As with his recording of the “Roman” Trilogy of tone poems for this label, Vladimir Ashkenazy offers decent but ultimately uninteresting performances, brilliantly recorded. Belfagor comes off best, being the least complicated and extended piece. It’s aptly colorful and vigorous. In Belkis, Ashkenazy places the two long, quiet movements before the two shorter, quicker ones. This happens to be the way Respighi arranged the suite, but other conductors (Geoffrey Simon, for example) intelligently place the War Dance second, a far more balanced order for continuous listening.
In Church Windows, Ashkenazy’s conducting in the ferocious second movement (“St. Michael Archangel”) is disappointingly stiff, though the final tam-tam crash is amazing. The closing pages are imposing, but the violins (who have the tune) get lost in the welter of sound, and when it’s all over the result is simply less impressive than it should be. Ultimately, the performances are notable for their sheer sonic impact, but not for their purely musical values, and even in these showpieces that can and should count.
