Ernest Arsermet Conducts Ballet Music (Recorded 1949-1950)
SOMM Recordings
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Jun 01, 2002
Classical Music
Ernest Arsermet Conducts Ballet Music (Recorded 1949-1950)
$20.99
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SOMM Recordings
Jun 01, 2002
SOMMCD 027
Jommelli, Mozart, Puccini, Respighi, Rossini & Verdi: Famous Opera Arias
Orfeo
Available as
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$20.99
Sep 24, 1992
Classical Music
Jommelli, Mozart, Puccini, Respighi, Rossini & Verdi: Famous Opera Arias
$20.99
CD
Orfeo
Sep 24, 1992
ORF-C261921
Vivaldi: Le 4 Stagioni - Guarnieri: Stagioni
Tactus
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$14.99
Jan 01, 2005
Classical Music
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Vivaldi: Le 4 Stagioni - Guarnieri: Stagioni
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Tactus
Jan 01, 2005
TC672244
Vivaldi: Concerti per fagotto, archi & continuo
Tactus
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$14.99
Jan 01, 2005
Classical Music
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Vivaldi: Concerti per fagotto, archi & continuo
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Tactus
Jan 01, 2005
TC672242
Boccherini: Concerti per Violoncello e Sinfonie
Tactus
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Jan 01, 2007
Classical Music
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Tactus
Jan 01, 2007
TC740206
The 1967 Carnegie Hall Marathon
Doremi
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$101.99
$76.99
Mar 17, 2017
In 1967, New York Impresario Sol Hurok presented Mstislav Rostropovich in 8 monumental evenings in Carnegie Hall from Feb. 23 to March 12, 1967. Rostropovich performed 30 cello concertos - offering standard concerto repertoire and new works, several of which were written for him and two were world premieres. From these, a selection of 22 concertos from the actual 1967 performances are presented in this set. This marathon program features works from Elgar, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Respighi, Hindemith, Honegger, Britten, Khrennikov, and more.
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Doremi
Mar 17, 2017
DHR-7974-9
Di Vittorio: Sinfonias No 1 "isolation" And No 2 "lost Innocence" / Chamber Orchestra Of New York
Naxos
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Jul 26, 2011
DI VITTORIO Overtura Respighiana1. Symphony No. 2, “Lost Innocence1.” Ave Maria2. Symphony No. 1, “Isolation1.” Clarinet Sonata No. 13 • 1,2Salvatore Di Vittorio, cond; 2Respighi Choir; 3Benjamin Baron (cl); 1New York “Ottorino Respighi” CO • NAXOS 8572333 (56:52)
RESPIGHI Aria for Strings. Violin Concerto in A. Suite for Strings. Rossiniana: Suite • Salvatore Di Vittorio, cond; Laura Marzadori (vn); New York “Ottorino Respighi” CO • NAXOS 8572332 (77:32)
If Palermo-born Salvatore Di Vittorio (b.1967) is new to you (as he is to me), based on these two Naxos releases you might be justified in thinking he’s a third-generation relation to Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. That’s because as a conductor, Di Vittorio leads an ensemble he founded and named “Ottorino Respighi” Chamber Orchestra of New York in a program of works by Respighi. As an arranger, he revised and/or completed three of the works heard on the second of these two discs. And as a composer, Di Vittorio has been hailed as a “lyrical romantic … following in the footsteps of Respighi.” Though a reading of Di Vittorio’s biography on his website (salvatoredivittorio.com/bio.html) discloses no direct link to the former composer, it appears that Respighi is near and dear to Di Vittorio’s heart.
In a sense, you might say that in at least one of his compositions, Overtura Respighiana, Di Vittorio has channeled Respighi to write music that the real Respighi might have written himself, for the piece is a devilishly delightful concoction that plays on Respighi’s Rossiniana and Pines of Rome, fusing them with references to Di Vittorio’s own music, to create a kind of freshly minted Boutique fantasque.
The Symphony No. 2, titled “Lost Innocence,” on the other hand, does not, as far as I can tell, quote anything by Respighi, but the brilliant swatches of instrumental color Di Vittorio weaves into and through this striking musical tapestry is reminiscent of Respighi’s way with the orchestral palette. Di Vittorio tells us that the work was inspired by the tragedy of the Yugoslav civil wars in the late 1990s. Its four movements—“Requiem for a Child,” “Dance of Tears,” “Childheart,” and “Elegy: Marcia Funebre”—at least up until the finale, reflect a calm that is neither quiet nor peaceful, but one that builds toward a shattering, tragic ending.
