Sartore, Luca
Giovanni Morandi: Complete Organ Works Vol. 3
Giovanni Morandi is one of the most important composers of 19th century Italian organ music. After an initial period of training under his father, he spent twenty years of his life as the husband of a famous singer, following her on her tours but also forging important relationships throughout Europe. After his wife's death, he retired to Senigallia, in the Marche region of Italy, where he devoted himself to composing and animating the town's musical life. This album from Da Vinci Classics, which is the third volume of the complete recording of Morandi's organ works, includes Part II (Books 4, 5, 6) of Morandi's Grand Collection of Sonatas, as well as a Christmas Pastorale and a spectacular organ 'symphony' in which unusual and creative timbral solutions are called for. These three pieces were all written between 1822 and 1825, i.e. around the time of Morandi's wife's death, and thus demonstrate his youthful interest in an 'orchestral' treatment of the organ, with continuous imitations of orchestral instruments.