Giovanni Sgambati (1841-1914)
Symphony no. 2 in E flat major (1883, reconstructed by Rosalind Trübger)
Sinfonia epitalamio (1887)
Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma/Francesco La Vecchia
rec. 2012, OSR Studios, Rome
NAXOS 8.572686 [77]
If you were compiling a list of Italian composers who were active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, I’d venture that the name Giovanni Sgambati would not necessarily be the first to come to mind. You will, though, find that a surprising number of recordings of his music have been reviewed over the years on MusicWeb.
Sgambati’s symphonies have fared particularly well on CD in the past decade. Back in March 2014, Brian Reinhart reviewed a pioneering Naxos disc of the First, performed by the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma under Francesco La Vecchia (Naxos 8.573007) and was pretty impressed by what he heard. “[T]he symphony is terrific and completely enjoyable”, he wrote, “…[and] the performances are as infectious as the music”. Four years later, a CPO release of the first and second symphonies, performed by the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen and conducted by Ola Rudner, was reviewed by both Rob Barnett and Jonathan Woolf. Rob characterised the Württemberg performances as “red in tooth and claw” and, in the symphony no. 1 where comparison to the Naxos disc was possible, he clearly preferred Rudner’s “life imbued” approach to La Vecchia’s. Jonathan, on the other hand, considered it a rather more difficult judgment call and, if anything, was inclined to award the palm to La Vecchia and his Rome orchestra.
Now comes a follow-up Naxos release that couples Sgambati’s second symphony, composed a couple of years after the first in 1883, to the Sinfonia epitalamio of 1887. Once again the performers are Mr La Vecchia and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma.
The composer’s second symphony had a somewhat unfortunate – and decidedly murky – history. Although there were later, unconfirmed reports that a few performances had been given in the 1880s, the first properly documented one occurred in 1915. It may well be the case, therefore, that the symphony remained unperformed for more than three decades after its composition and that Sgambati, who died in 1914, never heard it in its complete and definitive form. Matters subsequently took an even worse turn when, after that 1915 performance and a subsequent one two years later, the score seems to have disappeared. Just the individual orchestral parts survived and they languished in obscurity until being acquired by the Italian government in 1994. Only after musicologist Rosalind Trübger had spent three years laboriously reconstructing the symphony were the first post-1917 performances given in Rome – privately at a recording studio in 2012 (the performance that is heard on this disc) and at a public concert two years later.
All of which begs the question whether all that effort to bring this symphony back to life was actually worth it? Reviewing the Württemberg performance on CPO, both Rob and Jonathan were enthusiastic about the reconstructed score. For his part, Rob was clearly impressed by the way that the opening movement (andante sostenuto – agitato) “broods its way out of romantic silence with darkly umbrageous thunder-strikes shouting across the skies. Again, the strong woodwind writing is lambent and of fibrous quality”. He enjoyed how the subsequent allegro vivace assai “keeps things skipping along, something in the manner of Mendelssohn and Bizet” and was equally enthusiastic about the “dignified and smooth-talking Andante con moto which is not a moment too long”. As for the allegro finale, Rob thought that it “nicely rounds out this Symphony, which is the stunning equal of its predecessor”. Jonathan, meanwhile, remarked admiringly on the first movement’s “long slow introduction, finely sustained, with warmly textured wind writing… the conclusion to this movement is properly exultant”, thought the scherzo “sinewy and vigorous” and considered that “the lingering cavatina that is the slow movement is a real high point, its themes repeated to advantage and well-orchestrated to bring out its appeal”. He concluded by describing the final movement approvingly as “sporty, confident, and classically developed”.
With two of MusicWeb’s most experienced reviewers concurring about the quality of Sgambati’s score (and, in so doing, introducing me to that delightful word umbrageous) I put the CD into the player with high hopes – and found that the music more than lived up to expectations. Rob and Jonathan were spot-on in their analyses and judgments, and their descriptions give an excellent impression of what to expect. Both would no doubt second the remarks of Tommaso Manera, this new CD’s booklet essayist, as he quite rightly suggests that the symphony no. 2 “is no mere relic to have been rescued from neglect, but a real gem of the 19th-century Italian instrumental repertoire – one of those works that improves with every hearing”.
