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Serenata Napoletana 9

Music for mandolin and piano

4 5 6

Carlo Munier 1859–1911 Serenata napoletana Alla distintissima signorina Rita Silpea

5’57

Eugenio Sorrentino 1865–1943 Plenilunio Alla Baronessa Bocchigliero Giovannina Labonia

4’19

Giovanni Calveri fl.late 19th century Serenatella All’Illustre mio allievo Marchese Gaspare Giusso con affetto Luigi Romaniello 1860–1916 Suite I. Cantabile Alla nobile signorina Filomena dei Baroni Tufarelli II. Intermezzo Al Cav. Eduardo Lanzara III. Serenata Al Prof. Giuseppe Rienzo Salvatore Coppola fl.late 19th century Serenata Alla gentile signorina Gigia Sparano Ferdinando Poppi fl.late 19th century Serenata romantica

1’23

3’46 1’48

Francesco Ancona fl.late 19th century Nenia d’amore

4’52

Paolo Serrao 1830–1907 Trois Morceaux 10 I. Melodie 11 II. Barcarolle 12 III. Gavotte

1’59 3’08 2’49

Nicola D’Arienzo 1842–1915 13 Serenata napoletana

4’12

Nicola Romano fl.late 19th century 14 Mormorio d’amore Alla gentile signorina Amelia Starace Mandolinista

3’45

Costantino De Crescenzo 1847–1911 15 Serenata

3’23

Giuseppe Silvestri 1841–1921 16 Fantasia di concerto sopra motivi popolari napolitani

9’53

2’31

Raffaele La Ragione mandolin Giacomo Ferrari piano 3’39

3’14

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Serenata Napoletana: Music for mandolin and piano The mandolin is clearly the quintessential instrument of the Neapolitan serenade, to the extent that the very word ‘Serenata’ conjures up somewhat predictable visions of the city and its people. Thanks to the remarkable quality of the present project, however, our perception of the genre is enormously enriched, to the benefit not only of the mandolin, but also of musicology in general. So may future years bring other such contributions to the appreciation of the learned Neapolitan mandolin tradition, to the heart-felt gratification of its many enthusiasts. Ugo Orlandi The pieces that make up this recording are all hitherto unpublished, and for obvious reasons: there are very few serious studies of the repertoire, and only relatively recently have musicologists begun to devote due attention to the mandolin. Moreover, the success of Romantic Neapolitan mandolin music has never gone much beyond the Calace brothers and Carlo Munier, who were undoubtedly great musicians, but not sufficiently representative of a uniquely rich tradition. Starting in the mid-1800s, composers in Naples, like the songwriters in the same city, devoted considerable attention to the mandolin, though many of them were not mandolin players themselves. As the selection of works in this recording reveals, these musicians treated it as a properly classical instrument, contributing to the creation of a vast repertoire that developed alongside the more familiar Neapolitan songs. What both share is a sweetness of melody and evocative impact that deserve to be recovered from oblivion. Such is the underlying conviction of the Serenata Napoletana project. One of the most widely known names of mandolin players across the globe is unquestionably that of Carlo Munier (Naples, 1859 – Florence, 1911). Although this is not the place for a detailed account of his life, it does make sense to quote the description of Serenata napoletana, the piece chosen for this recording, that accompanied an early edition of the work: This serenade embodies something original and characteristic of that community. […] The airy melody echoes the Neapolitan canzonetta, and what stands out particularly is the piano accompaniment, which imitates the amateur flute player who variously embellishes the melody; also noteworthy is the guitar accompaniment, which is never overly respectful of the rules of harmony. This is a distinctly felicitous piece, especially from the descriptive point of view […]