The Ave Maria for a cappella women’s chorus is one of Di Vittorio’s conservatory works, written in 1995 (revised in 1998) after graduating from the Manhattan School of Music. At first it struck my ear as fairly dissonant, sounding almost like it could have been written by Penderecki, Lutos?awski, or Vasks, but as the piece unfolded, emerging from the harmonic counterpoint were passages that, with just a few minor adjustments to the voice-leading, sounded as if they might have come from a cappella moments in Verdi’s Requiem. Di Vittorio confirms that impression in his booklet note, stating that a number of influences run through the piece, from Palestrina and Monteverdi to Verdi, and that “in particular, certain resemblances may be traced to Verdi’s choral Ave Maria.” The effects of Di Vittorio’s piece are quite arresting, simultaneously stark and austere yet illuminated from within by a shimmering light that leads to a most meltingly beautiful cadential Amen.
The Symphony No. 1, titled “Isolation,” dates to one year before the Ave Maria but was revised in 1999. No borrowings from Respighi appear in this score either, yet his spirit hovers over it in the luminous divided string writing and exquisite chiaroscuro effects. This is a strings-only work, and according to Di Vittorio one of its influences was Vivaldi’s seldom-performed Sinfonia al Santo Sepolcro, RV 169, one of Vivaldi’s most harmonically tortured works, written in a highly chromatic idiom intended to represent Christ’s pain and suffering. For Di Vittorio, the “Isolation” Symphony is meant to depict man’s alienation from himself and his fellow man. If you were to listen to the piece without knowing that, I’m not sure you would necessarily pick up specifically on that theme. The music is sad, to be sure, even brooding, but more than once it put me in mind of Barber’s Adagio for Strings, a piece that is somehow uplifting in its tragedy.
The Di Vittorio-as-composer CD closes with another work revised in 1998, the Clarinet Sonata No. 1. Not reflected in its title is the fact that it’s a piece for unaccompanied clarinet, which is a bit of a challenge for both composer and performer, considering that a solo wind instrument, unlike a violin or cello, can’t make its own harmony by playing double-stops or chords. But I suppose if Bach and Debussy could write for unaccompanied flute, there’s no reason the solo capabilities of other wind instruments shouldn’t be explored. Di Vittorio notes that he drew inspiration and advice for the work from his father, Giuseppe, who was a clarinetist. Di Vittorio claims to have been influenced by Verdi, Brahms, Berlioz, and elements of French Baroque dance, though these elements are not easily discerned due to the nature of the music’s syntax and style, which consists largely of loosely connected contrasting phrases that never quite seem to coalesce into an identifiable whole. Nonetheless, Benjamin Baron’s very accomplished clarinet playing invites further listening and offers a promise that there is more to this piece than meets the ear on first hearing.
Critics can be a cruel lot—I know because I’m one of them—and there are those who will say, and already have, that music like this being written today is irrelevant. That’s a strong sentiment, for sure, but nowhere near as judgmental as someone like Pierre Boulez would be. He is quoted as having said that composers who write music like this simply don’t exist, prompting an acquaintance of mine to describe Boulez as “the Dr. Mengele of France.” With one wave of his hand, off you go to the gas chamber. My attitude, as expressed on a number of past occasions, is that beautiful music is beautiful music, regardless of when it’s written, and Di Vittorio proves himself with this CD to be a composer of beautiful music extraordinaire. I strongly recommend this release to you for many hours of listening pleasure.
The second of the two entries consists entirely of music by Respighi, though Di Vittorio has had a hand in the realization of three of the four of the works as heard on the disc. I’m not sure just how seriously Respighi was ever taken by critics and the academic elite, but thanks to a small number of works—primarily his Roman trilogy, the Ancient Airs and Dances suites, and La Boutique fantasque—he came to enjoy considerable exposure and popularity, especially in the U.S. Toscanini premiered the third number of the Roman trilogy, Feste Romane, with the New York Philharmonic in 1929, and then went on to record the piece for RCA twice, once in 1942 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and a second time with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1949, adding the Fountains of Rome in 1951 and the Pines of Rome in 1953. Toscanini wasn’t the only one to climb aboard the Respighi bandwagon. Mengelberg premiered the composer’s Toccata for Piano and Orchestra with the New York Philharmonic in 1928, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra commissioned Respighi’s Metamorphoseon for its 50th anniversary in 1931.
