Five strings for the sound of memory

Guido Alberto Fano: Sonata Fantasia per violino e pianoforte
Contemplativo e sognante – Andante sostenuto – Misterioso e moderatamente mosso – Allegro molto

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Suite 508 op.170 per viola e pianoforte
Pavane – Tambourine – Aria

Renzo Massarani: Preludio per violino e pianoforte

Leone Sinigaglia: Three Lyric Pieces op.12 per violino e pianoforte
Larghetto – Agitato – Adagio

Mario Castelnuovom-Tedesco: “Figaro” dal Barbiere di Siviglia di Rossini (transcription)

Leone Sinigaglia: Romantic Pieces n. 3 per violino e pianoforte

The Gran Duo Italiano, consisting of violinist Mauro Tortorelli and pianist Angela Meluso, has been working for over 10 years on the rediscovery of forgotten musical treasures by bringing to light genuine missing parts of music history. The research work is continuously documented through world premieres as well as enhanced and disseminated worldwide through master classes, seminars and concerts.The duo was honored by the European Union in 2011 for their work in musicological research, rediscovery and enhancement of the Italian artistic-musical heritage. As ambassadors of Italian music, they have played concerts in more than 20 countries and in the world’s most prestigious concert halls.

Guido Alberto Fanno (1875-1961) was an Italian composer, conductor and pianist of Jewish origin. From 1905-1938 he was a professor in Panama and later Palermo, Milan and Naples. From 1938, he was barred from teaching due to the fascist racial laws. He spent the war years in hiding with his family in Fossombrone and Assisi and returned to the Milan Conservatory in 1945, where he taught until his death in 1961.

Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco (1895-1968) was a Jewish composer and was forced to emigrate to the USA in 1939. He found employment at the MGM film studios, where he wrote more than two hundred film scores. From 1946, he taught composition at the Los Angeles Conservatory, where the film music composer John Williams also studied with him. In 2018, the Gran Duo recorded his complete works for string instruments and piano to mark the 50th anniversary of Tedesco’s death.

Renzo Massarani (1898-1975) was an Italian composer of Jewish origin. The promulgation of the Fascist racial laws marked the end of his musical career in Italy. He lost his job and his works were banned. In 1939, he emigrated to Brazil, where he became a citizen in 1945. From then on, he worked as a conductor and music critic, as well as a composer. Even after the war, he refused to return to Italy and forbade the performance of and access to the manuscripts of his pre-war compositions. He died in Rio de Janeiro on March 28, 1975.

Leone Sinigaglia (1868-1944) grew up in an upper-class Jewish family in Turin. After studying music and composition, he lived in Vienna from 1894. There he also met Johannes Brahms and studied with Antonín Dvořák. He later returned to Turin. With the promulgation of the Italian racial laws in 1938, the performance of his works was banned and his compositions were removed from libraries. After his house was ransacked by the fascist militia, Leone and his sister Alina hid in the Maurizian Hospital with false papers. When he was tracked down by the fascist police in his hiding place in the hospital on May 16, 1944, he suffered a heart attack and died as a result.