Appearing on CD for the first time, Lamberto Gardelli’s Pizzetti recording has been one of the most venerated in the Decca catalogue, not only because the music is comparatively rare but because the recording is true state-of-the-art. The music has Gallic charm and a Stravinskian sense of razor-sharp wit, not to mention a fascinating storyline in which the heroine in the incidental music for ‘La Pisanella’, Sainte Alétis (a courtesan) is killed at the end of the play by being smothered by a downpour of rose petals! The couplings also return to the catalogue two other Italian orchestral works, Heltay’s energetic ‘Botticelli Pictures’ and the little-known and utterly charming Concerto for Strings by a composer otherwise exclusively known for his soundtracks to films, Nino Rota.
ILDEBRANDO PIZZETTI
La Pisanella – Suite**
ILDEBRANDO PIZZETTI
Concerto de l’estate**
OTTORINO RESPIGHI
Trittico Botticelliano***
NINO ROTA
Concerto for strings*
I Musici*
L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande**
Lamberto Gardelli**
Argo Chamber Orchestra
Laszlo Heltay***
‘this performance of the Pictures reveals itself as one of the very finest: beautifully detailed in its chamber-like textures, but sonorous and full at the climax of The Birth of Venus’ 10/10 ClassicsToday.com
‘A real gem of a reissue … perfectly played and recorded. At budget price this release promises tremendous and long-lasting pleasure’ 10/10 ClassicsToday.com