Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968)
3 Canti, pour violoncelle et piano
Sonate en fa majeur pour violoncelle et piano

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968)
Sonate pour violoncelle et piano, op. 50
"Figaro", fantaisie pour violoncelle et piano sur "Le Barbier de Séville"

Amedeo Cicchese, violoncelle
Barbara Panzarella, piano

Si Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco fut l'élève de Ildebrando Pizzetti au conservatoire de Florence, un monde sépare les deux musiciens. Le premier, d'origine juive, fut obligé de fuir le régime fasciste que le premier assuma non sans difficultés. Ils avaient tous deux en commun l'amour du théâtre et de l'opéra. Les œuvres qui composent le programme de ce disque de duo ont été composées dans les années 20 et sont d'ailleurs dévouées au chant. Les trois Canti et la Sonate pour violoncelle et piano de Pizzetti donnent la primeur à la vocalité par le biais de la mélodie et du violoncelle. La musique française est bien souvent invoquée (Franck pour la forme sonate amplement développée, Ravel et Debussy pour les recherches harmoniques). Durant la même période, Castelnuovo Tedesco compose lui aussi « sa » Sonate pour les deux instruments. Le style de ce dernier que Casella (le mentor du compositeur) qualifiait de « premier plan » (c'est à dire, singulier, clair, concis et « cinématographique ») se reflète bien dans ces sept mouvements animés d'une fièvre, d'une fougue irrésistible et tout en climats contrastés. En bonus, la fantaisie sur « Il Barbiere di Siviglia » (Castelnuovo-Tedesco) allie distinction et fougue amoureuse. Quant aux deux protagonistes de l'affaire, Amédéo Cicchese (violoncelle) et Barbara Panzarella (piano) ils ont certainement quelque chose à y voir. On en redemande. (Jérôme Angouillant)

A unique but logical coupling on record: lyrical cello sonatas of ready melodic appeal, superbly written for the instrument by two 20th-century Italian composers who remained aloof from both the lure of verismo and the tenets of modernism. Any cellist seeking new repertoire, and any listener in search of Romantic cello sonatas beyond Brahms, will alight upon this album with enthusiasm. Although Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) studied under Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968) at the Conservatoire in Florence during the early years of the 20th century, their paths diverged when the Jewish Castelnuovo- Tedesco had to emigrate to the US in 1938. Back in 1921 Pizzetti had composed a Cello Sonata thematically unified across its three movements, with an ‘agitated and anguished’ Scherzo at its heart, while the slow outer movements translate elements of medieval chant and polyphony into soulful meditations. Three years later he composed a cycle of Tre Canti – three songs more commonly encountered in the version for violin and piano but better suited to the pitch and expressive range of the cello, so closely moulded to that of the human voice. And these really are ‘songs without words’ – by turns affectionate, tender and impassioned. The younger Castelnuovo-Tedesco was more concerned to establish a mood than to tell a story in his instrumental music, and the first movement of his Cello Sonata from 1928 is an object example of his tendency to face both backwards and forwards, artistically speaking, so that he can evoke Romanticism while simultaneously casting doubt upon its certainties and view them from an anxious distance. The album is rounded off with the delicious fantasy on the Largo al factotum and ‘Un voce po’ fa’ from Il barbiere di Siviglia which Castelnuovo-Tedesco composed in two versions, for Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky, having emigrated and become a fixture on the Hollywood musical scene. Since 2015, Amedeo Cicchese has been principal cellist for the Teatro Regio in Turin, appointed by Gianandrea Noseda, but he is an assiduous chamber musician who contributed to Brilliant’s survey of the music of Louise Farrenc (BC94815) as a member of the Quintetto Bottesini, performing ‘with sensitivity and enthusiasm’ (WTJU.fm).