Ottorino Respighi - Suite in E major; Variazioni sinfoniche; Preludio, corale e fuga (Adriano)

Information

Composer: Ottorino Respighi

1. Variazioni sinfoniche
2. Preludio, corale e fuga
3. Burlesca
4. Ouverture carnevalesca
5. Suite in E major: I. Adagio - Allegro vivo
6. Suite in E major: II. Adagio
7. Suite in E major: III. Allegretto vivace
8. Suite in E major: IV. Allegretto energico - Marziale e sostenuto

Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra

Adriano, conductor

Date: 1991 / 2005

Label: Marco Polo / Naxos

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Review

These performances may not be ideal, but they are certainly illuminating, for each of these works offers rich insights into the development of Respighi's mature style, normally associated with the great triptych of Roman tone-poems. Most surprising of all, perhaps, are the clear imprints of Rimsky-Korsakov's brand of pictorial orchestration, with rather obvious allusions to techniques employed in Scheherazade and the Russian Easter Festival Overture, for example, but if you enjoy Respighi you will certainly want to acquire this disc.

The Variazioni sinfoniche evidently won the approval of Rimsky-Korsakov, to the extent that he accepted Respighi as a student. The work consists of a number of passacaglia-like variations after the manner of Brahms or Franck. One could wish for greater amplitude and brilliance in the playing, particularly in the climactic sections involving organ and brass, but the performance is certainly serviceable. The Preludio, coral e fuga is again an exploratory work, although emotionally and technically superior to the variations, with some inspired percussion scoring. Again, the Czech players sound a little uncomfortable with the idiom, and the lyrical episode for solo violin is self-consciously febrile and mannered.

Respighi's experiences as a viola player in St Petersburg and later at the Bolshoi during 1900-1902, familiarized him with the stage works of Tchaikovsky, whose influence looms large in the superb and stimulating Suite in E major, heard here in the finale 1907 version. There are clear pointers in the direction of the later Fountains of Rome in much of the wind writing, although aspects of Rimsky and Borodin come to the fore in the scherzo and finale of what amounts to a symphony, and was indeed originally intended as such.

The latent pictorialism of the Burlesca anticipates the heightened imagery of the Roman cycle and it is a pity that this vivid work is not better played, with the Czech orchestra floundering occasionally in unfamiliar territory. The Ouverture carnavalesca, too, has its share of problems and is the least memorable work in this collection. The recording is adequate, if rather lacking in perspective, but the disc will fascinate anyone with an interest in the composer. The Swiss-born conductor Adriano has contributed some useful scholarship in the accompanying notes, and with almost 80 minutes of hitherto unrecorded music as well, this typically adventurous release from Marco Polo should be of value to many collectors.

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Ottorino Respighi (9 July 1879 – 18 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. He studied at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and also studied briefly with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. His compositions range over operas, ballets, orchestral suites, choral songs, chamber music, and transcriptions of Italian compositions of the 16th–18th centuries, but his best known and most performed works are his three orchestral tone poems which brought him international fame: Fountains of Rome (1916), Pines of Rome (1924), and Roman Festivals (1928).

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Swiss-born conductor-composer Adriano (b. 1944) is mostly self-taught as a musician. In the late 1970s he established himself as a specialist on Ottorino Respighi and he has conducted many other recordings of obscure or neglected symphonic repertoire. On Marco Polo/Naxos he initiated and recorded a series of 15 albums mainly of European film music composers, and created and directed a series of classical music videos. All of his recording projects (49 albums, 21 of which featuring music by Swiss composers) have found wide recognition, and his commitment is totally dedicated and uncompromising.

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