Nino Rota: Concertos

 (1 customer review)

Nino Rota's concert music is surprisingly well represented on record, with several recordings of the most central works available. I say "surprisingly", since despite its lyrical and melodic qualities it is hard to argue that Rota was a major composer in any interesting sense. The music is tunefully neo-classical but extremely conservative - and often rather short-breathed. True, Rota did his best to avoid letting his themes and ideas outstay their welcome, but to be perfectly honest many of said ideas weren't really worth expressing in the first place. The disc at hand, despite committed performances, does do an extent underline those shortcomings.

Best of the works here - and a fine piece overall - is the harp concerto from 1947. It is a modest and generally light, post-romantic work, but the themes are fine and the mood is attractive. The image brought to mind is that of an elegant, archaic, soft-edged, polished rococo fountain in morning light (with the early rays of...Read more