Francesco Viola (piccolo); Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim/Salvatore Percacciolo
Naxos 8.579132 76:24 mins
Francesco Viola is a leading advocate for the piccolo, the smallest member of the flute family that has made a recent move from orchestral colourist to concerto soloist. Though it is regularly used to fly high above the ledger lines in works such as Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, the middle range of the piccolo can be rich and sonorous, as demonstrated by Viola in Boris Papandopulo’s Concertino.
The Romanca has an earthy resonance, particularly in the interwoven moments between piccolo and strings, performed by the Mannheim National Theatre Orchestra, where Viola is soloist. Papandopulo returns to the more traditional chirruping in Igra, an upbeat virtuosic movement that is the highlight of the 1977 work. German-born Papandopulo spent most of his life in Croatia and the concerto has a distinctive Eastern European flavour, a theme that is felt throughout this programme.
Viola began preparations for this album back in 2015, with a recording of the piano reduction of Andreas Baksa’s lively 2012 Grande concerto piccolo. Under the baton of Salvatore Percacciolo and enlarged to its intended scoring, the 25-minute work blends neo-Romanticism with mid-century harmony; conversely, the cadenza in the first Allegro is positively (and pleasingly) Debussy adjacent. Here Viola demonstrates sublime skill and musicianship, flattered by a carefully balanced recording (not easy with an instrument designed to carry across a large ensemble).
The two-movement Concertino (1967) by Uroš Krek moves from eerie meandering melodies – enhanced by harp and celesta – to Romanian folk-song and a rousing, timpani-daubed finale. Frigyes Hidas’s 1951 Oboe Concerto, arranged by Viola, is a worthy addition to this landmark album.