Ottorino Respighi - Impressioni brasiliane; La Boutique fantasque (John Neschling)

Information

Composer: Ottorino Respighi

• (01) Impressioni brasiliane
• (04) La Boutique fantasque

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

John Neschling, conductor

Date: 2014

Label: BIS
https://bis.se/label/bis/respighi-brazilian-impressions

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

It’s good to see John Neschling’s series of recordings for BIS continuing with this fine Respighi disc from Liège. Brazilian Impressions may not be one of Respighi’s more important pieces–there was a long period of time when the only available recordings were Dorati’s on Mercury Living Presence–but the music is super atmospheric, and the use of the Dies irae chant melody to represent the snakes at Butantan reveals a wry sense of humor not often associated with this composer. The work is played as well as as on any competing recording, and the SACD sonics both here and in La Boutique fantasque are stupendous.

As for the ballet, it always has been one of Respighi’s most popular works, as much for the Rossini originals adapted for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes as for the colorfully scored settings themselves. Neschling’s performance rocks. Exciting numbers like the Tarantella, the Cossack Dance, the Cancan, and the final Galop have tremendous energy, but elegance and swagger too, while the Valse lente and Nocturne ooze a particularly Rossinian brand of unsentimental poetry that no one else quite matches. Respighi’s arrangements, it’s worth stressing, really do make it seem as if the music was composed for orchestra all along. A delightful disc, both musically and sonically.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2014/Apr14/Respighi_boutique_BISSACD2050.htm

https://www.audaud.com/respighi-brazilian-impressions-orch-philharmonique-royal-de-liege-john-neschling-bis/

https://www.amazon.com/Brazilian-Impressions-Orchestre-Philharmonique-Royal/dp/B00IIZ29VW

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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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