Yet of Respighi’s nearly 200 scores—among which are nine operas, five ballets, several concertos, quite a few chamber works, and a considerable volume of vocal and choral numbers—a good deal of it is unrecorded and rarely, if ever, performed. The reasons seem to be twofold. First, the critics and opinion-makers, while acknowledging the composer’s gift for colorful orchestration and pictorial illusionism, regarded the music as “derivative,” “cinematic,” and even “vulgar,” by which I prefer to think they meant lacking in substance and depth rather than tawdry and tasteless. The truth of the matter is that there is nothing any more cinematic or “vulgar,” if you choose to use that word, about Respighi’s The Fountains of Rome, written in 1916, than there is about Bloch’s Schelomo written a year earlier. But the second, and perhaps more serious, criticism Respighi faced—though it was largely unjustified—was that he was a supporter of Mussolini’s fascist regime. Evidence seems to suggest that Respighi didn’t have a political bone in his body, but it may have been his very passivity and silence that were damning.
The 24-year-old Respighi began work on a violin concerto in 1903. Only the first two movements were completed; the third remained in a piano reduction with just a few measures orchestrated. After analyzing the score, Di Vittorio made enhancements to the orchestration of the first two movements and completed the third using material from the other movements. Di Vittorio’s completion was premiered in New York in 2010. I note a 1994 recording of the concerto on a Bongiovani CD, but it is only of Respighi’s original first two movements. The current performances of both the concerto and the Aria for Strings, transcribed by Di Vittorio, are world premiere recordings. The concerto, which owes much to Vivaldi and early Mendelssohn, inhabits a world of lyrical sunshine that plays on the senses like a fresh breeze bearing scents of an Italian vineyard in spring. Thanks to the efforts of Di Vittorio, and the capable hands and sensitive voice of violinist Laura Marzadori, this romantically expressive score is brought to us complete for the first time.
The even earlier 1901 Aria, Respighi’s salute to his Italian heritage by way of Frescobaldi, Corelli, and, again, Vivaldi, found its way into the composer’s Suite in G Major for Strings and Organ. Di Vittorio makes of it a lovely air for string orchestra. Both the Aria and the Suite were revised or edited to prepare the very first printed editions (score and parts) of each score. Up until now, only manuscript copies of the score and parts existed for both works. Beyond this, Di Vittorio then made slight adjustments to the Aria to make it suitable for not only string orchestra but string quintet, in order to promote Respighi’s music in academic settings, such as conservatories and music colleges.
The booklet does not explain to what extent Di Vittorio “revised” Respighi’s Suite for Strings, cataloged as P 41. The piece is a six-movement suite in Baroque style that anticipates Respighi’s later and very popular Ancient Airs and Dances.
Six years after Respighi visited Rossini’s collection of piano pieces titled Les Riens (“Trifles,” aka “Sins of my Old Age”) for his ballet La Boutique fantasque in 1919, he returned to mine the mother lode again in 1925 for his Rossiniana Suite. It is given here in unaltered form and in a delightful performance by Di Vittorio’s “Ottorino Respighi” Chamber Orchestra of New York. As one of Respighi’s more popular works, there is of course serious competition in the suite, not least among which is a classic 1967 recording with Ansermet (one of his last) and the Suisse Romande Orchestra.
The current Naxos release, in addition to excellent performances and recording, offers to the Respighi fan a combination of never-before-heard music and works in never-before-heard transcriptions by Salvatore Di Vittorio. Strongly recommended.
FANFARE: Jerry Dubins
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Di Vittorio: Sinfonias No 1 "isolation" And No 2 "lost Innocence" / Chamber Orchestra Of New York
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Naxos
Jul 26, 2011
8572333
The Firebird And Other 20th Century Masterpieces / United States Army Concert Band
Altissimo
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Oct 25, 2011
Transcriptions of orchestral masterworks form the core of the wind band repertoire. This disc features the gifted musicians of The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” performing some of the greatest orchestral works of the early 20th century. The band first plays three of Elgar’s famous Pomp and Circumstance marches. Stravinsky’s timeless Firebird suite showcases the virtuosity of the performers and the genius of Stravinsky himself. The album concludes with Respighi’s The Pines of Rome.
