Lentamente

Conservative in his musical style as in his politics – rightly or wrongly the whiff of Fascism hangs over his name – Ottorino Respighi is remembered today almost exclusively for the blazing triptych of Roman tone poems. He also, however, produced a corpus of chamber, keyboard and vocal works, not to mention operas and orchestral pieces, many of which are crying out to be rediscovered. Slowly they are finding their way into concert programmes and on to record, and this disc from the Ambache should bring three of them a well-deserved wider currency. The superb Piano Quintet in F minor occasionally recalls Franck (who wrote one in the same key), but its piano-dominated lyrical effusion is wholly individual. The substantial ten-minute first movement is inadequately balanced by a two-minute Andantino and four-minute scherzo-like Vivacissimo, however, and it is possible that a finale has somehow become detached.

An homage to some of the most famous musicians of the 16th and 17th centuries, this album pairs composers such as Barbara Strozzi, Claudia Sessa and Maddalena Casulana with two contemporary composers: Alberto and Leonardo Schiavo. Music from the past and the present, in dialogue. The idea is to discover (or rediscover) these works and mutually enrich them. The musical language adopted for these arrangements never strays too far from their original sonorities, but on the other had it is not a simple transcription, but an interpretation of a repertoire that is more relevant than ever, and consequently a source of inspiration and raw material for contemporary composers.