BBCSSO, 29/11/2018
Donizetti : Overture to Don Pasquale
Puccini : Capriccio sinfonico
Respighi : Roman Trilogy
Feste romane
Fontane di Roma
Pini di Roma
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
John Wilson
This was a slightly oddly disposed concert. The feature was, of course, the complete Roman Trilogy - while one does hear, not uncommonly, one or other of the three symphonic poems, they are rarely played as a complete suite. Performance time is around 70 minutes, not quite enough for a standard symphonic concert, so as a make-weight, there was a very short first half, which did sort of make the point that orchestral music, at least in the 19th Century, was really not a priority for Italian musicians, whose primary focus was on opera. From the 20th Century onwards, a greater diversity of forms begins to appear once more, but in looking to accompany the Respighi with more Italian orchestral music, yet without distracting from the main item by including something too rare, or too alien to Respighi's own world, I think Wilson probably made the best choice he could.
The Donizetti overture is a delightful piece, of course, a sparkling curtain-raiser to arguably his best comedy. His overtures are very rarely played out of context, they are less individual than, say, Rossini's overtures, and conform to what became a more standard practice of using material that would then actually be found in the opera. In this case, amongst others, this included the opportunity for Guest Principal Cellist Rudi de Groote to show off a lovely, lyrical tone playing Ernesto's Act 3 Romance.
The Puccini might not seem such an odd piece if it wasn't for the fact that the central section contains a substantial chunk of music he would then recycle into La bohème. The opera being a great deal more familiar than this early orchestral test piece - it was his graduation composition - it's always a little jarring when the familiar drifts off into something quite different. It's a slightly schizophrenic work anyway, with widely diverging moods, from the portentous opening, to the bright exuberance of the Bohème music, to a swaggering theme in a more popular style, a little reminiscent of a Neapolitan song, but there's certainly a good deal of charm to it, and a keen ear for orchestral colouring.
The master of the orchestra, in Italy, was, however, Ottorino Respighi. He studied under Rimsky-Korsakov for some months, and it's quite audible in the richness and inventivity of his scoring. The Roman Trilogy is probably his best known music, but none of it is heard as often as it should be, and it seems to be more fashionable to look down on Respighi, though there may be a political element to that attitude, as Respighi's relations to Mussolini's government were not unlike Richard Strauss's to Hitler's. The music, though, is well worth exploring, and most people start here, with the three sets of Roman "picture post-cards", as Respighi himself described them.
They're usually presented in chronological order, but again, Wilson made the right choice in putting "Festivals" first, instead of last. It's a somewhat dishevelled, raucous piece, brash and bright, certainly the least subtle of the three, and to my mind the least convincing. There's a very clear influence from Stravinsky - the Shrove-Tide Fair from Petrushka undoubtedly underlies the third movement, the Ottobrata - but the colouring is much more southern, naturally. After that strident, but invigorating start, the delicacy of "Fountains" is as refreshing as the dancing waters it evokes. Finally, "Pines" is the most developed and varied of the three sets, from the breezy, chattering opening to the martial splendour of the conclusion, in a blazing wall of sound to evoke the vision of Roman legions marching past, more graphically than any music for any peplum ever screened.
There was a fair amount of imprecision in tonight's performances. The very opening of the Donizetti seemed a little scrappy, I found the Puccini lurched a touch in places, and all through the Respighi there were some stumbles, some entries not completely together, some of the playing in the winds, particularly when wanting to be really quiet, a bit unsteady, and the mandolin in the Ottobrata was too tentative. However, there was an energy and an enthusiasm to the playing that carried all before it; at the end, as the march along the Appian Way built to its shattering climax, Wilson was almost vibrating on his podium as he urged the orchestra onwards and upwards. This is music that rewards belief, generous, warm and stimulating, and that, regardless of technical issues, was exactly what we got.
[Next : 6th December]
Puccini : Capriccio sinfonico
Respighi : Roman Trilogy
Feste romane
Fontane di Roma
Pini di Roma
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
John Wilson
This was a slightly oddly disposed concert. The feature was, of course, the complete Roman Trilogy - while one does hear, not uncommonly, one or other of the three symphonic poems, they are rarely played as a complete suite. Performance time is around 70 minutes, not quite enough for a standard symphonic concert, so as a make-weight, there was a very short first half, which did sort of make the point that orchestral music, at least in the 19th Century, was really not a priority for Italian musicians, whose primary focus was on opera. From the 20th Century onwards, a greater diversity of forms begins to appear once more, but in looking to accompany the Respighi with more Italian orchestral music, yet without distracting from the main item by including something too rare, or too alien to Respighi's own world, I think Wilson probably made the best choice he could.
The Donizetti overture is a delightful piece, of course, a sparkling curtain-raiser to arguably his best comedy. His overtures are very rarely played out of context, they are less individual than, say, Rossini's overtures, and conform to what became a more standard practice of using material that would then actually be found in the opera. In this case, amongst others, this included the opportunity for Guest Principal Cellist Rudi de Groote to show off a lovely, lyrical tone playing Ernesto's Act 3 Romance.
The Puccini might not seem such an odd piece if it wasn't for the fact that the central section contains a substantial chunk of music he would then recycle into La bohème. The opera being a great deal more familiar than this early orchestral test piece - it was his graduation composition - it's always a little jarring when the familiar drifts off into something quite different. It's a slightly schizophrenic work anyway, with widely diverging moods, from the portentous opening, to the bright exuberance of the Bohème music, to a swaggering theme in a more popular style, a little reminiscent of a Neapolitan song, but there's certainly a good deal of charm to it, and a keen ear for orchestral colouring.
The master of the orchestra, in Italy, was, however, Ottorino Respighi. He studied under Rimsky-Korsakov for some months, and it's quite audible in the richness and inventivity of his scoring. The Roman Trilogy is probably his best known music, but none of it is heard as often as it should be, and it seems to be more fashionable to look down on Respighi, though there may be a political element to that attitude, as Respighi's relations to Mussolini's government were not unlike Richard Strauss's to Hitler's. The music, though, is well worth exploring, and most people start here, with the three sets of Roman "picture post-cards", as Respighi himself described them.
They're usually presented in chronological order, but again, Wilson made the right choice in putting "Festivals" first, instead of last. It's a somewhat dishevelled, raucous piece, brash and bright, certainly the least subtle of the three, and to my mind the least convincing. There's a very clear influence from Stravinsky - the Shrove-Tide Fair from Petrushka undoubtedly underlies the third movement, the Ottobrata - but the colouring is much more southern, naturally. After that strident, but invigorating start, the delicacy of "Fountains" is as refreshing as the dancing waters it evokes. Finally, "Pines" is the most developed and varied of the three sets, from the breezy, chattering opening to the martial splendour of the conclusion, in a blazing wall of sound to evoke the vision of Roman legions marching past, more graphically than any music for any peplum ever screened.
There was a fair amount of imprecision in tonight's performances. The very opening of the Donizetti seemed a little scrappy, I found the Puccini lurched a touch in places, and all through the Respighi there were some stumbles, some entries not completely together, some of the playing in the winds, particularly when wanting to be really quiet, a bit unsteady, and the mandolin in the Ottobrata was too tentative. However, there was an energy and an enthusiasm to the playing that carried all before it; at the end, as the march along the Appian Way built to its shattering climax, Wilson was almost vibrating on his podium as he urged the orchestra onwards and upwards. This is music that rewards belief, generous, warm and stimulating, and that, regardless of technical issues, was exactly what we got.
[Next : 6th December]