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The Firebird And Other 20th Century Masterpieces / United States Army Concert Band
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Altissimo
Oct 25, 2011
ALT63492
American Classics - Hanson: Orchestral Works Vol 1
Naxos
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$19.99
Jul 01, 2000
Howard Hanson's music shows the same lifelong dedication to the promotion of a uniquely American style in concert music that led to the foundation of the Institute of American Music of the Eastman School during Hanson's forty year tenure as Director. His style is unabashedly romantic, building on the groundwork of his most admired non-American composers, Respighi and Sibelius. This is most apparent in his First Symphony, written while he was a student of Respighi, showing a similarly grand orchestration. The Nashville Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Schermerhorn round out the All-American theme of this Naxos release, from their American Classics series. Their version of Hanson's first symphony reverberates with fervor and tenderness. They capture the playful mood of Hanson's "Merry Mount" Suite in a sprightly rendition. The NSO also perform Hanson's tone poem "Pan and the Priest" and the obscure "Rhythmic Variations on Two Ancient Hymns" from a recently re-discovered score.
American Classics - Hanson: Orchestral Works Vol 1
$19.99
CD
Naxos
Jul 01, 2000
8559072
GLI UCCELLI IL TRAMONTO TRIT
DUX
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Apr 26, 2005
GLI UCCELLI IL TRAMONTO TRIT
GLI UCCELLI IL TRAMONTO TRIT
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DUX
Apr 26, 2005
DUX489
Stravinsky: Petrushka / Petrenko, RLPO
ONYX CLASSICS
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$20.49
Oct 30, 2020
Vasily Petrenko’s previous Stravinsky recordings have been universally praised by the critics for the fine interpretations of these great scores, the superb playing of the RLPO and for the outstanding recorded sound. The same technical team was on hand for the final album in the series – the 1911 version of Petrushka which is coupled with the delightful Rossini/Respighi La Boutique fantasque.
Stravinsky: Petrushka / Petrenko, RLPO
$20.49
CD
ONYX CLASSICS
Oct 30, 2020
ONXC4192.2
the NEOCLASSICAL TRUMPET
Linn Records
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$10.50
Mar 10, 2015
The Neoclassical Trumpet' poses the question: what if the chromatic trumpet and the modern Steinway Grand had existed a good century or so earlier and composers had recognized their duo potential? For this Linn release Mr. Freeman-Attwood reimagines works by Stravinsky, Leigh, Faure and Respighi in new arrangements by pianist Daniel-Ben Pienaar. Each of the composers represented here wrote significant parts for the trumpet in various chamber and orchestral contexts. Jonathan broadcasts regularly for BBC Radio 3 and is in demand as an essayist for many major record labels.
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Linn Records
Mar 10, 2015
CKD448
Italian Soprano Arias
Naxos
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$9.99
Aug 12, 2014
Appearing here in her début solo album, Italian lyric soprano Maria Luigia Borsi has been acclaimed for her ‘grace, beauty, animation and variety’ (The Sunday Times). Her Willow Song from Verdi’s Otello has been described as ‘gorgeously sung’ (Opera News) and her rôle in Puccini’s Turandot as demonstrating ‘extraordinary communicative skills’ (Opera Magazine). This program includes some of the most moving and dramatic arias from Italian opera, including the tragic heartbreak of Madama Butterfly and the shimmering beauty of Catalani’s Ebben? Ne andrò lontana from La Wally.
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Naxos
Aug 12, 2014
8573412
Vivaldi: Concerti per fagotto, archi e continuo, Vol. 2
Tactus
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$9.49
Jan 01, 2010
Classical Music
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Vivaldi: Concerti per fagotto, archi e continuo, Vol. 2
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Tactus
Jan 01, 2010
TC672251
La Folia / Sebastian Bohren
Avie Records
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$19.99
$9.99
Jun 17, 2022
As long as you accept the premise of the arrangement style presented here, i.e. Romantic and virtuosic, you will love all seven works.
Sebastian Bohren’s new album La folia is an affectionate homage –to Ida Haendel, one of his heroes; to fiddlers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; and to the violin itself. The Swiss violinist says, “It is also like a hall of mirrors, as some tracks invoke the spirits of two or three violinists.” From an early age, Sebastian was immersed in a lineage of violinists who favored Romantic transcriptions of Baroque repertoire, studying with a pupil of the great Ukrainian-born violinist Nathan Milstein. Later in life, he fell under the influence of violinist Ida Haendelon YouTube, watching her perform Corelli’s La folia variations. “She played this amazing virtuoso cadenza, and I was captivated. ”So arose the concept of a program reflecting the ethos of La folia, the ear-catching theme which has fascinated composers for centuries, from the Baroque era’s Tomaso Antonio Vitali and Giuseppe Tartini to latter-day Ottorino Respighi and Fritz Kreisler. Sebastian captures the sound world with sincerity, playing on two different violins, the 1710 “King George” Stradivarius, and a Guadagnini made in 1761.
