20th Century Italian Chamber Music With Mandolin – Gran Duo Vesuvius

From Naples to the whole world: this Da Vinci Classics album could easily receive such a subtitle, since the composers represented here are all deeply rooted in the Neapolitan musical tradition, but actively contributed to its dissemination worldwide – to the United States, Russia, Japan, and throughout Europe. Indeed, sometimes Italians are slightly annoyed by the stereotypic image of their country abroad; the combination of “pizza-spaghetti-mandolino” is one which fails to represent the culture and variety of the Peninsula. However, it is intriguing that all three elements of this combination can be identified with Naples, and that just one, the mandolin, is not a food. Food in fact is the most immediate way for entering into contact and relationship with a different culture; music is almost as universal as food, and of course has a different level of artistry and spirituality. Therefore, even though “pizza-spaghetti-mandolino” is a slightly offensive oversimplification, the fact that the mandolin is a symbol of Italy on the same plane as pizza and spaghetti gives – quite literally – food for thought.
It is not by chance that Naples and the mandolin are so strictly connected to each other. The city of Naples has always had a very lively “outdoor” lifestyle: its idyllic climate, tempered by the sea both in winter and in summer, encourages people to enjoy open air life, which, in turn, favours human relationships, chattering, and the dissemination of popular and elevated culture. The mandolin is the ideal instrument for outdoor playing. It is easy to handle and to carry, light and non-cumbersome; it is perfectly suited for accompanying singing, but works perfectly also alone (being able to sustain a singing melodic line and to accompany it harmonically at the same time), and with other instruments, both of the same family and of a different nature. Moreover, the mandolin is perfectly suited to provide music for dancing (and the culture of dance used to be a distinguishing feature of the city), and its clear, silvery tone is aesthetically consonant with the city’s transparent air and sea, and its inexhaustible energy and vitality. Last but not least, Naples is the perfect stage for love and courtship, and the mandolin is the perfect instrument for moonlight serenades: the nostalgia which infuses the mood and aura of many sea-cities, and which translates the longing for the infinite characterizing the contemplation of the sea, becomes a perfect symbol for the desire of love.