CD Review: Noseda's Casella

A. Casella, Orchestral Works, Vol. 4, G. Keith, BBC Philharmonic, G. Noseda (released on November 13, 2015) CHAN10880 | 77'14"

Charles T. Downey, Noseda makes case for neglected Italian master
Washington Post, February 27

In 2017, Gianandrea Noseda will take over as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra. One of the Italian conductor’s pet projects over the last five years is a set devoted to the little-known orchestral works of Alfredo Casella, recorded with his former band, the BBC Philharmonic. Although Casella is known better as a pianist and teacher, these four discs can change your mind about his merits as a composer.

The latest disc opens with Casella’s “Symphonic Fragments” from “Le couvent sur l’eau,” the ballet score he composed with writer Jean-Louis Vaudoyer. The work did not find favor with its intended patron, Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes, but these excerpts reveal a sparkling mastery of orchestral color... [Continue reading]

Alfredo Casella, Orchestral Works, Vol. 4
Gillian Keith, BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda