"In the three sets of Impressions, which portray beauties of nature and country life—various birds, bell sounds, trees, wind—it is easy enough to visualize what is being depicted. And Malipiero’s music is often held together by ostinato figures, such as the tolling of bells for minutes on end, or the mating display of a woodpecker working on a dead log...Francesco la Vecchia’s conducting and the sound here are dedicated and above reproach…" --Fanfare, March 2012
"The Rome Symphony is very good…the performances are engaging because the sound is rich and ambient and because the music itself is worth hearing…Malipiero exhibits more personality and creativity in these works…" --American Record Guide, January 2012
"The Rome Symphony is very good…the performances are engaging because the sound is rich and ambient and because the music itself is worth hearing…Malipiero exhibits more personality and creativity in these works…" --American Record Guide, January 2012
"It is a pleasure to be able to report that both the music and the performances fulfil my hopes…and that this has proved to be a compellingly rewarding introduction to this strikingly individual composer’s works…what about the music? Immediate reactions are it has great appeal; flamboyantly and confidently orchestrated but on a relatively brief time scale. I enjoyed every movement here. I am not sure quite what I was expecting but he has an individual voice. This is apparent from the opening work.
It is briefly worth noting that with the exception of two movements of the first set of Impressioni and the first Pause all the music here is receiving world premieres recordings on what proves to be an exceptionally well-filled disc. Add the exemplary liner and high production values from performers and engineer/producer and you can see that this is a very fine and valuable Naxos release. Certainly my interest is well and truly tweaked; enough that hopefully this disc is first of more Malipiero from these artists—my instinct is they have more to say about him than their Russian counterparts." --MusicWeb International, November 2011
"It’s always difficult to speak authoritatively about performances of unfamiliar music, but these works are so strange, so beautiful, and so remarkable that criticism is disarmed. Impressioni del vero (“Impressions from life”) consists of three, three-movement suites of strikingly colored, harmonically arresting, melodious music. The titles give some impression of these atmospheric pieces: Dialogue of Bells, The Cypresses and the Wind, The Woodpecker, and Festival in the Valley of Hell. “Haunting” is perhaps the best term to describe the music—it gets under your skin, and doesn’t sound like anyone else.
Pause del silenzio (“Breaks in silence”) consists of two suites, one of five movements and one consisting of seven brief episodes played continuously. There’s an improvisatory quality to these pieces that makes them completely unpredictable, and yet somehow they work well together. Okay, let’s forget about describing the impossible and turn instead to performances that sound remarkably confident and assured. The orchestra plays very well, conductor Francesco La Vecchia (as in his Casella series) leads with a masterly sense of pacing, and the sonics are excellent. This is just wonderful." --ClassicsToday.com, September 2011
It is briefly worth noting that with the exception of two movements of the first set of Impressioni and the first Pause all the music here is receiving world premieres recordings on what proves to be an exceptionally well-filled disc. Add the exemplary liner and high production values from performers and engineer/producer and you can see that this is a very fine and valuable Naxos release. Certainly my interest is well and truly tweaked; enough that hopefully this disc is first of more Malipiero from these artists—my instinct is they have more to say about him than their Russian counterparts." --MusicWeb International, November 2011
"It’s always difficult to speak authoritatively about performances of unfamiliar music, but these works are so strange, so beautiful, and so remarkable that criticism is disarmed. Impressioni del vero (“Impressions from life”) consists of three, three-movement suites of strikingly colored, harmonically arresting, melodious music. The titles give some impression of these atmospheric pieces: Dialogue of Bells, The Cypresses and the Wind, The Woodpecker, and Festival in the Valley of Hell. “Haunting” is perhaps the best term to describe the music—it gets under your skin, and doesn’t sound like anyone else.
Pause del silenzio (“Breaks in silence”) consists of two suites, one of five movements and one consisting of seven brief episodes played continuously. There’s an improvisatory quality to these pieces that makes them completely unpredictable, and yet somehow they work well together. Okay, let’s forget about describing the impossible and turn instead to performances that sound remarkably confident and assured. The orchestra plays very well, conductor Francesco La Vecchia (as in his Casella series) leads with a masterly sense of pacing, and the sonics are excellent. This is just wonderful." --ClassicsToday.com, September 2011
