Attesa (‘Waiting’) is the most
substantial piece on the album,
scored for the unusual combination
of piano, horns, strings and percussion:
a powerful seven-movement
suite inspired by the suffering of a
man given the death penalty in the
US state of Virginia and executed in
1997.
Sollima worked within a
tonal framework to evoke, in his
words, ‘the frantic sequence of images,
memories and emotions that
torment the last hours of a condemned
man’s life.’ The pianist and musicologist
Anna Maria Sollima (sister
to Giovanni) supplies insightful
annotations, which trace the course
of Eliodoro’s life and career through
the works recorded here.
World premieres on record
include the early Ouverture da
camera (1948/50) and Rondò
burlesco (1951) for piano and
orchestra, carried forward by strong,
cinematically flavoured melodies.
From 1968, the Concerto per
archi (Concerto for strings) is
another work with a political
subtext, inspired by the shock
arising from the assassination of
Bobby Kennedy. But Sollima always
stayed true to his Sicilian roots, and
continued to translate the idioms
of local folk music in his own,
contemporary style: a commitment
exemplified by Nenia e recitativo,
a concertante piece for cello and
strings.

Seekers of the 20th-century tonal
voices will find in Eliodoro Sollima
a distinctive and compelling
personality, to which these
performers do full justice.