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PRAYER TO AN ANGEL: Rare Works of Italian Romanticism * Roberto Noferini (vn); Andrea Toschi (org) * TACTUS 810001 (62:45)
ELLENA 6 pezzi religiosi: selections. SIVORI Andante religioso. LANZI Prece ad un Angelo. ALBERTI Petit nocturne. VITALI-RESPIGHI Chaconne. NEGLIA Largo espressivo. CASELLATI Andante. DE ANGELIS Rêve d'amour. RAMACCIOTTI Canto Religioso
Violinist Roberto Noferini and organist Andrea Toschi have uncovered a number of works for violin and organ in a genre and style that the notes by Massimiliano Guido suggest have become unfashionable. The notes also mention Pope Pius XII's 1903 Moto Proprio, which mandated a renewal of sacred music, but it's hard to imagine that Pontiff enjoying, not to mention tolerating, many-or, possibly, any-of these works in a liturgical context. Noferini plays the program on an 1865 Giuseppe Scarampella violin, while Toschi plays the organ of the Basilica of Saint Stephen in Bologna, an instrument surprisingly described in the booklet's English translation as "electric."
The recital opens with three of the Six Religious Pieces by Giuseppe Antonio Ellena, who, according to the notes, dedicated them to, among others, violinist Enrico Polo (composer of a very musical and logical introduction to double-stops still studied...