# Goffredo Petrassi



## Torkelburger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goffredo_Petrassi

Goffredo Petrassi. Marvelous composer from the last century. I had never heard of him until several years ago when youtube came out and I began researching composers I read about in Vincent Persichetti's book on twentieth century harmony and composition. The book had several examples from his work. This composer was one of the standouts in my research by far. It is easy to see why Vincent must have held this composer in such high regard. As you will see, the admiration is very well deserved.

It is a shame this composer is not played in my country (the US). I can only hope he is still played in Europe. Being an orchestral musician, I would give anything to play this man's music.


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## dgee

I've heard a bit of Petrassi's music, quite enjoyed it, and will try to check some of these out. He was an influential teacher as well - Donatoni, Morricone, Maxwell-Davies, Cardew and Aldo Clementi were pupils


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## Guest

I first heard of him (and so, of course, first heard him) when I bought the two CD set of eight concertos for orchestra.

What a treat that is! Each concerto is good on its own, but listening to them in order, you can hear how Petrassi's music developed. It's a fascinating journey.


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## Torkelburger

some guy said:


> I first heard of him (and so, of course, first heard him) when I bought the two CD set of eight concertos for orchestra.
> 
> What a treat that is! Each concerto is good on its own, but listening to them in order, you can hear how Petrassi's music developed. It's a fascinating journey.


I know what I'm getting for Christmas now.


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## dgee

Did a little youtube surfing and was particularly taken with works in his later style and especially this:


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## Torkelburger

Thanks for finding and sharing that! It would be great to see the score and compare it to other Italian/Italian-American composers of the same period, namely Donatoni (was he influenced by his student or vice versa?), Berio, Corigliano. I still hear him embracing his past. The ideas and form still seem to be there in some way. The effects are embedded in and emanate from the music itself and don't seem to be there just for their own sake. Like the glisses that begin to stem at 7:38 from the wonderful counterpoint that's been going for some time up to that point. Those effects sound inevitable to the music. The effects are there to suit his voice, not overtake it. I absolutely love it. Really love the string writing throughout.


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## GioCar

I recently bought this 2CD set of his 8 concertos for orchestra









after quite an extensive search. It's out of print, so prices are quite high, but I found one new at a reasonable price sold by an Amazon.co.uk reseller.

I am listening to it with much pleasure. Petrassi is one of the most interesting (and a bit underrated) Italian composers of the last (i.e. 20th) century.


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