Petrassi, Puccini & De Sabata

From Renaissance Venice to the streets of post-war Rome, Sir Antonio Pappano explores the passion, the melody and the sun-kissed colours of an Italy we almost never hear.

In a Venetian church, brass instruments echo and resound. Amid the colours of post-war Rome, a great teacher makes an orchestra shimmer and glow. The young Puccini lets his imagination soar, and an aspiring master takes a full orchestra and gives it wings. There’s more to Italian music than just opera, and Sir Antonio Pappano is here to share it.

Tonight he presents an alternative history of Italian music – from the student Puccini’s Capriccio Sinfonico (some of it might sound familiar) to the extraordinary Juventus of 1919 by Victor de Sabata: a luscious hymn to youth by a composer who would become one of Italy’s greatest conductors. Plus the powerful post-war Concerto for Orchestra No 5 by Goffredo Petrassi: the man who taught Ennio Morricone (and you can tell). This is the musical Italy the tourists don’t see, and there’s no better guide.