MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. 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

AVAILABILITY Inedita

 

Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879-1936)
Humoreske for violin and orchestra* (1903) [11:50]
Leggenda for violin and orchestra (1902) [6:37]
Sei piccoli pezzi* (orch. Adriano) (1926) [12:55]
Rossiniana (1925) [25:18]
Marco Rogliano (violin)
Sassari Symphony Orchestra/Roberto Diem Tigani
* World premiere recordings
No recording details given; published November 2007
INEDITA PI2632 [57:00]
Experience Classicsonline


This is a delightful collection of lesser-known Respighi.
 
All works here are scored for a smaller orchestra than for the three opulent Roman portraits: ’Pines, ’Fountains and ’Festivals. The melodic and freely rhapsodic Humoreske for violin and orchestra dates from 1903. It has all the elements of a concerto in miniature with a grateful part for the violin. Respighi, aged 24, was in Berlin studying with Max Bruch. The Humoreske is charming and graceful but not without pomposity and artful humour reminiscent of the Commedia dell’arte. Its orchestration already shows the colour and imagination that would be Respighi’s hallmark including some clever blending of triangle and timpani. Why this little gem has escaped attention until now is a mystery. The sweetly lyrical and elegiac Leggenda is another composition that has inexplicably escaped attention even if it had not slipped into the kind of oblivion that befell Humoreske. Marco Rogliano is a beguiling soloist, beautifully expressive, clearly relishing these two lovely romantic pieces.
 
The Sei piccoli pezzi (Six little pieces) was written for four-handed piano and dedicated to children. It has been transcribed for orchestra by that champion of Respighi’s music, the conductor Adriano, who has recorded so much lesser-known Respighi for Marco Polo. Adriano’s vividly colourful transcriptions are faithful not only to the style of Respighi but also to the spirit of childhood and its joys. This is the orchestral version’s premier recording. It is unashamedly romantic and nostalgic - the first piece, marked ‘Romanza’, especially so. ‘Canto di caccia siciliano’ reminds one of playground games, one can so easily imagine hopscotch for instance; the graceful, lilting ‘Canzone armena’ is something of a lullaby; ‘Natale, Natale!’ is a rustic whimsical melody with bells that suggests a nursery-rhyme tune. ‘Cantilena scozzese’ is a chinoiserie, while, finally, ‘Piccoli highlanders’ transports us to Scotland for a tongue-in-cheek highland dance with Adriano’s orchestration brilliantly suggesting the bagpipes. Adriano makes glittering use of an array of treble percussion including celesta and tubular bells.
 
Rossiniana is suite of four movements based on Rossini’s Les Riens, a collection of divertissements for piano written in Paris in his old age. They foreshadowed the eccentricities of Satie by a half century or so. Respighi orchestrated them with considerable wit and in spirit they are not too far removed from Respighi’s much more familiar Rossini transcription, the ballet music, La Boutique fantasque. The first movement is the delightful ‘Capri e Taormina’ (Barcarola e Siciliana). ‘The Lamento’, second movement is much more sinister, beginning with deep tam-tam strokes; this is a melodramatic piece that lampoons operatic and other romantic excesses; reminding one maybe of Puccini (Manon Lescaut) and Berlioz (Le Carnaval romain) amongst others. The short ‘Intermezzo’ is all filigree grace, with a fairy-like daintiness and exquisite woodwind writing. The final movement ‘Tarantella’ is self-explanatory and a hedonistic delight. Once again, much colourful percussion is in evidence throughout Rossiniana
 
A rare treat for Respighi fans. Engaging performances in very good sound. This recording is almost bound to be one of my CDs of 2008.
 
Ian Lace
 



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos 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.