There was all the great music, but also the noble tradition of the band repertoire, in the applauded concert that the Carabinieri Band proposed at the Vittorio Emanuele Theatre, on the occasion of the award ceremony of the Bonino-Pulejo International Prize. On the podium, directing the formation with a clear and impeccable gesture, is Maestro Colonel Massimo Martinelli, who has led the Band since 2000 in institutional ceremonies and national and international events.
At the opening, the scenographic entrance into the hall to the notes of a less well-known, but certainly not less, piece by Ludwig van Beethoven, namely the “Zapfenstreich” march n. 1 in C major, composed between 1809 and 1810 in a Vienna affected by anti-Napoleonic revolts. Following this, the team proposed a long and composite homage to the Italian and European opera theatre, starting with the Fantasia on the themes of the “Norma” by Vincenzo Bellini, and continuing with Figaro’s cavatina “Largo al factotum” from the “Barbiere di Siviglia” by Gioachino Rossini, with the esteemed soloists Alessandro Cicchirillo and Leonardo Latona, the romance “Nessun dorma” intoned by Prince Calaf in the third act of the “Turandot” by Giacomo Puccini performed by the tenor flugelhorn of Giulio Scacchi and the virtuosic aria of the Queen of the Night from Mozart’s “Magic Flute”, performed by the sopranino flugelhorn of Santino Torre.
And it was impossible not to dedicate ample space to the form of the military march, expressed according to heterogeneous styles and sounds by the 80 elements on stage, representing the 120 that make up the ensemble: from the clangs of “Lezginka”, taken from the ballet “Gayane” by Aram Chačaturjan, to the triumphal “Fame and glory” by Albert E. Matt, up to the Hymn of the King of the Two Sicilies by Giovanni Paisiello and the march of order of the Army, “La Fedelissima” by Luigi Cirenei.
To complete the very pleasant program, two moments dedicated to Ennio Morricone, with the engaging themes composed for the film “Baarìa” by Giuseppe Tornatore and the celestial “Gabriel’s oboe” from “Mission” by Roland Joffé, and a piece by Maestro Martinelli himself entitled “Una sera di cielo”, dedicated to General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa and enriched by the Sicilian sounds of the marranzano and the cane flute with the soloists Antonio Amato and Vincenzo Daidone. Between a welcome extra program by maestro Santino Torre and the ovations of the audience, the concert ended on the notes of the “Canto degli italiani”.
