Nino Rota: Piano Concertos

New Nino Rota CD includes two piano works, concertos in E Minor and C Major, performed by Janne Mertanen, who has become known better as a Chopin interpreter. Rota was probably more known of his music for the silver screen and is best remembered for his collaboration with Federico Fellini, but he has also composed four piano concertos. The skilfully-applied classical construction makes Concerto in C Major, composed in 1959-60, rich in materials one of Rota's most suitable compositions for concert-hall performance. The Piano Concerto in E Minor, "Piccolo mondo antico", was the last work Rota ever wrote, in 1978

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Warsaw Concerto and Other Piano Concertos from the Movies

The (9) selections on this Naxos release are without a doubt far more popular than any of the movies that they appeared in. I’ll grant you the Hitchcock/Selznick Spellbound still has a following and Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express was popular winning several awards but there are few if any reading this review that are familiar with Love Story (1945), Dangerous Moonlight, The Case of the Frightened Lady, The Glass Mountain, Hangover Square, While I Live, or Midnight on the Cliffs. Yet all of the films feature a piano concerto as an important part of the film except for Spellbound, which had the Oscar winning theme, but the piano concerto version came later.

Does over 100 recordings and 3 million in sales for “The Warsaw Concerto” impress you just a little? These melodies appear in many “Beloved Melody” compilation albums from nameless orchestras, to the 101 Strings, to the Boston Pops. Many a summer evening I’m sure you’ve heard your pop’s orchestra perform some of these standard themes, ones that Max Steiner could easily have written the melody for except for the work from Herrmann. The style was like something that Rachmaninoff could have composed with a big bold sound, oozing with love chords from the grand piano.

While schmaltz is the word to describe many of the selections it can’t be used for the fascinating piano concerto Herrmann wrote for Hangover Square. The staccato like beginning on the piano sets the dark mood and it quickly segues into familiar dark Herrmann minor brass chords any listener of Bernard will quickly recognize. After a brief respite, where there is a short passage of soothing material, the music reverts to the staccato dissonant piano passages again. When the main character George Bone, played by Laird Cregar, sets fire to his place knowing the end has come, the final coda is played only by the piano. The music had a huge influence on Steven Sondheim as a 15 year old and one can hear the Herrmann influence in Sondheim’s musical thriller Sweeney Todd.

Richard Rodney Bennett hit the bull’s-eye dead center with his Oscar nominated Murder On The Orient Express. Beginning with a definite 30’s style sound it segues into a wonderful waltz tempo in an all too short suite. If this happens to be your introduction to Bennett enjoy, as you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise.

While the preferred recording of the “Spellbound Concerto” is a 22-minute version with two pianos (Varese Sarabande #3020668102) this one does highlight the major themes of the Oscar winning score from Rozsa and is quite a pleasant listen. While it never appeared in the film as a piano concerto, a year after the film was released Miklos arranged this 12 minute work and it has been performed by many orchestras and pianists over the years.

“Midnight On The Cliffs,” performed and written by Leonard Pennario for the film Julie is his one and only attempt at the silver screen and is a typical showpiece romantic work. “Portrait of Isla,” from The Case of the Frightened Lady 1940, was the first official piano concerto written for a film and is somewhat melodramatic depicting the overall mood of the film.

This is a CD that affords you the opportunity to get snippets from films that are only available on this compilation. The Naxos value is just an additional bonus. --Film Music: The Neglected Art, October 2009

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Messina: Beffa a Don Chisciotte Suite; Rota: Concerto for Strings; Pessina: Concertango

The three delightful works for strings appearing here come from a trio of modern day Italian composers. Salvatore Messina (1876-1930) died before he could orchestrate his final opera La beffa a Don Chisciotte, but Paolo Pessina (b. 1969) arranged a suite for strings from it, and that's what he conducts here. It's in seven sections and cannot help but appeal to those who love the music of Umberto Giordano and Pietro Mascagni. The adagio, which is derived from an aria in the opera, is absolutely lovely. Next there’s a concerto for strings by the great Nino Rota (1911-1979).

Well known for his film scores, he also composed a large body of outstanding music for the concert hall, and this piece is no exception. The wistful first movement is followed by a robust scherzo and heartfelt adagio, which pays hommage to Johann Sebastian Bach's Air on the G String. It concludes frenetically and in cyclical fashion with references to previous thematic material. Composer-conductor Pessina (see above) is represented here by his Concertango, which is an ingenious contemporary version of an eighteenth-century concerto grosso spiked with rhythms typical of the legendary Argentinian dance referred to in the title.

This is particularly true of the second movement where Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi meet Astor Piazzolla. Then, as if to throw us off balance, there's an intermezzo that begins just like Anton Karas' Third Man Theme. The finale is a kind of satanic tango into the abyss that's based on the Dies Irae and ends with a whistle from the archfiend himself. This very clever piece has a lot going for it, and so do the other selections. The performances are so energetic and committed that it's easy to overlook some occasional intonational anomalies, and the sound is quite good. --Classical Lost and Found, February 2007

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