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Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni - Laura Marzadori - Massimo Belli
Vitali Grieg Saint-Saëns Sibelius Viozzi Sofianopulo Busoni
Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni
Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni - Laura Marzadori - Massimo Belli
Vitali Grieg Saint-Saëns Sibelius Viozzi Sofianopulo Busoni
Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni
The album
SIXTY YEARS ON THE ROAD WITH FERRUCCIO BUSONI A special CD for one of Europe's longest-running orchestras
Twenty-three years ago, Giampaolo de Ferra wrote in Einaudi's encyclopaedia Storia d'Italia (History of Italy) that “Trieste's cultural identity is reconstructed
in the synthesis of its contradictions”. Against the backdrop of this same synthesis and scenario, sixty years ago, the Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni
began its activity, one of the longest-running ensembles not only in Italy but also alongside the glorious Trio di Trieste. This ensemble was symbolic of the fervent associativism that characterised musical life in Svevo's Trieste between the 19th and 20th centuries. Here, alongside the major ensemble of the Teatro Grande (later the Comunale G. Verdi), the highly professional family schools and the circles of cultured and refined amateurism had a radiant influence that lasted until after the Second World War. And where the charm of the four strings was particularly strong: from the violin of Zeno, of the Veneziani and Wieselberger families, to the “silvery sounds” admired by Umberto Saba. This was the atmosphere in 1965 when the ensemble was founded by Aldo Belli
and is now led by his son Massimo. Today, the orchestra, which began as a chamber ensemble and currently has a variable line-up capable of embracing a vast symphonic repertoire, can celebrate its diamond anniversary with music, marking the event with a prestigious recording supported by the Municipality of Trieste, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, the Ministry of Culture and the Casali ETS Foundations. This is a live recording of an extraordinary concert held in Trieste (Sala Victor De Sabata – Ridotto del Teatro Verdi) on Thursday 29 May and then repeated on Sunday 1 June 2025 in Milan (Palazzo Morando) on the occasion of the presentation of the cultural excellence of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. The FVG/MILANO – CONFINI project (of which the concert is part) is an event
held in the Lombard capital in May and June, featuring an exhibition of some of the most significant works by artists from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. With
this in mind, the Ferruccio Busoni Orchestra's programme is freely structured along the chosen itinerary and exhibited at Palazzo Morando. The music was accompanied by masterpieces by great artists from our region: works that well represent an artist's relationship with the “border”. From the dynamic explosion of Futurism (Crali, Spazzapan) to poetic lyricism between representation and form (Music, Afro), from classical reinterpretation (Mascherini) to the cohesion of matter and concept (Zigaina) to symbolic translation (Grom, Spacal). Important authors in a deliberately limited selection designed to document the richness and stylistic diversity of the 20th century in Friuli Venezia Giulia. On the musical side, designed by Massimo Belli between the late Romantic period and the 20th century, both the influences and the roots, the junctions and the subtle correlations recognisable in the musicians who felt and nurtured the restless and composite cultural moods of these lands freely intersect: the joyful gaze of Ferruccio Busoni, whose mother was from Trieste and who was educated there (the brilliant pioneer who gives his name to the orchestra), the impetuous creativity of Giulio Viozzi, the spirituality and profound sensitivity of Marco Sofianopulo, and even the delicate and original “hand” of Renato and Daniele Zanettovich (father and son) in their reinterpretation of the piece, which the orchestra has chosen almost as a “theme” and opening for the concert. After the Ciaccona attributed to Vitali (a
reinvention of classicism that also emerges in certain works by Mascherini), Eduard Grieg's two Elegiac Melodies for strings were chosen with a view to that
forgotten, prescient sentiment to which Afro Basaldella from Friuli aspired (in “Indicazioni sulla mia pittura” [Indications on my painting]). The nostalgic and crackling virtuosity of Camille Saint-Sans' Introduction and Capricious Rondo for violin and orchestra goes well with the varied palette in Luigi Spazzapan's mural painting, while Giulio Viozzi's Quattro momenti per archi (Four Moments for Strings) (a musician “on the border” and of cultural contamination between the Italian generation of the 1980s and the world of Bartó k) can share the excitement of a work such as Bogdan Grom's Carnevale. It is difficult not to associate Sofianopulo's Jewish melody (Ningun di solitudine e abbandono) with the excruciating human experience suffered and translated into art by Music and Spacal. Finally, the Futurism of Spazzapan and Crali, in the spirit of Busoni, of whom Umberto Boccioni gives us a memorable portrait from 1916. The musical halo chosen to close the programme is that of Finnish Folk Songs op. 27 for fourhand piano, arranged by Marco Sofianopulo and dedicated to the Orchestra as a tribute to the composer who took his first steps in the Adriatic city, offering the first evidence of his legendary pianistic talent. Busoni was a great admirer of
Futurism, so much so that around that time he purchased Boccioni's famous painting La città che sale (The City Rises). But in the double concert and recording of the 60th anniversary, there is a further connection between Trieste and Milan and an additional attraction thanks to the extraordinary participation
of violinist Laura Marzadori as soloist. First violinist of the La Scala Orchestra and an artist of captivating talent, Laura Marzadori is now also well known for her elegant television appearances in pop music and on the web. With Massimo Belli's orchestra, she has already been the protagonist on several occasions in the past of evenings during which previously unheard concerts by Giuseppe Tartini were performed, also recorded on CD in editions that were highly
appreciated by critics.
