook reflects Dallapiccola’s complete disillusionment with fascism (which he had naïvely supported when Mussolini first came to power) and the music contained therein is both beautifully realized and supremely disquieting.

His final opera Ulisse, with his own libretto after The Odyssey, was the culmination of his life’s work. It was composed over 8 years, including and developing themes from his earlier works, and was his last large-scale composition.

Source: Wikipedia

Arantza Ezenarro, soprano

Spanish soprano Arantza Ezenarro was an ensemble member of Theater Ulm from 2008 to 2010.

Previous engagements until now led her to the Semperoper in Dresden and Wuppertal Opera House, as well as to Bilbao. Ezenarro has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Christian Thielemann and Jesús López-Cobos.

Recently, this gifted soprano has recorded a solo CD featuring Spanish repertoire under the label Capriccio. On this album she was accompanied by Juan Carlos Rodríguez with whom she is scheduled to perform a recital in November 2013 in Eppan (South Tyrol).

Next year she will contribute her voice to an album recording of “La Clemenza di Tito” by Gluck with the baroque ensemble l’arte del mondo under Sony Music record label.

Currently, Ms. Ezenarro is performing as a featured soloist at the Semperoper Dresden in King Arthur. Another highlight of the current season will be her appearance at the international Händel Festival in Halle, Germany.

Source: Vienna Music Connection

Karl-Heinz Steffens, conductor

Karl-Heinz Steffens is a German clarinetist and conductor, born in 1961 in Trier (Germany).

Steffens studied clarinet at the Stuttgart Academy of Music under Ulf Rodenhäuser. He has played with the State Theatre in Kassel, the Frankfurt Opera and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was the solo clarinetist with the Berlin Philharmonic from 2001 to 2007. He taught at the Hannover Academy of Music and Theatre from 1996 to 1999. He became Professor of Clarinet at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin in 2003. He is the conductor and music director of the German Philharmonic Orchestra, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Source: Wikipedia

Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, orchestra

The Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz (German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate) is the largest and leading symphony orchestra of the Germany state of Rhineland-Palatinate, based in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. It gives concerts in Rhineland-Palatinate as well as across Germany and abroad.

The orchestra includes 86 musicians from 16 nations.. The chief conductor since the start of the 2009/2010 season is Karl-Heinz Steffens.

Source: Wikipedia