Idini, Francesca / Gullino, Letizia / Battaglia, Erik
Martucci, Tosti: My Memories
This Da Vinci Classics album interpreted by soprano Francesca Idini, violinist Letizia Gullino, and pianist Erik Battaglia, is a fascinating itinerary within the output of two Italian musicians who were contemporaneous and who bridged the fin-de-siècle and the beginning of the twentieth century. In spite of their contemporaneity, Francesco Paolo Tosti and Giuseppe Martucci had rather different aesthetical views: the former was best known for his songs, which crossed the Atlantic and established his fame both in Italy and in America. The latter was one of the great representatives of the revival of Italian instrumental music after the primacy of nineteenth-century opera. Many of this albums works share a common interest in exploring the meaning of memory, one of the main agents of human knowledge and self-awareness, but also a crucial protagonist of musical listening, music-making, and of the experience of music in se. It is particularly interesting to compare the youthful elan of Martuccis Violin Sonata with the more reflective sounds of his song cycle on lyrics by Rocco Pagliara (La Canzone dei Ricordi).