Il Quartetto Cetra playlist
The Cetra Quartet
On the centenary of the birth of Virgilio Savona (1920-2009), we pay tribute to one of the most innovative groups in Italian song, the Quartetto Cetra, for which Savona was the principle composer.
Formed in Rome in 1940 following the example of such vocal groups as the Mills Brothers, the Cetra (the definitive ensemble included Felice Chiusano, Tata Giacobetti, Lucia Mannucci and Virgilio Savona) began on the radio and then had a long recording career which soon took them into review and in particular, television. There they had some extraordinary triumphs, thanks to a mixture of swing, vocal virtuosity, humour and graceful style.
They invented the canzone sceneggiata - dramatized song - (nothing to do with the Neapolitan musical theatre form of the same name) and above all the genre of literary parody with the Biblioteca di Studio Uno programme (1964). For this, they adapted the texts of about four hundred songs in a comic key.
In parallel, Savona also researched and recorded traditional folk (popular) music, while as a composer he wrote songs for children, electronic music and original songs.
This (first) anthology of the Quartetto includes great classics ranging from the 1940s (Il Visconte di Castelfombrone, from the successful broadcast "I quattro moschettieri") and the 1960s, documenting their melodic vein (I ricordi della sera), the love of swing (Crapa pelada), the dramatized song (Però mi vuole bene, Musetto), children's songs (Nella vecchia fattoria, Ricordate Marcellino) and the opening to rock (Un disco dei Platters).
But above all, they try to transmit their love for American music filtered through an Italian sensibility and presented by four virtuosos who knew how to reach the general public in the era of black and white TV.