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Massimo Belli - Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni
Mozart
The 5 Violin Concertos
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Gabriele Screpis - Massimo Belli - Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni
Vivaldi
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Massimo Belli - Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni
Sofianopulo
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Nuova Orchestra Ferruccio Busoni - Massimo Belli
Meneghini
The artist
The “Ferruccio Busoni” Chamber Orchestra
The “Ferruccio Busoni” Chamber Orchestra, a well-known ensemble founded in 1965 by Aldo Belli, is one of the first chamber orchestras to appear in Italy during the post-war period. It is also the oldest in the Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, and in 2008 was recognized by the Region as an “institution of regional importance”. It is made up of established instrumentalists, winners of important international competitions, who can boast extensive concert experience as both soloists and members of chamber groups, passing on the musical culture of the Trio di Trieste and the Quartetto Italiano whose pupils they were. In 2005 and 2010 the orchestra celebrated its 40th and 45th anniversaries with concerts featuring the special appearance of the violinist Salvatore Accardo, the concerts met with great popular and critical acclaim. The concert celebrating its 50th anniversary, held in collaboration with Trieste’s Teatro Verdi, had as its guest the violinist Domenico Nordio, and was highly successful. The “live” recording of it was published by the Amadeus review in December 2015.For the 50th anniversary the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region published a book on the Busoni Orchestra, as part of the Region’s promotion of its image at an international level.The orchestra has caught the attention of public and critics alike by its performances in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, Tunisia, Russia and Italy, with excellent soloists.On October 30th, 2013 the Busoni Orchestra, as Italy’s representative, gave the opening concert in the International Silver Lyre Festival, organized by the Philharmonic Society of St. Petersburg, enjoying a great success with the audience.Ever ready to promote contemporary music, the orchestra has to its credit the premiere performances of a good number of works – some of which are dedicated to the Busoni Orchestra – by such contemporary composers as Nieder, Sofianopulo, Margola, Conti, Viozzi, Coral, Dott, Visnoviz, Bellini, Glass and the premiere performances in modern time by such composers as Giuseppe Tartini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Andrea Luchesi e Alessandro Rolla.The Busoni orchestra is the creator and principal performer in the Mattinate Musicali at Trieste’s Museo Revoltella, a celebration of chamber music which has now been active for nineteen years.The ensemble has recorded 20 CD for the record company Velut Luna, Concerto Classics, Brilliant Classics, Warner Classics e Amadeus which have received prestigious recognition.Since 2013 the Busoni orchestra has been involved in a project to rediscover the music of the Veneto composer Andrea Luchesi; so far the Milan record company “Concerto Classics” has published five world premiere CDs dedicated to his music, recorded by the Busoni orchestra. The Busoni orchestra has recorded for Italian Radio and Television (RAI), for SKY Classic and for Canale 5.In March 2018 the review Amadeus published the CD including world premiere recordings of the two Concerti of Giuseppe Tartini with the violinist Laura Marzadori. In May 2019 the record company Brilliant Classics published the CD with music by Ermanno Wolf Ferrari recorded with Fabien Thouand e Valentino Zucchiatti. In January 2020 Movimento Classical first published the complete version of Giulio Meneghini's Concertoni.
