Respighi: Impressioni brasiliane & La Boutique fantasque

Featuring

John Neschling
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Ottorino Respighi

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Performer Biography

John Neschling, the conductor, is a grand-nephew of both composer Arnold Schoenberg and conductor Arthur Bodanzky.

Composer Biography

Ottorino Respighi, though born in Bologna, settled in Rome in 1913 after being appointed professor of composition at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

Composer Biography

Respighi was a talented string player, studying violin at the Bologna Conservatory and serving as first viola of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.

Composition History

The ballet La Boutique fantasque was commissioned by Serge Diaghilev for his Ballets Russes and premiered at London's Alhambra Theatre on June 5, 1919.

Compositional Technique

The second movement of Impressioni brasiliane, 'Butantan,' evokes the Instituto Butantan, a biomedical research facility in São Paulo known for its collection of venomous animals.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Respighi learned much of his exceptional orchestral skill from Rimsky-Korsakov, and critics noted his 'naïve pictorialism' in seeking to summon pictures in sound.

Composition History

Respighi's ballet La Boutique fantasque is based on 'petits riens' and 'morceaux' by Gioachino Rossini, which Rossini called his Péchés de vieillesse ('Sins of Old Age').