Ottorino Respighi - Sinfonia Drammatica; Belfagor Overture (John Neschling)

Information

Composer: Ottorino Respighi

1. Sinfonia drammatica, P. 102: I. Allegro energico
2. Sinfonia drammatica, P. 102: II. Andante sostenuto
3. Sinfonia drammatica, P. 102: III. Allegro impetuoso
4. Belfagor (ouverture per orchestra): Allegro

Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège
John Neschling, conductor

Date: 2016
Label: BIS
http://bis.se/label/bis/respighi-sinfonia-drammatica

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Review

Completed in June 1914, the Sinfonia drammatica is essentially an expression of Respighi’s anxieties about the impending First World War. At its premiere a year later, however, when Italy was moving towards entering the conflict on the allied side, the score was criticised as overly Germanic. Elsa Respighi’s subsequent failure to mention it in her biography of her husband, together with her statement that his first ‘characteristic’ work was The Fountains of Rome in 1916, has led to its frequent dismissal.

Listening to John Neschling’s recording, you can understand the the initial controversy. The influences are, in fact, as much French as German: Franck’s D minor Symphony is the structural model; Debussy lurks behind the chordal woodwind-writing. The main debt, however, is to Strauss’s Elektra, from which its five-note principal theme derives, and the turbulent mood of which it to some extent replicates.

‘Drammatica’ is an indication of tone rather than content, and this is a score that seems to be in constant, violent motion, though there are also flashes forwards to The Pines of Rome in the closing peroration, with its massive crescendo over a steady, repetitive pulse. Neschling admirably sustains the fever pitch throughout – nothing becomes overblown or unduly hysterical – and the playing is first-rate in its dark intensity and force.

The filler is the Belfagor overture, reworking material from an unsuccessful 1923 opera of the same name about the devil assuming human form in order to corrupt the virtuous heroine Candida. It’s an attractively scored piece of diablerie, superbly played.

-- Tim Ashley, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 7 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/May/Respighi_sinfonia_BIS2210.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Aug/Respighi_sinfonia_BIS2210.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Oct/Respighi_sinfonia_BIS2210.htm
https://www.audaud.com/respighi-sinfonia-drammatica-belfagor-ov-%E2%80%92-orch-philharmonique-royal-de-liege-john-neschling-%E2%80%92-bis/
https://www.allmusic.com/album/respighi-sinfonia-drammatica-belfagor-overture-mw0002945576

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Ottorino Respighi (9 July 1879 – 18 April 1936) was an Italian composer and musicologist. He is best known for his orchestral music, particularly the three Roman tone poems: Fountains of Rome (Fontane di Roma), Pines of Rome (I pini di Roma), and Roman Festivals (Feste romane). His musicological interest in 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century music led him to compose pieces based on the music of these periods. Although Respighi was known primarily as composers of instrumental and orchestral music, he also wrote a number of operas, the most famous of which is La fiamma.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottorino_Respighi

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John Neschling (born May 13, 1947 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian orchestral and operatic conductor. He studied conducting under Hans Swarowsky and Reinhold Schmid in Vienna and under Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa in Tanglewood. Later, he won several international conducting competitions. Neschling was music director and chief conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony from 1997 to 2008. During the twelve years under his leadership, the OSESP became a first rate international orchestra, and recorded a series of CDs, winning 5 Diapason d'Or and one Latin Grammy. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Neschling

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