I can’t be impartial about this recording. The very first piece of music I ever played as a percussionist in an amateur orchestra was Pizzetti’s Three Symphonic Preludes to Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. I can remember every single bar, and more particularly, every bloody rest! I can’t listen to it without counting the measures leading up to each entrance of the cymbals. I’ve been waiting for a recording for more than 20 years, and thank God this is a good one! The music is very Italian: it sounds a lot like Respighi, though with less glitzy orchestration and a greater emphasis on thematic development. The Rondò veneziano is a magnificent tone poem with interesting instrumental writing (a solo harpsichord makes a brief appearance), great tunes, and some truly sonorous climaxes. It’s also very well played. Why this music, all of this music, including the delightful suite from La Pisanella and the darkly dramatic Preludio aren’t performed regularly is simply a mystery. Of course, if there were great Italian orchestras that cared about their country’s non-operatic musical heritage, the international perception of contemporary Italian music would be much different. But there’s no point wishing for the moon. At least labels like Hyperion, and enterprising conductors like Osmo Vänskä continue to do their very best to bring excellent, unknown works like these the worldwide attention they so richly deserve. Buy it, listen to it, love it. You won’t regret it.
