One of the leading Italian composers of the mid-20th century, Goffredo Petrassi shaped the musical materials he found around him, incorporating aspects of Renaissance choral music, Baroque forms, and the modernism of Stravinsky and Hindemith, especially in his works of the late 1930s. The balancing of these elements makes his Magnificat and Salmo IX interesting studies in the early development of his musical language, yet the overwhelming influence of Stravinsky's neo-classicism is unavoidable in these works. Curiously, the ...
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One of the leading Italian composers of the mid-20th century, Goffredo Petrassi shaped the musical materials he found around him, incorporating aspects of Renaissance choral music, Baroque forms, and the modernism of Stravinsky and Hindemith, especially in his works of the late 1930s. The balancing of these elements makes his Magnificat and Salmo IX interesting studies in the early development of his musical language, yet the overwhelming influence of Stravinsky's neo-classicism is unavoidable in these works. Curiously, the first reaction listeners may have is that Petrassi is most interesting when he is derivative, and surprisingly dull and mechanical when he isn't. There are long passages of expressionless chanting, dry imitative counterpoint, and slowly meandering connecting passages, but the music doesn't attract attention or cause much excitement, except for the pungent sforzando chords, angular melodic writing, and asymmetrical rhythms and syncopations that bring Oedipus Rex or the Symphony of...
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