Respighi:Sinfonia Drammatica

Happily the sound engineers have achieved a very good recording so Respighi’s very dense and majestic orchestration can be enjoyed to the bitter end. I found it a kind of a chore. This is not one of Respighi’s greatest scores and if there’s one composition to be selected for the ‘Too Many Notes’-Nobel Prize, this one will certainly win. The orchestration isn’t economic, sparse or sombre, no, Respighi’s uses everything he could do with the very large orchestra in the same span of time. And he was able to do a lot. You get a loud symphony, with not so many resting points before the work gets louder again, after some time there’s some relief and the whole thing starts to be as loudest as possible. Take with that a playing time of around 60 minutes and it’s really possible you’re exhausted at the end of the show.The Belfagor overture is, compared, a modest example of the gifted composer under review here, a witty, short (10 minutes) overture that can be played in the concert hall as a fine curtain raiser.As said the sound is very good without being spectacular. The soundstage isn’t as wide as many other BIS recordings, possible due to the not so large hall this is recorded in (Philharmonic Hall, in Liège/Luik/Lüttich). The recording is rather close, but not uncomfortable, clicks and sounds made by some orchestral players are audible, even their page turning. It isn’t annoying.I think this release is to be preferred over the Chandos/Downes recording that’s available of this symphony; for my taste that one has too much reverberation and isn’t as passionate and hysteric as Neschling’s reading.