David Korevaar & Carpe Diem String Quartet: Piano Quintets
Da Vinci Classics

Credit David Korevaar for not just performing these piano quintets by Luigi Perrachio (1883-1966) and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) with the Carpe Diem String Quartet but for also rescuing one from the dust-bins of history. In 2019, Korevaar photographed the original, unpublished manuscript of Perrachio's Quintet for 2 Violins, Viola, Cello and Piano when visiting the Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi in Turin and premiered the 1919 work with the quartet in the summer of 2021. More than a century after its creation, this long-lost gem now receives its world premiere recording, its august partner Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Quintet No. 1 in F Major for 2 Violins, Viola, Cello and Piano (1932). Piano Quintets proves a rewarding complement to Korevaar's earlier Perrachio release, Nove Poemetti; 25 Preludi, featuring world premiere recordings of the composer's piano music. A scan of Korevaar's extensive discography reveals that his expertise also extends to Ravel, Hindemith, Schubert, Brahms, Liebermann, and many others. Joining Korevaar on the recording, the Carpe Diem String Quartet features guest violinist Amy Galluzzo (subbing for the group's current first violinist, Sam Weiser), violinist Marisa Ishikawa, violist Korine Fujiwara, and cellist Ariana Nelson.

Both Perrachio and Castelnuovo-Tedesco might be seen as ambassadors for the Italian instrumental music scene of the early twentieth century. Whereas the Turin-born Perrachio spent his life in the city, the Florence-born Castelnuovo-Tedesco left his in 1938 for the United States in response to Mussolini's anti-Jewish laws and subsequently taught figures such as John Williams and André Previn in his newly adopted homeland. An expert on Italian music of the early twentieth-century period, the late musicologist Guido Gatti noted that the Italian composers of that time largely resisted the influence of atonality and wrote in a style considered more accessible and attractive than some of their European counterparts. In the quintets presented by Korevaar and the Carpe Diem String Quartet, Perrachio and Castelnuovo-Tedesco hew to tonal conventions and established structures, with each following a long-form opening movement with three comparatively compact parts and with counterpoint also figuring heavily in the writing.

Perrachio composed abundantly yet published scantily, and consequently his music is largely unknown today. Though he earned a composition degree from the conservatory in Bologna in 1913, he was largely self-taught. Some of that self-education came about before that conservatory period when he spent time in Vienna and Paris and was exposed to the music of Debussy and Ravel. While Korevaar argues in his informative liner notes that the opening movement of Perrachio's quintet sees him distancing himself from the influence of the French composers, to these ears traces of both remain. Marked “Agitatissimo Ma Ampio,” the fourteen-minute first movement is a panoramic affair of grand sweep and wide-ranging moods. Beginning authoritatively, the writing blends romantic gestures, string flourishes, and sinuous rhythms into a subtly intoxicating design that even, in its darker moments, sounds vaguely Bartók-ian. Gentle passages for piano and strings echo the voluptuousness heard in the French composers' string quartets, but turbulent moments surface too. Whereas the nimble-footed scherzo that follows is gleefully playful and radiant, the inviting third movement is deliciously lyrical and pastoral in its folk-tinged expressiveness; the contrapuntal to-and-fro between the piano and strings towards the end of the movement is a particular source of delight. True to form, the work closes with a rollicking finale, the joyful material making good on its “Presto Vigoroso E di Buon Umore” designation.

Partnering seamlessly with Perrachio's quintet is Castelnuovo-Tedesco's, written thirteen years later but as melodically enticing and theatrical. In keeping with a composer whose profile was more public than Perrachio's and who enjoyed considerable career success, Castelnuovo-Tedesco's is often flamboyant, even if, like his counterpart's, it also has its share of lyrical and gentle moments—look no further than the delicate intro to the first movement. Soon enough, the material blossoms into an exuberant, extroverted display elevated by enrapturing utterances and sustains its bewitching effect for its ten-minute duration. Again hints of Ravel and Debussy seem to emerge in the alluring string melodies, while Castelnuovo-Tedesco's skills as a writer are shown in the smoothly handled transitions from one key to another. A hint of Jewish music appears in the dignified lament that follows; the scherzo by comparison veritably oozes mischief in its unrelenting turns around the dance floor. Drama reasserts itself for the passionate “Vivo E Impetuoso” finale, the work's and even perhaps the recording's most tempestuous movement. Korevaar makes an interesting observation in noting that the material's unsettling tone “could reflect the rising anti-Semitism of fascist Italy,” and a sense of impending catastrophe does seem to permeate the movement's tone.

October 2024