Ancient Airs And Dances

Ottorino Respighi - Concerto all'antica, Ancient Airs & Dances Suites Nos. 1-3 (2021) {Naxos NX3901, Salvatore Di Vittorio}
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© 2021 Naxos Records | NX 3901
Classical / Orchestral / Concerto / Early 20th Century

The major news from this release by the Chamber Orchestra of New York under Salvatore Di Vittorio is the Respighi Concerto all'Antica for violin and orchestra, which here receives its world premiere. The work has an interesting history, presented here in a note co-authored by one Norberto Cordisco Respighi, perhaps the composer's nephew. Somewhat resembling the phony Baroque violin works of Fritz Kreisler stylistically, it was presented in 1909 by Respighi as a "Concerto in an Ancient Style by an Anonymous Composer, revised and orchestrated by Ottorino Respighi," who later fessed up to being the anonymous composer and said that he was having a bit of fun at the expense of German critics.

According to Christopher Hogwood, in his marvelous biography of Handel, "In the winter of that year [1750], Handel received what was for him an unusual commission. Although closely associated with the London theatre, he wrote very little incidental music for plays. A request from John Rich to provide airs and dances for Smollett's 'Alceste' was undertaken, according to Hawkins, in repayment of a debt to Rich."

Ottorino Respighi was in the vanguard of the 20th-century rebirth of Italian symphonic music. Famed for his Roman Trilogy, Respighi was also prominent in the synthesis of pre-Classical melodic styles and late-Romantic harmonies and textures. These are the elements that make the Ancient Airs and Dances so captivating and expressive, as Respighi draws on dances by 16th-century composers to brilliant effect. The Concerto allantica is an early, beautifully poetic work that again draws on ancient styles, in a recording that uses the first printed critical edition of the work by Salvatore Di Vittorio, published in 2019.

Obscurus is an exploration of the obscured, in a programme which showcases some of the most incredible trumpet writing of the 20th and 21st century, as well as several reimaginings of older, more mainstream works for other instruments, arranged for trumpet by Lucy Humphris.