Respighi: Vetrate di chiesa, Il tramonto & Trittico botticelliano

Album review

This album is part of a cycle by Brazilian conductor John Neschling covering the orchestral works of Respighi and thus touching on some less often heard material. Those acquiring the entire cycle will find nothing to complain about here: the main attraction, the Vetrate di Chiesa (Church Windows) of 1927, has the whole range of orchestral colors one expects from this composer, beautifully rendered by the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. And the little orchestral song Il Tramonto (The Sunset), on a translated poem of Percy Bysshe Shelley, is lovely, with fine sound from BIS. If you're just coming to Neschling's cycle, there's a reason the later Respighi tone poems, with the exception of Roman Festivals, are not heard as often as the earlier ones: Respighi seems increasingly to be retracing his steps. The Trittico Botticelliano of 1927, based on some famous Botticelli paintings, is evocative and colorful, but the Vetrate di Chiesa, three of whose movements employ material from a piano work based on Gregorian chant, has a heaviness that you don't find in the classic Respighi works. Your mileage may vary, and as performances of these rather rare works, these would be hard to top.

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