Respighi: The Birds; 3 Botticelli Pictures; Il Tramonto

Ottorino Respighi (Composer), Tamás Vásáry (Conductor), Linda Finnie (Performer), Bournemouth Sinfonietta (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Linda Finnie
• Orchestra: Bournemouth Sinfonietta
• Conductor: Tamás Vásáry
• Composer: Ottorino Respighi
• Audio CD (October 28, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B000000AM1
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,705 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get close and listen this artwork!, April 6, 2005

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Respighi: The Birds; 3 Botticelli Pictures; Il Tramonto (Audio CD)

Boticellian Tryphtic is still a hidden jewel for many music lovers.
This is one of my beloved works of this excel composer. The whole work is a real musical treasure; it contains musicality, but also expressiveness and above all commitment. Written possibly in an age in which the real interest of the listener turned around other composers and new forms of daring musical expression, this work deserves a better treatment, now the time has passed away and we are able to distinguish the shining bagatelles of the brighter gold, perhaps we are capable to enjoy with much more frequency in the hall concerts, this overwhelming composition. Meanwhile try to get this record and compare by yourself about the inner virtues of this work.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A magical performance, March 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Respighi: The Birds; 3 Botticelli Pictures; Il Tramonto (Audio CD)

Vasary obtains a wonderful variety of colours and textures in this beautiful recording. Listen to the third picture - it feels like you're flying! (I also had the privilege of hearing them perform this live and it was fantastic!)

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lighter side of Respighi, April 8, 2009

By 

Eric S. Kim (Southern California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Respighi: The Birds; 3 Botticelli Pictures; Il Tramonto (Audio CD)

Those of you who are looking for some heavy-hitting Respighi will be slightly disappointed. This disc contains a much lighter and less complex side of the Italian composer. Not to say that it is bad, but I expected some more color and impressionistic goodness than this.

But to be perfectly honest, I do like all four pieces on this CD, though not as much as I like the "Belkis Suite" and "Church Windows". "The Birds" is actually four arrangements of harpsichord and lute solo pieces that were made during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. I'm not a big fan of Baroque music, so there's nothing special here to me. "Il Tramonto" is a 15-minute piece for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. Linda Finnie does an extraordinary job with her solo, although the clarity in her voice is a bit off at times. "Adagio con variazioni" is a 10-minute piece for cello and orchestra. Raphael Wallfisch gives an intelligent reading, so nothing bad really happens.

Both "Il Tramonto" and "Adagio" don't have that much of the typical Respighian flavor; they sound as though they were made in the mid-Romantic period. "3 Botticelli Pictures" is the one that's closest to the composer's own "Church Windows" and "Fountains of Rome". Based on a trip to an arts museum in Washington D.C., this stands out as the major highlight of this recording. The impressionistic sound is here, the vastly colorful orchestrations return, and the lyrical ambiance found in the second movement is a reminder of the third movement of "Pines of Rome". It's now one of my favorites from Respighi.

I can see that the composer has created some musically "conservative" pieces as well as his distinctive impressionistic works. I may be biased, but I'm more for the latter. While I do think that "The Birds" and "Il Tramonto" and "Adagio" are decent, I'm left with an unsatisfactory taste as I expected at least a heavenly flow that's found in "Church Windows".

Grade:
A for "3 Botticelli Pictures"
C+ for "The Birds" and "Il Tramonto" and "Adagio"
Overall: B