REVIEWS:
A collection of arrangements in the spirit of Corelli’s La Folia sonata, but given a Romantic virtuoso twist for violin and strings. Sebastian Bohren curated the well thought-out selection and is a dazzling soloist. A quite unexpected delight.
-- MusicWeb International
Bohren is a skilled violinist, and his 1761 Guadagnini violin is a lovely instrument. He strikes a comfortable balance between HIP and Romantic styles, applying a tasteful vibrato that never seems excessive or inappropriate. He plays with affection, engages well in dialogue with the two string ensembles that participate, and demonstrates a strong technique. His playing in Tartini’s famous “Devil’s Trill” Sonata is brilliant.
-- Fanfare
In Bohren’s hands Respighi’s 1921 edition of Tartini’s Sonata in A is truly engaging, with gratifying attention to small-scale phrasing and sonorous scordatura timbres.
-- BBC Music Magazine
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Avie Records
Jun 17, 2022
AV2513
The Great Transcriptions
Urania Records
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$16.49
Feb 01, 2015
The Great Transcriptions
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The Great Transcriptions
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Urania Records
Feb 01, 2015
WS121.179
Italian Perspectives
PENTATONE
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$17.99
Feb 20, 2026
On Italian Perspectives, the Bamberger Symphoniker and Riccardo Frizza trace the revival and evolution of Italian instrumental music. Giuseppe Martucci's Symphony No. 1 in D minor, completed in 1895, illuminates the Italian symphonic tradition often overshadowed by opera, blending Brahmsian rigor with striking, passionate outbursts. Respighi's Trittico Botticelliano brings Renaissance paintings to life with luminous chamber orchestration, while his masterful orchestrations of Rachmaninoff's *5 �tudes-Tableaux* reveal a rare synthesis of Italian colour and Russian narrative depth. From desolate seascapes and dramatic funeral marches to the playful, suspenseful tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Respighi transforms piano works into vivid orchestral landscapes, preserving every nuance of Rachmaninoff's originals. Riccardo Frizza, featured on PENTATONE in The Three Queens and Signor Gaetano (2022), leads the Bamberger Symphoniker in their PENTATONE debut, bringing these works to life with precision, colour, and expressive intensity.
Italian Perspectives
$17.99
CD
PENTATONE
Feb 20, 2026
PTC5187419
Italian Sonatas
Centaur Records
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$15.99
Apr 18, 2025
This album features three first-rate, greatly underperformed, Italian Sonatas for Violin and Piano. Respighi, Martucci, and Rota are all three wonderful composers, and it shows clearly in these works. Italian artists Fabrizio Falasca and Antonio Pompa-Baldi infuse these three great works with the life they deserve.
Italian Sonatas
$15.99
CD
Centaur Records
Apr 18, 2025
CRC4060
Sentimenti
Oehms Classics
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$19.99
Jun 20, 2025
Soprano Karine Babajanyan presents Sentimenti, her second album with OehmsClassics. She has put together a selection of works by Italian composers and poets from the 16th to 20th century. In addition to Respighi, Tosti and Cesti, the only exception is Liszt, who drew lasting artistic inspiration from the Italian arts during his pilgrimage to Italy. This is how the Tre Sonetti di Petrarca were created between 1842 and 1846. She sang the leading role in Mascagni's opera Iris. She is accompanied by Alessandro Amoretti.
Sentimenti
$19.99
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Oehms Classics
Jun 20, 2025
OC 1739
French Orchestral Favourites
Chandos
Available as
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$21.99
May 01, 2026
Since relaunching Sinfonia of London in 2018, John Wilson's hand-picked orchestra has attracted the highest critical acclaim from both national and international press, performed at the BBC Proms every year since 2021 (their live d�but), and made their international d�but at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam in 2025. Regularly touring in the UK, they have also released 25 albums (this is the 26th), covering a wide range of repertoire, including works by Korngold, Respighi, Ravel, Strauss, Rachmaninoff, Britten, Walton, Bliss, and Rodgers & Hammerstein. The album opens with Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, followed by Debussy's Clair de lune (orchestrated by John Wilson). Chabrier's Joyeuse Marche and Ravel's Une Barque sur l'oc�an (orchestrated by their composers) are followed by Saint-Sa�ns' symphonic poem Danse macabre. The programme ends with all of the movements from Bizet's two Carmen Suites, but in John Wilson's preferred order!
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