Wolf-Ferrari: Orchestral Works

 “A warm welcome to a superb collection of Wolf-Ferrari's sparkling orchestral music...The Suite-Concertino in F is a great rarity - and what a charmer it is, with Chandos's recent find, the superb bassoonist Karen Geoghegan, bringing out all the colour of this score...The Chandos recording is first class, with the deep, resonant bass-drum in L'Amore medico marvellously captured.” --Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

 “…Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic weight and pace these often featherlight textures to perfection, particularly in the several delightful song-based movements with plucked or strummed accompaniments. But where this disc scores over most comparable compilations is in... a substantial 20-minute bonus in the form of the 1933 Suite-Concertino for bassoon and strings (plus two horns). This is something different, at least in the opening Notturno, where Karen Geoghegan exudes a tender melancholy as the so often clownish bassoon puts on its sad face and wails its lonely lament through the night, even if it awakes more predictably to a bubbliness for the remaining three movements.” --BBC Music Magazine, August 2009 ****

“The Suite Concertino, beautifully played by Karen Geoghegan, is ravishing and original, and the extracts from Il Campiello and L'Amore Medico have a seductive charm. Noseda conducts it all with quiet passion, and the BBC Philharmonic's playing is finely judged in its combination of virtuosity and restraint. A treat.” --The Guardian, 10th April 2009 ****