Okay, the music may be a little bit kitschy, but if you like Respighi and his school, you’ll love this stuff. The orchestration is richly colored (lots of harp, celesta, and piquant percussion) and the tunes are catchy–and there’s nothing wrong with that. Best known for his opera Francesca da Rimini, Riccardo Zandonai also wrote a substantial body of largely pictorial orchestral music. Quadri di Segantini is a series of four small tone poems evocative of Italian landscapes. It dates from 1931, and as the finale clearly shows, The Pines of Rome aren’t too far away. Concerto Romantico will charm anyone who enjoys, say, Korngold’s concerto. It’s nicely put together formally, and Stefano Zanchetta sounds as if he’s having a terrific time playing it. Indeed, the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, hardly the world’s greatest ensemble, does itself proud here under both conductors, and the sonics are full of atmosphere and dynamic impact, as they must be in music that thrives on sheer color. Juicy!