The artist
Laura Marzadri
Laura Marzadori joined the Scala Theatre Orchestra as leader violin in 2014, at just 25 years. Before taking up this position she played only as a soloist and as a chamber music violinist, never in an orchestra. However, the commission members with Daniel Barenboim as its president, unanimously elected her as the Concertmaster. In this role she has already worked with some of the greatest conductors in the world: Barenboim, Chailly, Gatti, Harding and Pappano.She began studying the violin a few months before her fourth birthday with Fiorenza Rosi, a teacher of the Suzuki method. At age 10 she studied for one year with Professor Enzo Porta, great violinist and pedagogue, before entering the Conservatorio G. B. Martini in Bologna from where she graduates magna cum laude in October 2005.Laura also studied until the age of 17 with Marco Fornaciari - for many years violin soloist of the Claudio Scimone ensemble “I Solisti Veneti”.In 2004 she won the "Andrea Amati" National Contest for Young Violinists. The chairman of that jury was the famous violinist Salvatore Accardo who took her on to his prestigious international courses at the Stauffer Academy in Cremona and at the Chigiana Academy in Siena where for two consecutive years she was awarded the Honour’s Diploma granted to the best students.In 2006 she attended a one year masterclass with Giuliano Carmignola as part of one of the OrchestraMozart initiatives under artistic direction of M° Claudio Abbado.Between the ages of 17 and 20 she studied, for three years, with the renowned violinist Pavel Berman at the International Academy Incontri col Maestro in Imola (Italy).Since 2008 she has been studying with the great violinist Zakhar Bron and attended his violin class at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Zurich for two years.In her teens she won many prizes including the National Arts Prize (president of the jury Uto Ughi),the aformentioned "Andrea Amati" contest, the second price at the Postacchini International Competition together with the special award for the best execution of Nicolò Paganini’s Capricci. In 2005 she won the most important Italian Violin competition: the “Città di Vittorio Veneto” contest as well as the special mention Gulli Prize for the best Mozart execution. Over the last two years she has been laureated at both the Sion International Violin Competition and the Buenos Aires International Violin competition.She is a passionate chamber musician: she has collaborated with such extraordinary musicians as Accardo, Berman, Filippini, Bruno Canino, Meneses, Antony Pay, Lucchesini, Giuranna - with whom she performed the Bach Goldberg variations of the string version by Bruno Giuranna- and recently also with many colleagues of the Scala Orchestra. In 2013, as a member of the AMAR piano trio with Leonora and Ludovico Armellini, she was awarded the prestigious “XXXII Premio Abbiati” dedicated to Piero Farulli, by the Italian National Association of Musics Critics.In 2010 she performed the world premiere of Ottorino Respighi’s violin concerto in New York, and recorded it for the NAXOS Label. The recording, released in the USA in May 2011, was well received by critics. In April 2012, she played Italian première of the Violin Concerto op.26 by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari with the “Orchestra Città di Ferrara” conducted by Marco Zuccarini. This performance was recorded live by the TACTUS label and the CD was released in January 2013.In the same year Shlomo Mintz invited her to record two violin lessons with him for his Online Music Academy; she also recorded a lesson with Salvatore Accardo at the Stauffer Academy in Cremona for the Dynamic Label.
Laura Marzadori plays the 1925 Giuseppe Fiorini violin.
The artist
Massimo Belli
Began studying the violin with his father, then continued with Bruno Polli. Under the tutelage of Renato Zanettovich he graduated cum laude at the “B.Marcello” Conservatory of Venice. He followed specialization courses in Fiesole with the Trio di Trieste and Piero Farulli, and at the Accademia Chigiana di Siena with Henryk Szeryng. He was for two years a student of Salvatore Accardo’s at the Accademia di Alto Perfezionamento “W.Stauffer” in Cremona. The winner of numerous national and international competitions, he made his debut at sixteen at the Teatro Politeama Rossetti of Trieste for the Concert Society; later, as a soloist, he performed in Europe, the ex-Soviet Union, Turkey and South America. He has performed the principal concertos in the violin repertoire, accompanied by such notable orchestras and he was lead violinist in the Italian Youth Orchestra, the Busoni Orchestra, the Haydn Philharmonia, and both lead violinist and conductor of the Virtuosi dell’Ensemble di Venezia. The great Triestine composer Giulio Viozzi dedicated to Massimo Belli a piece for solo violin, “Tema variato”, published by Pizzicato. He has broadcast on radio and television in Italy, the Soviet Union, Germany, Yugoslavia, Brazil, and Austria, and has recorded for Sipario Dischi, for Nuova Era and he currently records for Concerto Classics, Warner Classics, Brilliant Classics and Movimento Classical. He studied conducting with Aldo Belli and Julian Kovatchev, and is the conductor of the New “Ferruccio Busoni” Chamber Orchestra. He teaches violin at the Trieste Conservatory. He has taught at the United World College of the Adriatic, at the summer courses in Solighetto, and was invited to give Masterclasses at the Conservatorio Reale di Murcia (Spain), the Hoochschule of Mannheim and the Academy of Tallin and Belarusian State Academy of Musik di Minsk. He is also a teacher at the International Music Masterclasses of Cividale.He was for five years Vice-Director of the “Giuseppe Tartini” Conservatory of Trieste and was on the Administrative Council of Trieste’s “Giuseppe Verdi” Opera House Foundation.He recently conducted I Cameristi del Maggio Fiorentino and Euro Sinfonietta Wien.