Having achieved a first-class diploma in composition and conducting at the Naples Conservatoire, in 1889 Eugenio Sorrentino (Rossano Calabro, 1865–1943) was appointed leader of the Banda Filantropica at San Severo, known as the ‘Red Band’ on account of the colour of the berets worn by the musicians. In 1892, over 60 bands from all over Europe took part in a competition at the Universal Exhibition in Genoa, and it was this ensemble that won the gold medal, thereby earning the epithet ‘The March King of Italy’. Sorrentino, who was a close friend of Mascagni, Leoncavallo and Puccini, achieved particular acclaim for his arrangements of operatic music. He undertook tours in Europe and America, receiving widespread commendation and enjoying considerable success. He was particularly appreciated for his romanzas, nocturnes and sonatas. Giovanni Calveri was a skilled violinist and mandolin player, working with various Italian and European orchestras as a soloist. In 1899 he became lead violin at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, a position he maintained with great honour. Not only was he a fine, tireless performer, but for many future musicians also a great teacher, continuing in the glorious tradition of Eusebio Dworzak whose severity of approach he knew well from his own student days. Calveri composed a number of pieces for mandolin and violin, all of them of remarkable artistic value. Born in 1860, Luigi Romaniello was a Neapolitan pianist, composer and music critic. He studied under Paolo Serrao and Beniamino Cesi at the Naples Conservatoire, achieving his diploma with a gold medal in 1881. As a pianist he enjoyed a successful career, giving concerts throughout Italy and the foremost European capitals. In 1896 he travelled to Buenos Aires for a series of four concerts, which soon multiplied in number on account of his widespread acclaim. It was Romaniello who inaugurated the conservatoire named after him in that city, ultimately moving definitively to Buenos Aires and teaching there until his death in 1916. He composed around 100 pieces for piano, violin and voice, as well as symphonic poems, symphonies and the opera Alda. Little is known about the life of Salvatore Coppola. He is described in Vincenzo Vitale’s book Il Pianoforte a Napoli nell’Ottocento as one of the greatest masters of the Neapolitan salon between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century; ‘A teacher of unquestionable value, a real legend’. The Serenata included in this recording derives from a signed edition with a dedication that belongs to the Raffaele Calace private collection. The biography of Ferdinando Poppi is also somewhat scant. We know that he took part in a concert with the famous mandolin player Giovanni Rinonapoli in 1899 in the Great Hall of the Fencing Academy at Palazzo Maddaloni in Naples, where he played the mandolin and led the

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plectrum orchestra. Many of his own compositions were played on this occasion, including the Serenata romantica. The Annuario Generale del Musicista d’Italia of 1907 lists him as one of the mandolin teachers in Naples. Francesco Ancona taught composition at the S. Pietro a Majella Conservatoire in Naples, where one of his most promising pupils was Raffaele Calace. Few facts concerning his life have come down to us, so it may be helpful to quote an article published in the review Musica Moderna: He is not a facile author of occasional pieces, or a composer of popular music, but rather a man entirely involved in Art, and totally devoted to teaching with ‘the intellect of love’. To educate young people who feel in their hearts the sacred fire of art, to help them on their way along the path of strict discipline, […] this is the mission that Ancona has adopted as though it were a religion.

Paolo Serrao was born in 1830 in Filadelfia, a small town in the Calabrian province of Catanzaro, in southern Italy. On account of his extraordinary talent, at the age of just nine he was awarded a place at the Real Collegio di Musica (now the Conservatoire) free of charge by the king of Naples. ‘Explosive and undisciplined’ in character, he often found himself in conflict with both his teachers and the law. Following several years of activity as a musician, in 1860 he was appointed Professor of Harmony at the Conservatoire, and three years later of Counterpoint and Composition as well. Indeed, for many years he was also director of the same school, proving that teaching was his ideal mission. His pupils included musicians of the calibre of Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea, Giuseppe Martucci and Ruggero Leoncavallo. Nicola D’Arienzo (Naples, 1842–1915) studied harmony and counterpoint with Vincenzo Fioravanti. Encouraged by his friend Saverio Mercadante, from an early age he focused on opera, to widespread acclaim. He taught counterpoint and composition at the S. Pietro a Majella Conservatoire, which he directed from 1904. A great teacher, he was much loved by his pupils because he taught ‘with intellect, heart and example’. Apart from his instrumental and sacred music, he wrote and published various works on the aesthetics, theory and history of music. Nicola Romano was one of the most celebrated Neapolitan masters of his time. As a violinist he took part in important orchestral concerts, for many years playing with the Orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo. He was also a great mandolin player, and author of La Scuola del Mandolino, a teaching method that was highly popular throughout the world. He composed a number of fine pieces for the

