Franco Alfano was born in Naples on March 8, 1875 and showed musical talent at an early age. He studied piano with Alessandro Longo at the Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella in Naples and composition with Camillo De Nardis. In 1895, he moved to Leipzig to study with Salomon Jadassohn. There he was able to study Bach and Wagner more intensively, as well as Busoni, Richard Strauss and other composers who were still little known in Italy.

In the summer of 1899, he moved to Paris and found an even more stimulating environment there, where the musical debate between names such as Massenet, Bizet, Charpentier and Debussy aroused his curiosity. He celebrated the greatest successes of his long career in the field of opera. His most successful were "Resurrection" in 1904, based on Leo Tolstoy's novel of the same name, "The Shadow of Don Giovanni" (1913, rev. 1941), "The Legend of Sakùntala" (1921, rev. 1952, his masterpiece) and "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1936), as well as eight other operas. Despite this extensive operatic output, Alfano owes his current fame above all to the completion of Puccini's "Turandot" based on notes by the late composer.

Arturo Toscanini and the publisher Ricordi decided that Alfano should complete the opera, as Alfano's "Sakùntala" had similarities with the unfinished finale of "Turandot". Alfano died in San Remo on October 17, 1954. The Concerto in A major for violin, cello and piano, which was begun in 1929 and quickly completed, was performed on May 31, 1930 at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia with Luca Ballerini (violin) and Benedetto Mazzacurati (cello) and Alfano himself at the piano. It was positively received by critics for its clarity, expressive intensity, powerful construction and "its exuberant cantabile and substantial episodes" - all characteristic features of the composer.

Particularly appreciated was Alfano's use of the old keys - a different one for each movement: Phrygian for the first ("Con dolce malinconia"), Dorian for the second ("Allegretto fantastico") and Hypolydian for the last ("Presto, con grande vigoria"). This concerto also features an absolutely masterful composition for the three instruments, which engage in a truly lively dialog, each with a defined role and interesting individual timbre solutions and combinations. Alfano's last chamber music composition, the Piano Quintet in A flat major for strings and piano, dates from 1945. Composed after a ten-year break in Alfano's chamber music output, the difference between the trio on this album and this piano quintet is clear. In the later work, he uses less elaborate solutions, including doublings and emphasized unison tutti in resolutions and cadenzas.

Ornamental material is more conspicuous here than before and lends the work a certain Art Nouveau character. Alfano shows a desire to return to a stylistic idea from the past, as if he consciously wanted to fall back on old certainties, idealizing and emphasizing them, while retaining typical Alfano characteristics such as the authenticity of the lyrical impulse and the quality of the technical workmanship.

Further information:
- Recorded in December 2023 in Bernareggio, Italy
- The bilingual booklet in English and Italian contains notes by Marcello Miramonti and Enrico Graziani as well as profiles of the ensemble and its musicians.

- Franco Alfano (1875-1954) was an Italian composer best known for completing Puccini's opera Turandot after his death. His own works, especially his chamber music, are characterized by a deeply personal lyricism and a rich harmonic language. His Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano and his Piano Quintet stand out as outstanding examples of his late romantic style, which is characterized by impressionist and modernist influences.

- Composed in the 1930s, the Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano combines lyrical expressiveness with complex counterpoint and interweaves dense textures while maintaining clarity between the three instruments. The dialogues between violin, cello and piano are characterized by emotional intensity and virtuoso passages. His Piano Quintet, composed in 1945, is characterized by floating melodies, rich harmonic colors and dramatic contrasts. The piano plays a central role and does more than just accompany the strings. Alfano's harmonic language in this work is forward-looking and at the same time rooted in the late Romantic tradition.

Played with passion and commitment by the Italian Davinci Ensemble.