Customer Reviews

Respighi: The Pines of Rome; The Fountains of Rome; Roman Festivals

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

People will not always have the same impressions of music performances because we have different preferences, experiences and musical backgrounds which shape those impressions. I happen to be a musician with performance, teaching and conducting experience, but I have never attempted to write criticism. Music can be such a subjective thing, and many others' opinions are just as or more valid than mine. However, I cannot imagine there can be any disagreement that Decca, Dutoit and the MSO have the finest performance of "The Pines of the Appian Way" ever recorded. This CD is a virtual test disc for audio equipment, and the performance is a model for all musicians to emulate.

As everyone knows, the Appian Way begins quietly and builds progressively to the finish, somewhat in the fashion of Ravel's "Bolero," but much more so. Recording engineers are challenged in trying to capture such pieces as these, where the dynamic range is extreme and a lot of exotic percussion is scored. Orchestras have trouble playing as loudly as Respighi demands without losing balance, control and clarity. In this recording, nothing registers except success. Even when the ensemble is pegging the decibel meter needles, the orchestra's sound is still transparent. You can hear horns, clarinets, violins. You never lose the lines each instrument group plays, even when 30 or so brass and percussion players are doing their best to blow out the back wall of the hall. Early on you will actually feel the bass drum (if your reproduction equipment, especially your loudspeakers, is good enough) as much as hear it. There is never any distortion, and there is always perfect definition of the sound. It is a unique and remarkable recording. Those engineers should have won some sort of award for this one.

The accomplishment of the engineers would gone for nothing, though, if the performance they captured had not been good. This performance of the Appian Way is beyond good; it is amazing. Maestro Dutoit's tempo is not stodgy. He does not let melodic elements get buried by the weight of the accompaniment. This is no easy feat, because the accompaniment gets plenty ponderous. When instruments enter, Dutoit measures each entrance so that the players do not immediately dominate the ensemble. As the instrumental texture and dynamic grows, the balance remains even and disciplined. When the orchestra reaches and passes the point of double forte, Dutoit and the ensemble cross the threshold into the extraordinary. The playing is not just loud and brilliant, becoming more loud and brilliant until the last cymbal crash; none of the musical elements are never lost. Each ascending phrase in the winds builds subtly in each eight-bar incrument. The piece does not become static. Yes, the sound gets huge, like it's supposed to, but Dutoit never allows the sound to collapse into brassiness or shrillness. When this piece really cranks up, the brass are just about blowing the seat of their pants through their horns, the srings come dangerously close to breaking their instruments in half with the force of their bows, and the percussionists are risking putting their mallets right through the heads of the drums and whatever else they are beating (and the woodwinds are wishing they started on some other instrument). That they all retain such musicality while doing this is evidence of very fine talent on the part of the players (and maturity on their parts, as well, the woodwinds will say). The sound is big, but not forced.

I do not mean to slight any of the other works on this disc. Everything is played marvelously well and with precision. But this Appian Way is simply the best performance recorded to date of an intrinsicly difficult piece to perform, conduct or record, and should not be missed.

Respighi (1879-1936), whose major "claims to fame" are thrilling orchestral "impressions," is a composer whose works require just the right finesse, just the right coaxing, just the right balance ...because in the wrong hands they can become boisterous, overly similar and coarse. Under the tutelage of a master conductor, however, a conductor whose depth of understanding and persuasion reveals detail that we never realized existed... we hear afresh.

Such is the case with Dutoit at the podium: every nuance comes clear, every pictorial thrill emerges as if out of hiding, every new vision titillates us, haunts us.

In these performances, Dutoit is a magician of light and shadow.

Listen, for example, to the sunny, brilliant opening "Pini di Villa Borghese" of THE PINES OF ROME... which flows ever so subtly into the catacomb darkness of the following second movement "Pini preso."

Listen further to the agony wrought in the FESTE ROMANE "Circenses," the anguished, pleading cries of Christians being thrown to lions in the arena of the Circus Maximus... as Roman trumpets bray their obvious hubris. This is a performance to make your skin crawl!

Then seque back to the fourth movement "Pini della Via Appia," of THE PINES OF ROME, as the Roman army parades along with incredibly brilliant flourishes--- victorious and prideful.

Light and shadow... and shades in-between, as well, as you have never heard before. Listen to the interplay of clarity and mystery Dutoit weaves throughout Respighi's FOUNTAINS OF ROME. We hear daylight come to the fountains at Giulia Valley, morning at the Triton Fountain, midday at Trevi and, as the bells toll, the sun finally sets at the Villa Medici.

Dutoit gives us absolutely inspired readings, and the OSM incisive playing, with gloriously vibrant sound to equal their combined vision.

For those of us jaded by lukewarm Respighi, this CD is quite the antidote!

[Running time: 60:24]

Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra usually give a flawless version of whatever they attempt and this recording is no exception. Lovers of Respighi's "Pines of Rome" will find this recording stacks higher in terms of power and clarity than the almighty versions of von Karajan and the Philharmonia Orchestra, long thought to be untouchably awesome. Following the performances with the orchestral scores will reveal to the eye the virtual perfection of balance and dynamic range that the ear can already hear. If anyone rates a performance of "Roman Festivals" higher than this one in terms of excitement, please let me know. Anyone who has seen and admired Ridley Scott's epic film "Gladiator" should get to know these wonderful scores of Otterino Respighi, a true Roman composer who had the flair and feel for the beauty and savagery of this ancient civilisation, as well as the genius to translate it into musical terms. Hollywood film composers bow down low in humility before the name Respighi as well they should. A superb and timeless version of the marvellous Roman trilogy of orchestral panoramas awaits you on this CD.

