Bottesini: Music for Violin, Double-Bass & String Orchestra Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni, Francesco de Angelis, Fransesco Siragusa & Massimo Belli

• Giovanni Bottesini (1821 - 1889): Andante sostenuto in B Minor (To his Friend Giulio Ricordi):
• 1Bottesini: Andante sostenuto in B Minor (To his Friend Giulio Ricordi)07:17
• Fantasia on 'la Sonnambula':
• 2Bottesini: Fantasia on 'la Sonnambula'09:49
• Gran duo Concertante:
• 3Bottesini: Gran duo Concertante16:19
• String Quintet in F Major (Revision of Massimo Belli):
• 4Bottesini: String Quintet in F Major (Revision of Massimo Belli): I. Moderato07:26
• 5Bottesini: String Quintet in F Major (Revision of Massimo Belli): II. Scherzo. Piuttosto Vivace03:27
• 6Bottesini: String Quintet in F Major (Revision of Massimo Belli): III. Adagio06:28
• 7Bottesini: String Quintet in F Major (Revision of Massimo Belli): IV. Finale. Allegro non Tanto04:34
• Piccola Preghiera (According to the Intentions of G. Bottesini):
• 8Bottesini: Piccola Preghiera (According to the Intentions of G. Bottesini)02:34
• Total Runtime57:54

Info for Bottesini: Music for Violin, Double-Bass & String Orchestra

Bottesini is of course familiar to many musicians and music lovers, particularly double bass players, since the composer–performer enjoyed an undisputed position as ‘the Paganini of the double bass’ throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. This recording is a collection of five important pieces with a virtuosic and concerto-like compositional style, where the violin and double bass often take the lead roles in dense, surprising dialogues. It gives fans of 19th-century music an opportunity to experience the technical and creative richness of a composer who was extraordinarily artistically courageous for his time and gives due credit to musicians who for various reasons have historically been undervalued by the prevailing musical hierarchy.

Bottesini’s creative boldness is evident in the way he dared to put forward the double bass as a virtuosic solo instrument, on a par with its noble cousins, the violin, viola and cello. Many of his pieces feature solo parts that showcase dialogues between the extreme registers of the string instruments, from the ‘demonic’ violin with its high notes at the limits of perception, to the abyss of the bottom notes of the double bass. No one before Bottesini had discovered the untapped expressive potential of the latter instrument, since it had always been considered essentially a reinforcement for the cello part, one octave down. Instead, he wanted to make the double bass ‘soar’.

The Andante for strings introduces the double bass as a deep soul often in unison with the orchestral strings. The piece is imbued with an aching intimacy and refined with a rocking, undulating rhythmic motion. His Fantasia on Bellini’s ‘La Sonnambula’ introduces the always cantabile double bass as a voice from the outset, and it is easy to imagine how astounded the audience must have been to hear the melodious sound of this ‘back-row’ instrument poignantly reimagining Bellini’s lyric opera. In the Gran duo concertante for violin, double bass & orchestra Bottesini brings together lyrical sensitivity and expressive power. Here, the violin conveys the greatest possible tensions, frequently leading then giving way to a double bass that performs with cello-like poetry. The String Quintet in F, reimagined as an orchestral piece by Massimo Belli with the backbone of a great symphony immersed in a romantic setting full of energy and drama. The Piccola preghiera (as Bottesini intended) reveals a sensibility quite similar to the Andante that begins this album. The style here is even more sober, with strings layering over each other in an all-encompassing world of sound, rich in harmonic progressions and peaceful resolutions.

Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni
Francesco de Angelis, violin
Francesco Siragusa, double bass
Massimo Belli, conductor

