Alberto Franchetti and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari shared a similar dual heritage. Franchetti’s father was an Italian Baron, his mother was Viennese and Alberto studied in Germany where he composed the Symphony in E minor in 1884 as part of his graduation examination from Dresden Conservatory. Late Romantic and cast in the German symphonic tradition, it is a colourful, evocative and majestic work. Inspired by the wild beauty of the forests of the Rhine valley, Nella foresta nera is a tranquil, atmospheric ‘symphonic impression’. Venetian-born to a Bavarian father, Wolf-Ferrari spent many years in Germany where he wrote his Sinfonia da camera. The work has an expansive symphonic breadth and utilises Romanticism’s full harmonic and melodic arsenal.

The recording of Wolf-Ferrari’s Sinfonia da camera first appeared on Marco Polo 8223868 where it was coupled with music by Strauss-Schoenberg and Bloch – ‘radiantly performed and elegantly recorded performances’ (Fanfare). Wolf-Ferrari’s Suite Veneziana can be heard on 8573583: ‘The wide-eyed variations are a display of the composer’s imaginative range of orchestral colours, especially with Haider’s orchestra here sounding at its best in warm, resonant, embracing acoustics’ (Fanfare).

The Rome Symphony Orchestra was established in 2002 by the Rome Foundation (Fondazione Roma Arte – Musei), a rare example in Europe of an orchestra that was completely privately funded. Under its artistic and musical director Francesco La Vecchia who, in turn, set up the Fondazione Arts Academy, the orchestra performed regularly in Rome at the Teatro Argentina, Teatro Sistina and Auditorium Conciliazione. It received critical and public recognition at distinguished venues in Asia, the Americas and Europe, with notable success in 2007 at the Berlin Philharmonie.

The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma and conductor Francesco La Vecchia undertook a wide-ranging and well received series of recordings, principally for Naxos, of important compositions by Italian composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Busoni, Catalani, Ferrara, Ghedini, Malipiero, Mancinelli, Martucci, Mercadante, Petrassi, Sgambati and Wolf-Ferrari. Many of these are world-premiere recordings.

The MiNensemblet is a professional chamber ensemble consisting of eleven full-time musicians, Norway’s only one of this size. It is administered by Musikk i Nordland (Nordland being one of Norway’s most northerly counties), a professional music institution which in turn is under the jurisdiction of Nordland County.