The Pines of Rome performed by Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Orchestra is definitely the most thrilling performance I ever heard, since previous recordings I heard; Ormandy's recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra is the most beautiful and heart-warming, Karajan with the Berlin Phil is the mightiest, Sinopoli with the New York Phil is the slowest yet the boldest, and Maazel with the Cleveland Orchestra is very well played, especially the lengthened climatic final chord of the piece, which gave me tears. Any of the performance, although have specific musical taste, is fine, but I recommend you to buy Dutoit's performance. His musical taste is related to Maazel, with a hyped up roar of the tam-tam almost like Bernstein. It is very tightly and lightly played, unlike the mighty Karajan and the bold Sinopoli. Unlike Ormandy, who supposedly played delicately with the strings and the flutes almost being even as the powerful brass, Dutoit and his orchestra performed with much hysteria and fury. But on the other hand, I recommend you to buy Karajan for Fountains of Rome, and Bernstein for Roman Festivals. Dutoit's pomp pales a bit from Karajan's mighty performance, especially the third movement. And Bernstein's performance on Roman Festivals, I guarantee, is more violent, more thrilling, and hysterical than Dutoit's effort.

In my opinion this is a special recording of these three famous symphonic poems. The performance captures the pictorial quality of the music very well, as it does the power and symbolism. The Montreal brass in particular are captured wonderfully, and the Orchestre as a whole is to be praised for its brilliant performance. The final movements of both "The Pines" and "The Festivals" contain some of the most exciting music making on disc. This recording itself is of a similar high quality to most Montreal recordings for Decca, and it is remarkable how consistently excellent their recordings are across the spectrum of composers. Dutoit/Montreal and the Decca team of engineers have developed a wonderful tradition, and this recording is one of the best examples.

I never thought I'd hear a brass sound equal to that of the Chicago Symphony, but Charles Dutoit and the OSM do it right here. The OSM plays the Pines of Rome like I've never heard it before. As fantastic as the entire performance is, the final Pines of the Appian Way seems to dwarf the first three movements. One can visualize the slow, steady march of the Roman legions, coming closer, closer, and closer still. The OSM possesses and demonstrates the superb control required to give a convincing performance of this piece. They play the written "F"'s and still retain the purity and clarity of their sound. The last two or so minutes of it still send chills up my spine. I recommend this album highly to anybody and everybody.

Dutoit's exciting interpretations with the OSM of Respighi's scores certainly rank as among the most exciting ever recorded; they certain compare well with Maazel's splendid readings with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. They are certainly far more gripping than Karajan's acclaimed recording with the Berlin Philharmonic; the latter lacks the exuberance of Dutoit and the OSM, but is its equal with regard to the OSM's polished playing. Dutoit's brisk tempi and majestic conducting are matched by the OSM's warm, technically perfect performances, most notably in its wind and string sections (The brass is as fine as these sections in the tone poem "Pines Of Rome", especially the Appian Way measures.). Decca engineers have scored another artistic triumph with Dutoit and the OSM, yielding an extremely well-balanced recording. Undoubtedly this is one of the essential recordings of Respighi's most popular music.

Well, what can I say? Charles Dutoit's rendition of Respighi's Roman Trilogy ranks among the finest. The orchestral emotions give out a spine-tingling sensation. The sound quality is beyond excellent. Tension is high and tedium is low. I'd have to say congratulations to Decca/London for giving us this fabulous creation.

Pini di Roma: I first heard this in the movie Fantasia 2000, and I just had this feeling that the filmmakers cut out half of its entirety. When I heard this complete version, I was hooked. Its power and precision is strikingly beautiful. From the lively introduction to the gracious finale, this one is hard to hate.

Feste Romane: The most energetic of the three, it misses some familiarity from the other two Roman pieces, but it is still worth a listen. The First movement (Circenses) has a high level of good old apprehension, while the Fourth movement (La Befana) goes way deeper than that. For the second half third movement (L'Ottobrata), it has some of the same lovable atmosphere as from Pini del Gianicolo of Pini di Roma. Not the best of the three, but simply not the worst.

Fontane di Roma: The Italian flair and the massive sanguinity are both present here in this first piece of the Roman Trilogy. It's a beautiful phenomenon that has generated to a catchy musicality today. Precise, vigorous, soft, and exquisite at the same time.

This should be an absolute steal for those who are beginning to feel the Italian Impressionism through Ottorino Respighi. A+

After long and arduous searching and listening, I have come to the conclusion that this is quite possibly the best available recording of the Roman triptych by Ottorino Respighi.

This comes not as a revelation but as a final assertion based on what I've heard and what I look for in fine recordings: this includes examining 'reference' (if there be fairness in naming such things) recordings the likes of Muti/Philadelphia, Bernstein/NYPhil, Reiner/Chicago, Ozawa/Boston, and others of the sort. I think all of them have exceptional qualities but something missing from them. For some reason, this particular recording of Dutoit with a very disciplined and rather 'on-fire' Montreal Symphony bests them all.

Whether it be in just intonation or in clarity from better digital recording to attention paid to every little nuance, OSM and Dutoit give us the most riveting account. The power is really there at the end of Pines of the Appian Way and one can feel the majesty and glory in the Fountains of Rome (especially in Fountain at Trevi at Mid-day... the low brass especially bass trombone are alive and kickin'). The sweet song of the nightingale is gorgeously present and dubbed in so well, you'd almost swear that the bird is in the studio with the orchestra.

I recommend and encourage everyone who wants to hear a supreme recording of the Roman cycle to snatch this recording up. It is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

As others have expounded, this is exquisite performance and recording. Dutoit and the Orchestra Symphony of Montreal deliver Pines of Rome with sensitive, passionate dynamics which are incredibly captured by this recording.

The instrument groups are crystal clear and pristine, yet the subtle movements deliver concert hall chills while listening.

This is of the top notch.