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Respighi: Songs / Bostridge, Giorgini
PENTATONE

Respighi: Songs / Bostridge, Giorgini

$19.99

Details

Composer
RESPIGHI, OTTORINO
Artist
Bostridge, Giorgini
Format
CD
Label
PENTATONE
Released
Sep 03, 2021
Catalog #
PTC5186872
UPC
827949087264

About

After their acclaimed recording of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, Ian Bostridge and Saskia Giorgini present a program of rarely-recorded songs by Ottorino Respighi. This selection of songs demonstrates Respighi’s stylistic versatility and broad literary inspiration, from settings of Ada Negri’s compact verses to florid, Symbolist d’Annunzio poems as well as folk melodies, including Scottish songs. Respighi’s Liriche unveil a fascinating, little-known Italian branch of musical Impressionism. What binds them together is a longing for a past still so close, but at the same time inevitably gone. Ian Bostridge is one of the most celebrated tenors and lied interpreters of his generation. His PENTATONE recording of Schubert’s Winterreise (2019) was crowned with the ICMA Vocal Music Award 2020. He continues his congenial collaboration with pianist Saskia Giorgini on PENTATONE.

REVIEW:

How does the hackneyed phrase go, “Don’t yuck my yum”? So if you are into the somewhat terse, easy-listening-averse ways of Ottorino Respighi’s art songs, or simply want to discover the composer at the opposite end from the lush bombast of Pini di Roma, by all means, the Ian Bostridge recording (with Saskia Giorgini as accompanist) on Pentatone is a find: Rare morsels, carefully selected, very artfully and meticulously done, with perhaps just a hair too much of studied artistry, on the label where major-label artists go to record what’s dear to their hearts after they’ve run out of Schubert.

Bostridge is ever free of bluster but also does not appear to be as prone to hyper-enunciating as he sometimes does in German, or pecking at select phrases like a hen with an appetite. There’s a bit of 20th-century French mélodie in several of Respighi’s songs, not limited to the three included here that are set to French poetry: In the pointillism of “Egle” for example, or in the lulling lyricism of “Crepuscolo” (both part of Deità silvane). The brittle fragility of Quattro Liriche’s “La naiade” is impressive; the selections “O falce di luna” and “Notte” from Sei Liriche P90 and P97, respectively, listened to with relaxed care and giving them some time, begin to blossom like a budding flower cut and placed in a glass on the window sill.

The four Scottish songs are neat, especially for anyone who cares about the Haydn (or the lesser Beethoven) versions of these, and how they are similar (or different) in flavor and interpretation–although Bostridge really goes for the Scottish like the Alexander Brother Highland Lads with a touch of Groundskeeper Willie (from The Simpsons). A niche recommendation of the first order.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jens F. Laurson)

Tracklist 24 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. I fauni (The Fauns) 01:55
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. I fauni (The Fauns)
    Duration
    01:55
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  2. 2 No. 2. Musica in horto (Music in the garden) 01:53
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. Musica in horto (Music in the garden)
    Duration
    01:53
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  3. 3 No. 3. Egle (Aegle) 03:05
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. Egle (Aegle)
    Duration
    03:05
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  4. 4 No. 4. Acqua (Water) 02:37
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. Acqua (Water)
    Duration
    02:37
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  5. 5 No. 5. Crepuscolo (Twilight) 04:02
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5. Crepuscolo (Twilight)
    Duration
    04:02
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  6. 6 No. 1. O falce di luna (O crescent of a waning moon) 02:38
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 1. O falce di luna (O crescent of a waning moon)
    Duration
    02:38
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  7. 7 No. 3. Au milieu du jardin (At the centre of the garden) 02:02
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 3. Au milieu du jardin (At the centre of the garden)
    Duration
    02:02
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  8. 8 No. 6. Pioggia (Rain) 02:00
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 6. Pioggia (Rain)
    Duration
    02:00
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  9. 9 No. 1. Notte (Night) 03:10
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 1. Notte (Night)
    Duration
    03:10
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  10. 10 No. 3. Le repos en Égypte (The repose in Egypt) 03:49
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 3. Le repos en Égypte (The repose in Egypt)
    Duration
    03:49
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  11. 11 No. 4. Noël ancient (Ancient Christmas) 03:00
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 4. Noël ancient (Ancient Christmas)
    Duration
    03:00
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  12. 12 Nebbie (Mists), P. 64 02:50
    Track
    12
    Title
    Nebbie (Mists), P. 64
    Duration
    02:50
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  13. 13 La statua (The Statue), P. 122 03:11
    Track
    13
    Title
    La statua (The Statue), P. 122
    Duration
    03:11
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  14. 14 No. 2. La najade (The Naiad) 03:10
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 2. La najade (The Naiad)
    Duration
    03:10
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  15. 15 No. 3. La sera (The Evening) 04:02
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 3. La sera (The Evening)
    Duration
    04:02
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  16. 16 6 Pezzi, P. 44: No. 3. Notturno 05:29
    Track
    16
    Title
    6 Pezzi, P. 44: No. 3. Notturno
    Duration
    05:29
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Saskia Giorgini
  17. 17 Cinque canti all'antica, P. 71: No. 4. Bella porta di ribini (Beautiful door of rubies) 01:42
    Track
    17
    Title
    Cinque canti all'antica, P. 71: No. 4. Bella porta di ribini (Beautiful door of rubies)
    Duration
    01:42
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  18. 18 Stornellatrice (Balladeer), P. 69 01:29
    Track
    18
    Title
    Stornellatrice (Balladeer), P. 69
    Duration
    01:29
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  19. 19 No. 1. When the Kye come Hame 03:07
    Track
    19
    Title
    No. 1. When the Kye come Hame
    Duration
    03:07
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  20. 20 No. 2. Within a mile of Edinburgh town 03:51
    Track
    20
    Title
    No. 2. Within a mile of Edinburgh town
    Duration
    03:51
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  21. 21 No. 3. My heart's in the Highlands 03:02
    Track
    21
    Title
    No. 3. My heart's in the Highlands
    Duration
    03:02
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  22. 22 No. 4. The Piper of Dundee 02:14
    Track
    22
    Title
    No. 4. The Piper of Dundee
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  23. 23 Canzone sarda (Sardinian song), P. 155 02:00
    Track
    23
    Title
    Canzone sarda (Sardinian song), P. 155
    Duration
    02:00
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini
  24. 24 Canzone dell'Abruzzo, P. 164, "Le funtanelle" (The Fountains) 01:01
    Track
    24
    Title
    Canzone dell'Abruzzo, P. 164, "Le funtanelle" (The Fountains)
    Duration
    01:01
    Composer
    Ottorino Respighi
    Performer
    Ian Bostridge, Saskia Giorgini