One hundred years ago today, the world was introduced to Maurice Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor. It was first performed in Paris by Gabriel Wilaume, violin, Louis Feuillard, cello, and at the keyboard, none other than the composer Alfredo Casella.

To be able to hear any of Casella’s own music in concert these days is a rarity, but it was just announced yesterday that his Symphony No. 2 will feature on a concert next season by The Philadelphia Orchestra. Gianandrea Noseda will conduct. Last season, he directed the orchestra in a colorful suite from Casella’s opera, “La donna serpente” (“The Snake Woman”).

The composer’s star may have faded, but his music has been increasingly present in recordings in recent years. A figure of the so-called “generazione dell’ottanta” (“Generation of ’80” – a group of composers born around 1880 – alongside Gian Francesco Malipiero, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Franco Alfano and Ottorino Respighi), Casella impressed music-loving Philadelphians of an earlier era to the extent that his Serenata, Op. 46, split the vote in a chamber music contest held by The Musical Fund Society in 1926. The rest of the prize money went to Béla Bartók, for his String Quartet No. 3.

Casella’s “Concerto Romano” was inspired by the Wanamaker Organ.

Here’s Ravel’s Piano Trio (with Yehudi Menuhin, Gaspar Cassadó and Louis Kentner):

And the first movement of Casella’s Serenata for Clarinet, Bassoon, Trumpet, Violin and Cello:

PHOTO: Casella in spats!