The Complete Works of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO: Complete Cello-Piano Works

(with pianist Frederick Moyer)

When a composer is extraordinarily prolific, there’s always a temptation to classify his achievement and stylistic outlook on the strength of a few well known pieces. This is certainly the case with the Italian-American Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco whose chief claim to fame rests on the First Guitar Concerto and a number of other guitar works which are highly venerated by soloists throughout the world. The overwhelming popularity of such compositions has inevitably led to the notion that Castelnuovo-Tedesco was primarily a composer of guitar music. Yet a brief glance at his varied output demonstrates this to be wholly misleading. Indeed Castelnuovo-Tedesco seems to have been interested in a vast range of genres, tackling both large-scale works such as operas, film scores, oratorios and concerti as well as piano miniatures, chamber music and song.

1. Toccato, Op. 83
2. Sonata, Op. 50
3. Scherzino, Op. 82B
4. I Nottambuli (Variazioni fantastiche), Op. 47
5. Notturna Sull’Acqua, Op. 82A
6. Valse on the Name of Gregor Piatigorsky
7. Paraphrase on Rossini’s “Largo al factotum”

* Re-issued from Biddulph Recordings