Pianist David Witten presents the piano music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968), to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death and to highlight his new CD of the composer’s works, on Albany Records. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was born in Florence, but his ancestry traces directly back to a Sephardic Jewish family who escaped the Spanish Inquisition. Fleeing the Nazis and Fascists, he came to the United States in 1939, found work at MGM and other studios, and ultimately composed soundtracks for more than 200 films. This recital will feature both his early and late piano works—two concert suites from 1924 and works from his later years in California.

Program, All Works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968)
Le Stagioni (1924)
Sonatina Zoologica (1960)
Greeting Cards:
– Mirages on the name of Walter Gieseking
– Tango on the name of André Previn
– Slow with variations, on the name of Nicolas Slonimsky
Piedigrotta 1924

Composed during a very prolific period of his piano output, Le Stagioni (1924) presents Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s musical depiction of the four seasons, with a fifth movement, Epilogue, that summarizes all four previous movements. This suite is dedicated to the Italian pianist Clara Sansoni, who had been a piano student of Isaac Albéniz.

Dedicated to Florentine pianist Ornella Puliti-Santoliquido, Sonatina Zoologica (1960) contains musical images of four different garden creatures: Dragonflies, Snail, Little Lizard, and Ants.

The recital also includes some of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Greeting Cards pieces, musical cryptograms honoring his friends through the secret coding of their names. Included will be the Greeting Card pieces that honor Walter Gieseking, André Previn, and Nicolas Slonimsky.

The final work will be Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s piano suite, Piedigrotta 1924: Rapsodia Napoletana, based on songs and dances of Naples, which he wrote during his honeymoon in that city, and it is dedicated to his bride, Clara. The Berlin première of this work was performed by Walter Gieseking in 1925.

About the Artist
Pianist David Witten has been described as a pianist “with that rare, elusive quality that charms and fascinates the listener.” (Redondel, Milan, Italy) Witten’s international career has included numerous concert tours in Ireland, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Mexico, South America, and China. As the recipient of a 1990 Fulbright Scholar award, Witten spent five months teaching and concertizing throughout Brazil, and he is frequently invited back to give concerts and masterclasses.

Closer to home, Witten’s performances have included solo appearances with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and various chamber music collaborations with the Shanghai String Quartet, and also with members of the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Witten has also been active in contemporary music. He has recorded Piano Music of Nicholas Van Slyck for Titanic Records, and has commissioned over a dozen new works for Soli Espri, a chamber trio he founded in Boston with clarinetist Chester Brezniak and mezzo-soprano D’Anna Fortunato. With flutist Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin, Witten formed Dúo Clásico; their recording, Flute and Piano Music of Latin America, was issued on the Musical Heritage Society label. Marco Polo Records released Witten’s solo recording, Piano Music of Manuel M. Ponce. His most recent recordings, Piano Music of Nikolai Tcherepnin, and Songs of Nikolai Tcherepnin, with soprano Elena Mindlina, were issued on the Toccata Classics label. This recital is in part to present the release of Witten’s new solo CD of the piano music of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

About the Composer
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 – 16 March 1968) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In 1939 he immigrated to the United States and became a film composer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for some 200 Hollywood movies for the next fifteen years. He also wrote concertos for Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote as prolifically for the piano as he did in other genres. Until forced into exile he enjoyed a considerable reputation as a pianist, and his earlier piano compositions often reflect contemporary French influences.

Photo Credit: Mike Peters