mandolin, many of which received awards in competitions, as well as several romanzas and sacred music. Costantino De Crescenzo (Naples, 1847–1911) was a pianist and composer who studied at the Naples Conservatoire. In 1868, shortly after obtaining his Diploma, he was appointed orchestral conductor in Alexandria, Egypt. On his return to Naples, he was invited by Princess Galitzine to move to Russia during the course of one of his many concerts, and it was in Russia that he became a close friend of Nikolai Rubinstein, often performing in a duo with him. He returned to Italy in 1878, devoting himself to teaching and composition. His rich piano repertoire comprises numerous serenades, romanzas without words, nocturnes, capriccios, barcarolas, and idylls such as Prima carezza, Fine d’un sogno, Farfalletta gentile, Nel golfo di Napoli and many others printed by such prestigious publishers as Ricordi, Cottrau, Maddaloni, Izzo and Schmidl. De Crescenzo’s vocal compositions also met with considerable success, especially the romanzas for voice and piano. Giuseppe Silvestri (Aldifredi, 1841 – Naples, 1921) was one of the foremost mandolin virtuosos of his time. While still very young he was considered a child prodigy on the piano, which gave him access to a number of important households. On one such occasion he came across a mandolin, which he started to strum: this was the beginning of a passion that soon spurred him to abandon the piano. In 1861 he moved to Naples, where the success of his first concerts encouraged him to carry on; he went on to give concerts throughout Italy, where he was acclaimed not only as a performer but also as a composer (over 150 of his compositions for mandolin have come down to us), and on returning to Naples he wrote a comprehensive method that was reprinted five times, bringing him fame throughout Europe and in America. In 1878 he went to Paris for the Exposition Universelle, enjoying enthusiastic acclaim from audiences and critics alike, who proclaimed him a great teacher and a distinguished performer. Thereafter he found himself spending six months a year in Paris, very much in demand in the city’s foremost salons. 훿 Raffaele La Ragione Translation: Kate Singleton

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Raffaele La Ragione Born in Naples in 1986, Raffaele La Ragione studied the mandolin in Naples, Padua and Milan, where his teachers included Ugo Orlandi. His interest in musicological research led him to graduate from the University of Bologna with a thesis on the Neapolitan family of Calace, the longest continuous dynasty of luthiers in the world. As a soloist, he has collaborated with several orchestras, allowing him to perform in Italy and around the world; in Europe (Germany, France, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Sweden) and the Far East (China, Japan and South Korea). Ensemble collaborations include the Orchestra Mozart, Greek National Opera, Seoul Philarmonic Orchestra and I Solisti Veneti, working with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Myung-Whun Chung and Claudio Scimone, while recordings include On the Wings of Love (Ermitage, 2008) with I Solisti Veneti; Simone Salvetti: Selected Works (CMI, 2010), Circolo Mandolinistico Italiano: Vol.III–IV Bergamo (CMI, 2010), Carlo Munier: Selected Works (CMI, 2012), Salvatore Falbo: Works for Plucked Instruments (CMI, 2013) with the Orchestra Città di Brescia; and a presentation on the mandolin for the instructional DVD Musica Live (Mondadori, 2009). He has also collaborated with Ugo Orlandi on the book Carlo Munier: The Poet of the Mandolin (CMI, 2012) and on the CD Nicola Maria Calace: Je Reviendrai: Selected Works (CMI, 2014). www.raffaelelaragione.com

Giacomo Ferrari Born in Milan in 1985, Giacomo Ferrari began learning the piano at the age of six. After studying under Daniele Lombardi, he graduated with honours from the ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ Conservatoire in Milan, where he also studied harpsichord and chamber music. A lover of music in its various forms, he also attended a jazz music course with Mario Rusca in Milan. In 2009 he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Manhattan School in New York. He has performed in Italy, Hungary, Montenegro, Greece and Poland. Along with Raffaele La Ragione, he recorded Simone Salvetti: Selected Works (CMI, 2010), Circolo Mandolinistico Italiano: Vol.III–IV Bergamo (CMI, 2010), Carlo Munier: Selected Works (CMI, 2012), and Salvatore Falbo: Works for Plucked Instruments (CMI, 2013) with the Orchestra Città di Brescia. Together with Raffaele he also collaborated with Ugo Orlandi on the CD Nicola Maria Calace: Je Reviendrai: Selected Works (CMI, 2014). www.giacomoferrari.it Raffaele La Ragione and Giacomo Ferrari began working together in 2008 in Milan, where they both graduated from the ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ Conservatoire. They have given numerous concerts together as a duo, performing a diverse repertoire in Italy and across Europe, and have collaborated together on various CD and book projects. This is their first release for Brilliant Classics. For more information about the Serenata Napoletana project, please visit: www.serenatanapoletana.com

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We would like to thank Alessio Strazzullo for the video; Gilles Ferrara and Diego Esposito for the photography; the Calace family for their unceasing kindness and helpfulness; Ugo, for his valuable advice; and finally, Carlo.

Recording: 23–24 July 2013, Magic Box Studio, Pomigliano d’Arco, Naples, Italy Recording engineer: Franco Cleopatra (facebook.com/magicboxstudiorecording) Editing, mixing & mastering: Paolo Costola (www.macwavestudios.com) Mandolin: Raffaele Calace Jr., 2002 Piano: Yahama C-3 Cover image: Castel dell’Ovo dalla spiaggia by Anton Sminck van Pitloo Artist photos: 훿 Gilles Ferrara, Diego Esposito & Maurizio Magnetta  & 훿 2015 Brilliant Classics