Respighi Piano

Of Ottorino Respighi's vast output, only a handful are commonly played today. The so-called "Roman Trilogy" certainly tops the list of his most familiar, popular works. On the other end of the continuum is the Concerto in modo misolidio, a piano concerto in the mixolydian mode. Why this riveting work is not played more often is anyone's guess. It incorporates Respighi's innate talents as a master orchestrator, his deference to classical forms (in this case, the three-movement concerto format), and his love of ancient music and modes.

Resphigi's Violin Sonata is a challenging work. The sonata is cast in three movements, the first of which, marked Moderato – Agitato – Tempo I, is haunting in its passionate, quasi-nocturnal main theme given by the violin. Because Respighi was both a violinist and pianist, the writing for the two instruments is deftly wrought here and throughout the work in its exchanges and blending of sonorities. The middle panel is a lovely Andante espressivo that opens with an extended piano solo. The finale is a passacaglia marked Allegro moderato ma energico. It is a dramatic and powerful piece whose stormy main theme yields both profound and colorful music.

Opera in miniature, Pictures at an Exhibition for violin and piano, French ‘grand salon’ ambience—made in Italy. It is challenging to find the find words descriptive of Ottorino Respighi’s oeuvre recently recorded on Genuin by Ilona Then-Bergh and pianist Michael Schäfer. There can be no doubt as to their wide stylistic range, rich tonal colors calling Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy to mind, and the sheer quality of the works in terms of ……

Respighi’s colourful music could have been written with the clear, full-bodied Chandos sound in mind. Following on from where Geoffrey Simon began for the label in the Eighties, Edward Downes is now exploring the more symphonic side of Respighi’s output, showing there is more to him than the Roman trilogy (if not that much, qualitatively). The present disc includes two of his four concertante works for piano and orchestra, the extended Toccata (according to Tozer’s booklet note, the longest such work in existence) and the quirky Slavonic Rhapsody, with its humorous sideswipe at Dvorák. More characteristic of Respighi is the concert overture derived from his opera Belfagor, about the exploits of a Till Eulenspiegel/Don Juan figure, portrayed with suitably colourful sound-painting. All these, together with the Bachian Three Chorales, are played with marvellous verve and commitment – the BBC PO under Downes has a way with this out-of-the-way repertoire that few can equal. The sound quality on this disc is nothing short of stunning.

Rebecca Taio’s choice to programme these well-known pieces from the great repertoire for violin and piano has to do with the technical challenges they pose, both instrumentally and interpretatively. In the flautist’s words: ‘It’s an incredibly fascinating and stimulating idea for me to try out timbres that are different to the ones I’m usually accustomed to, different to those the majority of composers who have written for the flute have been inspired by. In these transcriptions I have aimed for a more romantic and less delicate way of playing the flute, inspired by the long-drawn-out, sustained phrases and intense vibrato so characteristic of string instruments in this sort of repertoire.’