Respighi: Orchestral Works / John Neschling
This 7-SACD collection includes recordings made by Brazilian-born conductor John Neschling of the orchestral works of Ottorino Respighi, alongside Puccini the best-known Italian composer of the first half of the twentieth century. Widely praised by the press, including BBC Music Magazine, which described them as ‘the finest-ever survey of the composer’s orchestral output undertaken by a single conductor’, these recordings reveal Respighi’s extraordinary range.
His transcriptions of works from the baroque period bear witness to his great musical refinement and are an example of the way in which people dared to adapt to current tastes at the beginning of the 20th century. His original compositions, whether symphonic poems, ballets or symphonic works, often call for a large orchestra, sometimes with the addition of numerous percussion instruments, piano, organ and even, in Pines of Rome, a phonograph, present a synthesis of the musical traditions of his native Italy and contemporary romantic, impressionist and neo-classical trends while remaining resolutely closed to modernist developments and atonality. Respighi’s lavish sound palette and the spirit that fills his scores were to find an echo in Hollywood film music, and John Williams considers him to be one of his most important influences.
Past praise of the previously released recordings included in this set:
Respighi: The Birds; Ancient Airs & Dances
These performances are uncommonly airy. Much of this music is suffused with an autumnal melancholy, and Neschling and his orchestra capture that very well.
-- Fanfare
Respighi: Metamorphoseon, etc.
All of the performances here are expert, but conductor John Neschling deserves particular credit for keeping things movement purposefully forward in the first two long, and mostly slowish, movements of the Belkis suite. The same work’s vulgar (let’s not kid ourselves) concluding Danza orgiastica also sounds more musical than usual–less like a back-alley gang bang–but with no loss of energy. The Liège orchestra plays with great bravura, and BIS’s SACD sonics, typically, are just terrific. In short, a very worthy entry in this ongoing series.
-- ClassicsToday.com
Respighi: Roman Trilogy / Neschling, Sao Paulo Symphony
The São Paulo Symphony Orchestra is a superb ensemble by any standards, and displays their virtuosity in the three Respighi symphonic poems.
-- SA-CD.net
Product Description:
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Release Date: November 10, 2023
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Catalog Number: BIS-2520
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UPC: 7318599925202
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Label: BIS
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Number of Discs: 7
Period: Late Romantic
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ottorino Respighi
Conductor: John Neschling
Orchestra/Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Anna Caterina Antonacci
Works:
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Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome), P. 106
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: John Neschling
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Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome), P. 141
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: John Neschling
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Feste romane (Roman Festivals), P. 157
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: John Neschling
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Impressioni brasiliane (Brazilian Impressions), P. 153
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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La boutique fantasque, P. 120 (after Rossini)
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Metamorphoseon modi XII, P. 169
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Ballata delle gnomidi, Op. 124
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Belkis, Queen of Sheba Suite, P. 177
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Sinfonia drammatica, P. 102
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Belfagor Overture, P. 140
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Trittico botticelliano, P. 151
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Il tramonto, P. 101
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Performer: Anna Caterina Antonacci (Soprano)
Conductor: John Neschling
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Vetrate di chiesa, P. 150
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Prelude and Fugue in D Major, P. 158 (after BWV 532)
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, P. 159 (after BWV 582)
Composer: Johann Sebastain Bach
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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3 Chorales, P. 167 (after J.S. Bach)
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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5 Études-tableaux, P. 160 (after S. Rachmaninoff)
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Gli uccelli (The Birds), P. 154
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Antiche danze ed arie per liuto (Ancient Airs and Dances), Suite No. 1, P. 109
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Antiche danze ed arie per liuto (Ancient Airs and Dances), Suite No. 2, P. 138
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling
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Antiche danze ed arie per liuto (Ancient Airs and Dances), Suite No. 3, P. 172
Composer: Ottorino Respighi
Ensemble: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Conductor: John Neschling