Janne Mertanen, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Hannu Lintu - Nino Rota: Piano Concertos C & e (2009)

To review, the C-Major concerto (which comes second on this CD) is the earlier work, composed in 1960 for Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. It is redolent of Shostakovich and Prokofiev, and its final movement also reminds one about what an impact Nino Rota’s film music has had, closer to the present day, on Danny Elfman’s scores in that medium. The E-Minor concerto dates from 1978, the year before Rota’s death, and it was premiered by the composer himself. As its subtitle suggests—roughly translated, it is “The Little Ancient World”—this is a nostalgic work, and more romantic than neoclassical. At the time of my aforementioned review, I compared it to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, and, in the finale, to that of Francis Poulenc. Again, in the finale, one can also hear what a later generation might refer to as “Elfmanisms.” Suffice it to say that this is highly approachable music. Recently, an acquaintance asked me despairingly if there was any music in the last 50 years that he, a conservative listener, would enjoy. I easily could have mentioned the E-Minor Concerto, and could have mentioned the one in C Major, except, shock horror, it now is 51 years old! I think both are adorable. I should mention, though, that some of my Fanfare colleagues, past and present, have thought otherwise. Leslie Gerber complained that these works are “just the same kind of stuff Rota churned out for his famous movie scores, only less useful.” (So what defines usefulness?) Martin Anderson wrote that there’s not much that is original in these concertos, and that “[Rota] seems in these two works to have turned down the gas under his creative juices.” But more recently, discussing the E-Minor Concerto, Jerry Dubins wrote, “If you love the emotional rush of sweeping orchestral movie music set to tragic melodramas, and a thrillingly virtuoso solo piano part, Rota’s concerto is guaranteed to reduce you to blubbering and drooling.” I don’t know if I would go that far—I found no drool or blubber in my living room—but I appreciate and, to a degree, share Jerry’s enthusiasm.

The EMI recording was a good one, and if you have it, you don’t need to replace it with this new Finnish entry. In all six movements, Janne Mertanen and Hannu Lintu adopt faster tempos overall, which helps to minimize the risk that sentiment will degenerate into sentimentality. Otherwise, there are not a lot of differences between the performances. In some passages, Tomassi is more subtle, and her use of the sustaining pedal is more apparent than Mertanen’s. In other passages, Mertanen is the more imaginative performer. Neither of them is taxed by the music; I sense that Mertanen is slightly more agile and articulates better in the C-Major Concerto. Both pianists are in sympathy with the music, and receive very capable support. Overall, I’d say that Tomassi and Muti are a little lighter on their feet. That’s not to say, however, that Mertanen and Lintu are elephantine. I could be happy with either of these recordings, but I wouldn’t want to be without at least one them. -- Raymond Tuttle