MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline

 

Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879-1936)
La primavera (Spring) – Cantata, P.136 (1922)* [44:46]
Quattro liriche su parole di poeti armeni, P.132 (1922) (arr. Adriano)** [9:11]
La pentola magica (The Magic Pot) – Ballet, P.129 (1919)^ [25:23]
* Richard Haan (baritone), Miroslav Dvorský (tenor), Jana Valásková (soprano), Vladimir Kubovčik (bass), Henrietta Lednarova (soprano), Beata Geriova (mezzo);
** Denisa Šlepkovská (mezzo-soprano); Vladimir Havran (flute), Michal Sintal (oboe), Gabriel Koncer, Ivan Viskup, Ivan (clarinets), Ivan Paulicka (bassoon), Frantisek Kovacs (trombone), Katarina Vavrekova (harp);
^Jakub Francisci (boy soprano);
*/**Slovak Philharmonic Chorus;
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra/Adriano
rec. Concert Hall of Slovak Radio, Bratislava, */** 4, 9 January, 19 February, 6 June, 1994; ^4-9 November, 1991. DDD
Texts not included.
NAXOS 8.570741 [79:20] 

 

Experience Classicsonline


This is a reissue of one-and-a-half Marco Polo recordings. La Primavera and Quattro liriche are taken from 8.223595 and La pentola magica from 8.223346, both listed in MusicWeb’s list of recommended Respighi recordings, to which the reissue should now be added. Both Marco Polos are still listed at full price in the Naxos catalogue, though I can’t see why anyone would wish to pay full price for the first of these when the reissue offers more music for a smaller price, unless it be for the more eye-catching Marco Polo cover.
 

Prospective purchasers should be aware that this is not the Technicolor Respighi of the Fountains and Pines of Rome and Feste Romane, or the pastiche Respighi of La Boutique fantasque (Rossini), Ancient Airs and Dances, The Birds (both from Renaissance and Baroque composers), Concerto Gregoriano, Concerto in modo misolidio, or Trittico Botticelliano (Gregorian chant), though parts of it come close to the last-named, in that both La Primavera and Quattro liriche set words by Armenian poets and the liriche employ Armenian musical themes. 

In fact, the listener is hardly likely to recognise those Armenian themes – I, for one, didn’t; I found the work somewhat ‘folksy’ and reminiscent of Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne. If you enjoy the Canteloube – of which, incidentally, there are very good Naxos recordings with Véronique Gens on 8.557491 – see review and review – and 8.570338 – see review – you should enjoy the Quattro liriche. Denisa Šlepkovská is slightly plummy in places, but not so much as to spoil my enjoyment – it’s the kind of mild plumminess that I almost wrote ‘is almost endemic to mezzos’, except that I’ve just been listening again to Janet Baker’s wonderfully plum-free Nuits d’Été. 

La Primavera, too, is an attractive work, with some Technicolor moments reminiscent of Pines of Rome and film music in general; though it slightly outstays its welcome at almost 45 minutes, the final Inno di Primavera or Hymn of Spring, makes up for any small longueurs which may have preceded it. If you want to sample this work, try the Inno on track 7 or I desideri del giovane, the Desires of Youth (track 3), with its engaging flute solo, ably performed by Vera Rasková. All the soloists in this cantata are capable, though none of them is exactly outstanding. Miroslav Dvorský as the voice of the young man, sounds a little strained on his highest notes, but I wouldn’t want to make this a major criticism; elsewhere his voice is quite resplendent, especially on track 6. 

La pentola magica was designed as a pastiche ballet but it is more the case that Respighi here imitates some upper-second-league Russian composers (Arensky) than that he borrows from them. Though lacking the immediate attraction of La boutique fantasque, the music is attractive enough and the performance is more than adequate. The young treble Jakub Francisi makes a real impression with his brief ethereal appearance in the Canzone armene (track13). This performance remains available on Marco Polo, coupled with Le astuzie di Colombina, which I trust that Naxos will now also reissue on a more generously filled CD, as they have done here. 

My only real reservation about recommending this version of la Pentola stems from the fact that a very good account of it comes coupled with La boutique fantasque on Chandos CHAN10081 (BBCPO/Noseda – see review). There is also a version on CPO with la Sensitiva and Aretusa which Ian Lace recommended to Rossini enthusiasts (CPO770 071-2 – see review). 

Everything on this reissue is more than acceptably performed and recorded. The notes, by conductor Adriano, edited by Keith Anderson, are excellent. They include detailed summaries of the first two works, especially La Primavera but no texts are offered, here or online. This is presumably because of copyright problems, but it does detract from the listener’s enjoyment. Since the Marco Polo issue, the plot of La Pentola has been unearthed and is given in summary in Ian Lace’s review of the CPO version, but the Naxos notes still refer to it as lost. 

If you are starting a Respighi collection on CD, I wouldn’t begin with this new reissue. Naxos also have recommendable versions of the three Roman tone poems (8.553207) and of Church Windows with Brazilian Impressions and Rossiniana (8.557711 – see review and review) – no need to pay more for any of these, unless it be for the mid-price Gatti (RCA 82876 60869 2 – see review) or you demand the extra work, the beautiful Il Tramonto, on Pappano’s full price version (EMI 3 94429 2, a Recording of the Year – see review). Then you’ll probably want La boutique (go for the Chandos listed above), Ancient Airs and Dances (Philharmonia Hungarica/Doráti, Mercury SACD 470 637-2), The Birds and the Boticelli Pictures (both on Chandos CHAN8913, conducted by Vasary) ahead of the present CD. 

I was surprised how few versions of La boutique fantasque there currently are – surely Australian Eloquence must have it in mind to reissue the Solti version, once available as the fourth-side filler for Ansermet’s Nutcracker. How about reissuing that Nutcracker, too? – at the moment, there’s no complete Eloquence version. 

If you already have a basic Respighi collection, go ahead and buy the new reissue with confidence.

Brian Wilson

see also Review by William Kreindler




 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.