Orchestral works 1945-1997 (2026)

"Here is a little-known Sicilian composer for fans of colourful, interesting 20th-century music: Eliodoro Sollima. Born in Marsala, Sollima studied piano under Arthuro Benedetti Michelangeli before directing the Palermo conservatoire for sixteen years. His son, Giovanni, is a cellist and composer as well, and can be heard, for example, on the Brilliant Classics recording of Offenbach’s cello duets, and as one of the contributing writers on a Rumi tribute album on BRIDGE records, among other projects. He is the conductor and cello soloist on this present disc. The elder Sollima has not yet been widely recorded. The title of this album is "Orchestral Works: 1945-1997", but I’m not entirely sure why the dates were included. If Sollima (born 1926, died 2000) had compositional "phases" either before or after the range featured on this album, they must have been rather short. Instead, what links the six pieces on this disc is that they are all "concertante" works; that is, they feature one soloist or more against some kind of ensemble backdrop. Often, though, it is not a question of virtuosity or showmanship but of having more colours and textures available with which to compose. If Giovanni Sollima needed to release a "lead single" for this album, the way artists in rock and pop used to, I have no doubt that he would have picked "Aria". Eliodoro composed it as a 19-year-old in 1945, saying of the work that it expresses “the poignant, finally fulfilled desire to be able to breathe the open air again after being forced to take refuge in underground shelters to escape the bombs.” "Aria" was originally scored for string quartet, but the composer revised it at some point for cello and strings. For my money, it’d make a great cello concerto encore (or CD bonus track) in the way "From the Bohemian Forest" often does. Sollima sounds genuinely late-Romantic in "Aria"; I thought of Strauss’s "Metamorphosis", although maybe the date and subject matter helped. Either way, it is a gorgeous piece, and the highlight here for me. All in all, I found the disc to be a genuine success. I came away from this disc a fan of both Eliodoro and Giovanni Sollima. If you like late 20th-century music that is eclectic, melodically-oriented, and original, you’ll like Sollima." (MusicWeb International)