This is the second recording of Respighi’s works from the BBC Philharmonic under its brilliant conductor Gianandrea Noseda and features some of Respighi’s rarer works. It contains the only available recording of Cinq Etudes-Tableaux.

Straddling the 19th and 20th centuries, Respighi is best known for his three effulgent and spectacularly orchestrated Roman tone poems and as a brilliant arranger and transcriber of other composers’ works. Yet, in truth; Respighi does not merely transcribe, he unashamedly improves on the original in a remarkably innovative and harmonically daring manner.

This is clearly demonstrated by the fantastic performances given here by the BBC Philharmonic under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda who takes on his fellow Italian’s music with all the romance of a true Italian. The four works on this disc, are so different in character, inspiration and instrumental colour, and intriguingly reveal Respighi’s development as a master of orchestration over a period of some thirty years.

The precociously florid and inventive Preludio, Corale e Fuga was the work with which Respighi took his diploma in composition, and is a truly astonishing work. On hearing it, his teacher Giuseppe Martucci exclaimed: ‘Respighi is not a pupil, Respighi is a master’. In Burlesca, hints of Smetana and Dvorak, one of Respighi’s favourite composers are audible and it provides further evidence of Respighi’s remarkable talent for assimilating the style of other composers, while never forfeiting his own individuality and shows off his astonishingly bold orchestral virtuosity through a vibrant, colourful score. This is truly ‘impressionistic’ music at its finest.

Rossiniana is based on a volume of piano pieces by Rossini called Les Riens. This is a rarely performed work yet has all the characteristics of Respighi’s orchestration. Completing the programme is the only available recording of Respighi’s orchestration of five of Rachmaninov’s etudes-tableaux. On hearing that Respighi would orchestrate the works, Rachmaninov wrote to him saying “This good news gives me great joy, for I am sure that in your masterly hands these Etudes will be made to sound marvellous.” On hearing this orchestration it is clear how Respighi magically enters into the spirit of Rachmaninov’s music and re-interprets it in his own true style. It is a joy to hear it in the hands of the BBC Philharmonic which is renowned for the great energy, virtuosity and vibrancy of its performances, and the perfect exponents of the compositions of one of the greatest orchestrators of all time.