Customer Reviews

Respighi: Gli Uccelli /Vetrate Di Chiesa; Scarlatti & Tommasini: Le Donne Di Buon Umore

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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This is a charming and very well performed CD. Respighi's "The Birds" has been recorded quite a bit, but I can't see any need to ever look farther than this recording for a good account. The orchestra sounds great from the contrabasses up through the harp and celeste. I can get a sense of the Baroque style that Respighi is emulating, but with the performance resources of the more modern symphony orchestra.

The Church Windows performance is also excellent and very expressive. All of the parts can be heard cleanly, and I particularly liked the woodwinds (especially the oboe) and the harp. The brass fall a little short of the more recent Lopez-Cobos recording, but they are still very good. The off-stage piccolo trumpet in II is beautifully played, but the brass throughout the movement don't have the punch that Cincinnati does on Telarc (this is a big battle, after all). The percussion are also very good, although today's technology has given us bigger sounding equipment for the most dramatic moments.

Recording quality is excellent and I don't think that many people would know that these performances were done roughly 30 years ago. This is a great, enjoyable CD at an unbeatable price.

After hearing three different recordings of the Church Windows (this being one of them) I have come to the conclusion that this is the finest recording out there of Respighi's lesser known works.

The lush string section of Philadelphia is the definite selling item of this album. They show (as they always have, considering they were one of the finest string sections on Earth during the time of the actual recording) a warmth that makes the performance even more-so welcome and enjoyable. They play very cleanly and display a discipline to follow the conductor's every whim.

The organ in Church Windows also is well balanced with the ensemble and, when played loudly, can raise the hairs on the back of this listener's neck. Pedals that can shake rafters and cause weak hearts to flutter.

I have yet to understand why this work is not a standard orchestral warhorse. With few available recordings, each being well done, but this one, currently unavailable, surpassing them, I can say this is a real find. I hope that Sony reissues this, as another poster has said. It is worth the investment. The Birds and The Good-Humored Ladies are also performed excellently on this album. If you can find this recording, grab it. It's worth every penny you spend on it.

I am falling in love with the music of Respighi. Introduced to him at a Mannheim Steamroller concert where they played some selections from his Pines of Rome, I have slowly purchased more of his works.

This latest addition is such a great find! The Birds are so mellow and pleasant to listen to. The winds are magnificent here from the Philadelphia Orchestra in this legendary recording. Especially delightful is the playfulness of The Cuckoo.

Respighi's Church Windows shifts moods to won of emulating in various phrases of the music Gregorian chant. The pipe organ kicking in on The Matins was especially moving.

The excellent liner notes accompanying were very helpful in explaining how Respighi and Tommasini were throwbacks in their day to the previous musical styles, here resurrecting several of them with adaptation.

Scarlatti's harpsichord sonatas are here adapted to a delightful orchestral piece "The Good-Humored Ladies." Played eloquently by the Cleveland Orchestra under Louis Lane.

Most of the time when I listen to classical music, it is for the sheer beauty. Therefore, I am not overly concerned about the brilliance of the playing. However, sometimes I do enjoy great orchestral playing and that is when I pull out Cleveland Orchestra CDs from the George Szell era. Louis Lane was Szell's faithful assistant and thankfully was able to record many pieces that Szell had no interest in. A perfect example is the Scarlatti-Tommasini piece here. This is the type of music you listen just for the fun of it. The playing is almost beyond belief, that is how brilliant it is. One Lane recording that has never been issued on CD is the Mozart Divertomento No. 17, a truly magnificent performance. Hopefully, Sony will reissue it one of these days.

As for the two Eugene Ormandy recordings, they are both magnificent making this CD an absolute must for just about all classical musical lovers. Unfortunately, it has been deleted and the marketplace price is almost four times what it cost originally. But Sony reissues all the time and just maybe this truly great CD will come back.

I imagine Sony will be repackaging and re-releasing this sometime soon--I hope--for the sake of those who haven't heard this wonderful disc. The pieces are fascinating and the performances are effortless yet filled with passion (if one can imagine such a mix!). These days just about any conductor of the past is underrated and even toward the end of his career Ormandy was pretty much taken for granted. Under his guidance, though, the Philadephia produced an endless series of first-rate recordings with a consistency that even a von Karajan no doubt could admire. Maybe that was the problem--no single recording among them all ever jumped out a you! Man, were we spoiled!

I feel a bit bad for the younger generation. There was a time back when I was a young'un when the US had phenomenal orchestras: the Philadelphia with Ormandy, the New York with Bernstein, the Boston with Munch, and Szell and Reiner with their orchestras out in the heartland (along with an assortment elsewhere on the continent that were merely damned good. I doubt we'll ever have such luck again).

Oh, nearly forgot. The Tommasini is great fun and is very well played. I miss the other side of the LP release though, Walton's "Wise Virgins" suite which has some of the hottest Bach arrangements this side of Stokowski. I've heard other performances of the Walton but Lane's gets it just right.

These recordings show, both composers took delight in working with older styles and adapting them to the modern symphony orchestra. This is the form Stokowski marveled at in many of his transcriptions. The "Church Windows" is most heavy in orchestration. It is derived by Respighi's use of the Gregorian Chant. This set alone is worth the price of this disc; taking on a cinematic ambiance almost matching that of his great tone poems. This is evident most in the final segment " St. Gregory
the Great" with it's interlude of ominious organ cords, leading to an heavenly inspired finale. The Rameau influenced "The Birds"
are much more delicately orchestrated resembling sketches in music. The filler selection, "The Good Natured Ladies" is scored with more of a Baroque feel by Tommasini. This was assembled as a ballet based on Scarlatti harpsicord sonatas. He still utilizes the harpsicord, neatly dressed around light, airy
orchestation. This Sony/Columbia budget issue dating from 1964-
1970 is remastered and is probably priced for less than when they
were originally offered.