Duo Gazzana - Poulenc, Walton, Dallapiccola, Schnittke, Silvestrov (2014) [Hi-Res]

The second ECM New Series album by Italian sisters Natascia and Raffaella Gazzana draws together a fascinating programme with a strong narrative line. In this album of works by composers from France, Britain, Italy, Russia and Ukraine, older music is viewed through the prism of the new, and affinities are explored – through the ages, across geographical borders and idiomatic divisions.

Alfred Schnittke’s “Suite In The Old Style” reflects, temperamentally, upon Bach and Scarlatti, while echoes of Bach’s sonatas resonate in Valentin Silvestrov’s 2009 composition “Hommage à J.S.B.” Luigi Dallapiccola’s “Tartiniana seconda” addresses the music of baroque composer Giuseppe Tartini with canonic mastery.

Francis Poulenc’s powerful “Sonate pour violon et piano”, written in occupied France in 1942-3 is dedicated to the memory of murdered poet Federico Garcia Lorca. And William Walton’s rarely-heard Toccata, written when the composer was just 20, bursts with ideas, acknowledging the virtuosic demands of the Toccata form, inviting improvisational responses from both violin and piano in the cadenzas, and drawing rhythmic impetus also from jazz (Walton was an early Ellington enthusiast). Duo Gazzana address the many challenges of the material with resourcefulness and imagination in this album recorded in June 2013 in Lugano.

Natascia Gazzana, violin
Raffaella Gazzana, piano

Recorded June 2013, Auditorio Radiotelevisione svizzera, Lugano
Engineered by Markus Heiland
Produced by Manfred Eicher