Nuova Orchester Ferruccio Busoni
The “FERRUCCIO BUSONI” CHAMBER ORCHESTRA“, a historical ensemble founded in 1965 by Aldo Belli, is one of the first chamber orchestras born in Italy after the war and the oldest in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. It is a “body of regional interest and for the 50th anniversary the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region has published the volume on the Busoni orchestra, entitled” Today as half a century ago “concerning the promotion of the Region’s image at an international level. In addition to the FVG Region, the orchestra’s artistic activity is supported by the Municipality of Trieste and the Ministry of Culture through the FUS. The Busoni orchestra in 2021 was awarded the Fourteenth Century Seal by the Municipality of Trieste on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of artistic activity. It is made up of established instrumentalists, winners of international competitions, who pass on the musical civilization of the Trieste Trio and the Italian Quartet of which they were students. In 2005 and 2010 to celebrate the 40th and 45th anniversary of the orchestra, some concerts were held with the extraordinary participation of the violinist Salvatore Accardo. The celebratory concert for the 50th anniversary, had as a guest the violinist Domenico Nordio and, recorded live, was published by the Amadeus magazine. The orchestra attracted the attention of the public and critics by holding hundreds of concerts in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Tunisia and Italy, with exceptional soloists. In 2013 he inaugurated, as a representative of Italy, the International Silver Lyre Festival organized by the Philharmonic Society of St. Petersburg and in 2021 he toured Mexico, holding two concerts in the Cohauila region which represented the musical homage of the Italian government. for the Bicentenary of the Independence of Mexico. He presented many premiered works, some dedicated to the orchestra. He has recorded 28 CDs for record companies such as Velut Luna, Concerto Classics, Brilliant Classics, Warner Classics, Movimento Classical, Bongiovanni, Suonare News and Amadeus, presenting first world recordings by important composers such as Andrea Luchesi, Giuseppe Tartini, Giulio Meneghini, Alessandro Rolla and others who have received prestigious awards from the most important magazines in the sector. The Busoni orchestra is the creator and main interpreter of the International Musical Mornings at the Revoltella Museum in Trieste, a chamber music festival that boasts twenty-one years of activity. The Busoni orchestra has carried out many tours in Italy and abroad organized by the CIDIM, the last one in October 2022 together with the violinist Giuseppe Gibboni, winner of the Paganini Prize 2021 which had extraordinary success and touched ten Italian cities. The Busoni orchestra has regularly collaborates with prestigious institutions such as the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, International Violin Competition “Premio Paganini“, the Walter Stauffer Academy of High Specialization in Cremona, the International Competition City of Vittorio Veneto and others. In 2018 the Amadeus magazine published the CD containing two concerts by Giuseppe Tartini in world first recording recorded by Busoni together with Laura Marzadori, dedicating the cover to the artists. In December 2020 and January 2021, the magazine Suonare News published two CDs with the complete works for violin and orchestra by W.A. Mozart with the great young talents of the Stauffer Academy. In 2022 the Amadeus magazine published the CD containing the Piano Concerts by W. A. Mozart recorded by Busoni together with a pianist Giuseppe Albanese, dedicating the cover to the artists. In October 2021, Viotti and Cherubini’s music was recorded for Brilliant Classics with the violinist Massimo Quarta.

Massimo Belli
undertook the study of the violin with his father, then continuing with Bruno Polli. He graduated with full marks and honors under the guidance of Renato Zanettovich at the “Benedetto Marcello” Conservatory in Venice. He attended master classes in Fiesole with the Trio di Trieste and Piero Farulli, and at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena with Henryk Szeryng. He was a pupil of Salvatore Accardo for two years at the “W. Stauffer” Academy of Higher Education in Cremona. Awarded in numerous national and international competitions, he made his sixteen-year-old debut at the Politeama Rossetti Theater in Trieste for the Società dei Concerti; later he played solo and conducted in the most important halls throughout Europe, the former Soviet Union, Turkey and South America. He has interpreted the main concerts of the violin repertoire accompanied by important orchestras and was first violin on the shoulder of the Italian Youth Orchestra, the Busoni Orchestra, the Haydn Philarmonia and first violin and director of the Virtuosi of the Venice Ensemble. The Trieste composer Giulio Viozzi has dedicated the piece “Tema variato” for solo violin published by Pizzicato to Massimo Belli. He has recorded for Italian, Soviet, German, Yugoslav, Brazilian, Austrian radio and TV, and recorded for Sipario Dischi, Nuova Era and Tirreno Editoriale in Lugano. He currently records for Concerto Classics, Brilliant Classics and Warner Classics. He studied conducting with Aldo Belli and Julian Kovatchev and is the director of the new “Ferruccio Busoni” chamber orchestra. He is professor of violin at the Trieste Conservatory. He has taught at the United World College of the Adriatic, at the summer courses of Solighetto, at the International Courses of Cividale del Friuli and has held Masterclasses at the Royal Conservatory of Murcia (Spain), Hoochschule of Mannheim, Academy of Tallin, Belarusian Minsk Academy and Sarajevo Music Academy. In 2002, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the competition, he directed the 40th anniversary orchestra formed by the winners of the past editions of the National Violin Competition of the City of Vittorio Veneto. He recently conducted the Cameristi del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Euro Sinfonietta Wien and the Calabria Philharmonic Orchestra. In February 2023 he conducted the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra of Szolnok at the Aba – Novak Agora Cultural Center in Szolnok, at the Operetta Theater in Budapest and in the Great Hall of the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In April he conducted the North Czech Philharmonic orchestra at the Smetana Hall in Prague and in June the Romanian Philharmonic Orchestra at the Alba Festival.

This album contains no booklet.