Ottorino Respighi - Roman Trilogy

Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879-1936)

Roman Festivals (1928)

Fountains of Rome (1916)

Pines of Rome (1924)

Buffalo Philharmonic

JoAnn Falletta

Recorded: 30 May and 4 June 2018, at Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York, USA

Reviews:

JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic have made previous Respighi discs for Naxos, but none as fine as this. In fact, this is as impressive a recording of the composer’s Roman Trilogy as any in the catalogue. Everything about the program, from the order of the works (Festivals, Fountains, Pines), to the quality of the playing, to the bright and punchy sonics, bespeaks an effort to do it right. Falletta and team give the music the respect that it deserves. Given how many mediocre versions of this repertoire there are, that’s saying a lot.

Roman Festivals is the noisiest of the three works, and some would say the least musically interesting. Falletta tears into the piece with unashamed glee. The opening crowd scene, with its roaring lions and violent climaxes is cataclysmic, while the closing “La Befana” has color and chaos without degenerating into total cacophony. The Fountains of Rome nearly always comes off well. The only risk is in taking its outer sections too slowly, which Falletta does not. It’s a beautifully flowing performance. The Pines of Rome’s first three sections are all well characterized and sensitively done, but let’s face it: no one cares if the final march doesn’t come off. Here, it does, with pulverizing force. A terrific disc.

David Hurwitz (Classics Today)

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It’s a long way from Buffalo to Rome, but the Buffalo Philharmonic players bridge the gap impressively in their new recording of Respighi’s trilogy of tone-poems based on the history and geography of the Italian city.

The disc opens with Roman Festivals, usually thought the knottiest of the trilogy. The whooping Buffalo brass have fun imitating the ‘howling of wild beasts’ Respighi describes in ‘Circus Maximus,’ but although there is plenty of adrenalin in the playing, JoAnn Falletta is careful not to press the after-burner button too early. If some of the instrumental solos in ‘Jubilee’ seem a touch subdued, ‘October Festival’ has twinkling buoyancy and colour, and the concluding ‘Epiphany’ is clamorous and dynamic without degenerating into chaos.

In Fountains of Rome Falletta distils a pleasing sense of sprightliness in the ‘Triton Fountain’ section. She builds a surging climax in ‘The Trevi Fountain,’ replete with Wagnerian overtones, and a seductive melancholy pervades nightfall at the ‘Villa Medici.’

The joyful dance rhythms in the ‘Villa Borghese’ movement of Pines of Rome are exuberantly pointed, and the trumpet solo in ‘Catacomb’ is tinglingly evocative. And while the closing ‘Pines of the Appian Way’ is predictably blockbusting, throughout the disc it’s Falletta’s ear for subtleties of orchestration and texture that is particularly striking. Though exciting, these are far from being smash-and-grab performances.

There are plenty of recordings of the Roman Trilogy available, but this one’s combination of budget price and refined, robust musicianship make it a genuine contender.

Terry Blain (BBC Muusic Magazine)