Italian Clarinet Suites

Until the early 20th Century, Italian instrumental music remained overshadowed by opera. However, a number of composers born around the middle of the 19th century wrote excellent suites for clarinet and piano which brokered a 'compromise between tradition and modernity'. Alessandro Longo's Suite imbues Classical form with 'a passionate but never tormented or morbid Romanticism', while that of Antonio Scontrino adds a dash of Debussyan impressionism. Giuseppe Frugatta's splendid Suite paints a wideranging emotional soundscape rich in late Romantic influences; that of Busoni frames a lyrical Elegia with virtuosic outer movements.