Orchestral Works

Four world première recordings make up the bulk of this latest issue in the Naxos orchestral music series devoted to Italian composer Gian Francesco Malipiero. Visions of heroism and death form the disc's cornerstone, in the WWI work Ditirambo tragico (Tragic Dithyramb) and in Malipiero's two earliest surviving pieces, Dai sepolcri (From 'Tombs') and Sinfonia degli eroi (Symphony of Heroes). They are heard alongside the deceptively relaxed charm of Armenia, based on traditional Armenian melodies, and the varied, pungently Stravinskian moods of the aptly titled Grottesco (Grotesque).