Gian Francesco Malipiero : Intégrale des mélodies pour soprano et piano - Vansisiem Lied Duo

Description

Belonging to the generation of Respighi, but passing away several decades later, Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973) is a far more varied composer than his post-romantic chamber and orchestral works suggest. This album constitutes both the most complete edition of his songs ever published and a precious opportunity to rediscover a frequently underestimated 20th-century composer. Malipiero composed songs throughout his career and, in his late twenties, became friends with the visionary and influential poet Gabriele d'Annunzio. Their artistic collaboration began in 1909 with I sonetti delle fate, a work imbued with a Wagnerian nostalgia, in the spirit of the incidental music composed by Debussy for d'Annunzio's play, Saint Sebastian. The composer's literary leanings and his talent for setting texts to music quickly gave rise to equally idiomatic settings of French poems, notably a collection of Cinq mélodies and an elliptical cycle of three poems (entitled in English Keepsake) by Georges Jean-Aubry. With Le stagioni italiche, however, Malipiero reveals himself to be in tune with his era and in step with the latest developments in expressionist song, particularly those of Mahler, Schoenberg, and Webern, and displays an ambition to match: a 40-minute cycle composed of four varied texts, ranging from the 15th century to Malipiero's own contemporary period. Like much of his work, this cycle has already been recorded, but never placed in the context of Malipiero's other songs, which allow for a better understanding of the composer's stylistic evolution. Three years later, he composed a continuous drama inspired by the ancient legend of Philomela (immortalized by Ovid in the Metamorphoses), from which he derived a cycle of three songs. He continued to renew his style and innovate with Le sette allegrezze d'amore (1945), but nothing in his music prepares the listener for the pointillist precision of the Sette canzonette veneziane (1960). Any lover of songs will want to discover this work of exceptional richness and variety, particularly as interpreted by the "Vansìsiem Lied Duo," composed of soprano Paola Camponovo and pianist Alfredo Blessano. Their previous albums have revealed their remarkable sensitivity in interpreting Rossini, Debussy, and Lili Boulanger, and the Franco-Italian axis of Malipiero's songs highlights their particular talents.