Brilliance from Buffalo in Respighi's rich orchestration

OK, so we all know the evergreen Respighi showpieces The Pines of Rome and The Fountains of Rome. Here, JoAnn Falletta and her Buffalo Philharmonic forces set out to prove that the composer is no two-hit wonder. Prove it they do, in the most enjoyable of fashions, exploring the vivid Respighian worlds of church windows, Rossini tributes and images from Brazil. Vivid and extremely entertaining.

-- Gramophone [2/2008]

Naxos offers another group of rich and exotic Respighi works which demonstrate his extraordinary gift for brilliant orchestrations. The longest and most ambitious is Church Windows, though curiously the idea of linking the four pieces with great paintings only came after the work was finished. He chose The Flight into Egypt for the gentle opening piece, St Michael the Archangel for the vigorous second, The Matins of St Clare for the third and St Gregory the Great for the grandest piece, described by Edward Johnson as like a papal coronation in sound.

Brazilian Impressions stemmed from a visit that the composer made to Brazil. He planned a sequence of five pieces, but by 1928 he had completed only three, and left it at that for the first performance in 1928 in Rio. The first is a nocturne, "Tropical Night", with fragments of dance rhythms hinted at in the sensuous textures. The second piece is a sinister picture of a snake farm Respighi visited, with hints of birdsong, while the final movement is a vigorous and colourful dance.

Rossiniana of 1925 is Respighi's attempt to follow up the enormous success of La boutique fantasque. It's also based on pieces by Rossini, this time using some of his piano trifles, Les riens. The first is a sort of barcarolle, the second a lament and the third an intermezzo featuring the celesta. In the finale he comes nearest to the ebullience of La boutique fantasque in a tarantella, but colourful as these pieces are, they hardly rival those in the earlier suite. Well worth hearing, though. The Buffalo Philharmonic under music director JoAnn Falletta is treated to warm and spectacular recording, apt for such exotica.

--Review by Edward Greenfield, Gramophone (Editor's Choice), February 2008