Metamorphoseon / Belkis, Queen of Sheba / etc

Metamorphoseon / Belkis, Queen of Sheba / etc cover $35.00 Low Stock add to cart

RESPIGHI
Metamorphoseon / Belkis, Queen of Sheba / etc
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, John Neschling

[ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD ]

Release Date: Tuesday 4 August 2015

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Alongside Puccini, Ottorino Respighi is the best-known Italian composer from the first half of the twentieth century, but his reputation rests almost exclusively on his 'Roman Trilogy': The Fountains of Rome, The Pines of Rome and Roman Festivals. The great popularity of these tone poems has overshadowed the greater part of his production, including the three orchestral works gathered here. Ballata delle gnomidi (The Ballad of the Gnomes) was composed in 1920 - chronologically between The Fountains of Rome and The Pines of Rome - and was inspired by a poem depicting satanic rituals, sexual abandonment and blood sacrifice. Respighi matches this with music comparable to certain pages from Richard Strauss's opera Salome in terms of the opulence of its orchestration and its exotic - and erotic - atmosphere. The Ballata is here framed by two later and longer works. Respighi composed Metamorphoseon in 1930, for the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and it is in fact something of a concerto for orchestra. The 30-minute long work consists of a theme and twelve variations or 'modes', an allusion to the different ways in which the music can be transformed by allowing various instruments or sections to shine. The disc closes with the suite from Belkis, Regina di Saba, a full-length ballet depicting the encounter between the Queen of Sheba and Solomon. The original score involved a massive orchestra including zithers, wind machine, choir, soloists and narrator as well as an off-stage brass ensemble, but Respighi omitted the vocal parts and the exotic instruments when he prepared a suite for concert use. John Neschling has previously recorded two acclaimed discs of Respighi's music for BIS. The latest instalment also featured l'Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, in a performance of Impressioni brasiliane which the reviewer on German web site Klassik Heute described as 'a true showpiece of kaleidoscopic and brilliant colours and subtle humour.'

"All of the performances here are expert, but conductor John Neschling deserves particular credit for keeping things movement purposefully forward in the first two long, and mostly slowish, movements of the Belkis suite. The same work's vulgar (let's not kid ourselves) concluding Danza orgiastica also sounds more musical than usual-less like a back-alley gang bang-but with no loss of energy. The Liège orchestra plays with great bravura, and BIS's SACD sonics, typically, are just terrific. In short, a very worthy entry in this ongoing series" (ClassicsToday Oct 2015)

"A great hi-res surround (and a decent speaker setup) makes this a most enjoyable sonic experience." (AudAud Nov 2015)

"Respighi was said not to have rated his Metamorphoseon highly, though it's unclear why. It's even more unclear listening to this excellent new recording, which catches evocatively the work's brooding, murky tints, and its tendency to sudden irruptions of temperament...Neschling and his Liege musicians [are] sharply responsive to Respighi's abrupt flexing of muscle." (BBC Music)

Tracks:

Ottorino Respighi: Metamorphoseon (1930)
Ballata delle gnomidi (1920)
Belkis, Regina di Saba, Suite (1934)