Respighi: Roman Festivals (Feste Romane)

This magnificent trilogy of symphonic poems is the best-known work of Ottorini Respighi. A native of Bologna, he became a professor at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and paid tribute to the history, scenery and life of the Immortal City in these richly coloured and evocative scores. ‘The playing of the Philadelphia Orchestra is past praise’ wrote Gramophone of this recording, finding Riccardo Muti ‘outstanding in the idiomatic feel of rhythm and phrasing’.

Respighi’s Roman Trilogy is probably among the most spectacularly orchestrated works in the repertoire.

The vivid colours and sounds of Imperial Roman life are brought to life in these works – from the violence in the Coliseum, to the legions marching with grim determination along the Appian Way, to children playing around a fountain on a hot Roman summer’s day. All are here in the musical equivalent of glorious Technicolor.

Josep Caballé-Domenech studied with Sir Colin Davis as part of the coveted Rolex Mentor scheme and had further studies with David Zinman. He regularly conducts the Royal Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, and orchestras in Spain and the US.

Respighi’s Roman Trilogy (the tone poems Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals) holds a very special place in the orchestral repertory, challenging almost any other composition for sheer sonic audience appeal.

"I feel very honoured and privileged to be able to conduct this music with the Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia not only because it's my orchestra now but because the Fountains and the Pines of Rome were written for this orchestra and were premiered by this orchestra. And the Roman Festivals were premiered by the New York Philharmonic with Toscanini conducting but this orchestra played the Italian premiere." Antonio Pappano

The ‘Roman Trilogy’ is among Respighi’s best-known and best-loved works. Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome are comprised of four distinct sections, each again depicting a particular fountain, or pine grove, in Rome, at a particular time of day. The final chapter in the trilogy, Roman Festivals, is inspired by, as the title suggests, four Rome-based festivals.

Respighi based his Church Windows on Three Piano Preludes on Gregorian Melodies. The preludes were published in 1922, and orchestrated three years later, Respighi adding one further movement, making it a four-piece symphonic suite. Each of the individual movements was given an appropriate sub-heading, illustrating a biblical or religious scene that might have appeared in actual stained-glass windows. The first movement, for instance, is slow and stately, its constant forward moving accompaniment suggesting ‘the passing of a chariot beneath a brilliant and starry sky’, hence the name ‘The Flight into Egypt’.

Brazilian Impressions took its inspiration from the composer’s colourful and vibrant memories of a trip to South America. The opening movement is a deeply atmospheric nocturne, depicting dance rhythms and folksongs heard in the distance on a warm, tropical Brazilian evening. A less pleasant memory perhaps is recalled in the second movement, namely a visit to the Butantan Reptile Institute, the sliding movements and angry whirring of the rattle-snakes perfectly depicted in the music.

The ballet score for Belkis, Queen of Sheba evokes the wondrous journey undertaken in the year 1000 B.C. by Belkis, the Queen of Sheba, in response to an imperial message from Solomon, the King of Israel. The full eighty-minute ballet required an enormous orchestra including such unconventional instruments as sitars and wind machines, a chorus and vocal soloists, and a narrator to relate the story in verse. Two years after completing the ballet score, Respighi extracted a purely orchestral suite, which is recorded here.

Metamorphoseon, commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930, consists of twelve variations, or ‘modes’. The day after the work’s premiere performance, The Boston Traveller wrote: ‘...a colossal achievement... His is a rare genius for melody, an absolute technical command and above all, brilliant orchestration.’

The start of a new, exciting series on Brilliant Classics: the Complete Orchestral Works by Ottorino Respighi.

The first instalment contains Respighi’s most popular works: the spectacular Roman Trilogy (Pini di Roma, Feste di Roma, Fontane di Roma), depicting in colourful and brilliantly orchestrated tableaux the characteristics of Rome: its mystical pines, its dazzling and spiritual fountains and its exuberant (and noisy) celebrations.

Also included is the wonderfully evocative suite “The Birds”, and two suites for strings. The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, conducted by maestro Francesco di Vecchia have Roman blood in their veins, and like few others evoke the atmosphere of this wonderful, typically Italian, music.

The orchestra won high critical acclaim with their superb recordings of Casella and Martucci.