As my colleagues have considered the second symphony in some detail, perhaps it is more useful for me to concentrate on the work that completes the disc – and, in so doing, proves to be a world premiere recording – Sgambati’s Sinfonia epitalamio (“Nuptual symphony”) of 1887. It is a substantial piece, only a few seconds shorter than the second symphony, and, though officially unnumbered, was considered for all practical purposes by its composer as his symphony no. 3. Once again, its compositional history appears somewhat obscure, but Mr Manera’s very informative booklet notes suggest that it was an existing composition that was quickly adapted for performance at a concert celebrating the wedding of Prince Amadeo of Savoy and Princess Laetitia Bonaparte – a scandalously incestuous affair that required a special papal dispensation before the happy couple, who were actually uncle and niece, could finally tie the knot. It was quite possibly the score’s adaptation for such celebratory purposes that resulted in its ultimate form as rather less of a symphony than a three-part programmatic symphonic poem. Part I is entitled In church and is made up of just a single movement called Prelude and canticle. Part II (In the garden) boasts two movements – Popular festivities and nocturne and Reprise and children’s dance, while Part III (At court) also has two, Minuet and Procession.
One wouldn’t expect a work written for royal wedding celebrations to be especially challenging or to plumb any particularly deep emotions. The opening Prelude and canticle is, nonetheless, really rather beautiful, evoking ecclesiastical solemnity (0:00-2.08) before seguing into an atmosphere and even a theme that’s somewhat reminiscent of the opening Auf der Campagna movement of Richard Strauss’s contemporary composition Aus Italien (2.08-4.30). There’s a grandiose climax before that theme returns and takes the movement to a peaceful resolution. The following Popular festivities and nocturne initially introduces the jollity appropriate for a wedding, with the emphasis very much on the popular – this particular party is clearly one for carousing plebs rather than elevated aristos. After only a couple of minutes, however, the nocturne appears – a song of the night with a beautifully meandering melody that Sgambati develops and elaborates at some length. Along with the Prelude and canticle, it offers the strongest confirmation of Jonathan’s suggestion, quoted earlier, that such lyrical slow movements may well have been the composer’s real forte. In the third movement Reprise and children’s dance, the reprise in questionturns out to be the earlier popular festivities theme, though it’s dispatched decidedly quickly in favour of a lightly-scored children’s dance that somewhat atypically majors on musical atmosphere at the expense of any particularly memorable theme. Princely grandeur comes to the fore in Part III At court, with a stately minuet that finally allows the staid Turin courtiers their own moment of more elegantly refined celebration. That’s followed by a concluding procession that, after a few grandiose fanfares and one or two nobilmente moments, incorporates a few stylistic elements from the popular festivities and children’s dance episodes. I’m enjoying imagining Sgambati as something of a court toady, subliminally using his score to convince his influential patrons that delight in their somewhat unconventional nuptuals is shared, regardless of class, by all sections of the population.
My description will have made clear, I hope, that the Sinfonia epitalamio cannot meaningfully be compared with Sgambati’s first two symphonies, for it has a unique style that was presumably forced upon the composer by the circumstances and requirements of writing an easily-appreciated score appropriate to a wedding celebration. While its idiosyncrasies offer sufficient explanation for its exclusion from the numbered canon, its scale and its skilful composition mean that it certainly deserves to be performed and heard. In any case, the nocturne and, especially, the Prelude and canticle are especially memorable creations, tuneful zabaglione that will certainly appeal to anyone possessed of a sweet musical tooth.
The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma has only been in existence for two decades but its players perform these scores with the greatest conviction and commitment. Conductor Francesco La Vecchia has carved an extensive niche for them and himself in recording largely unfamiliar Italian orchestral music on the Naxos label. This new release joins previous discs that have explored the music of such contemporaries of Sgambati as Luigi Mancinelli (1848-1921), Alfredo Catalani (1854-1893), Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909) and Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924). La Vecchia and the Rome orchestra have also looked both backwards to Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) and Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870) and forwards to the compositions of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948), Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973), Alfredo Casella (1883-1947), Giorgio Federico Ghedini (1892-1965), Franco Ferrara (1911-1985) and Goffredo Petrassi (1904-2003). Such dedicated specialisation means that they are entirely at home and comfortable in performing Sgambati’s music. Flattered and enhanced by a clear recording, this new disc adds yet another feather to their jaunty Bersaglieri caps.
Rob Maynard
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