Giovanni Sgambati's First Symphony dates from 1881 or thereabouts, and it’s a masterpiece; there’s nothing that sounds quite like it in the entire 19th century literature. The scoring, for standard forces plus two harps, piccolo, but no extra percussion or other exotica, is pellucidly clear and “alive.” There is absolutely no reason why this piece should not become as popular as the contemporaneous symphonies of Dvorák, Brahms, or Franck—it’s that distinctive.

Cola di Rienzo, on the other hand, is a bit more of an acquired taste. It doesn’t hold together in the same way the symphony does. Still, it reveals a composer of considerable seriousness and ability, while the confident scoring foreshadows the music to come.

The performances are very good. Francesco La Vecchia shapes the symphony quite effectively, choosing tempos that convey the music’s easy-going energy and winning lyricism with complete confidence. As with previous releases in this series, the Rome Symphony Orchestra plays quite well, especially the woodwinds, who have a lot of important solo work. The engineering, however, is not the best from this source. It has a sort of “empty auditorium” resonance that’s particularly unflattering to the violins and cloudy in tuttis. Still, don’t let that put you off. The music is too attractive miss.

-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)