Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879-1936)
Antiche danze ed arie per liuto, Suites Nos. 1-3 (1917, 1923, 1932) [14:48 + 15:46 + 15:48]
Gli uccelli, Suite for Small Orchestra (1928) [18:22]
Munich Radio Orchestra/Henry Raudales
rec. Studio 1, Bavarian Radio, Munich, 28-30 April, 6-7 July, 17-18 September 2009
SACD/CD Surround/Stereo. Reviewed in standard CD format
co-production with Bavarian Radio
CPO 777 233-2 SACD [64:52]
One’s first thought on encountering this disc is likely
to involve a ‘why?’. Why, for example, should you buy a full-price
performance of fairly standard orchestral repertoire which can easily be acquired
for less elsewhere? Alto (ALC1222), for example, still market the classic
(ex-Mercury) Dorati performances of this very coupling (once reissued
by Newton); and, for the price of this CPO release, you can acquire ‘twofers’
including these works alongside Respighi’s ‘Roman Trilogy’
under such luminaries as Muti, Marriner (review)
or Sinopoli.
One’s second thought might then involve a ‘who?’. The Munich
Radio Orchestra, admittedly, is a known, if not particularly high-profile
quantity; but Henry Raudales? Who might he be? Well, the booklet describes
him as a ‘Belgian violinist born in Guatemala’, whose teachers
included Yehudi Menuhin and Henryk Szeryng, and who has ‘won 12 different
concertmaster positions in different countries’. Since 2001 he has been
concertmaster of the Munich Radio Orchestra, whom he apparently also conducts
on a regular basis – and, whilst we are not told, we must assume from
both the size of the orchestra and the crispness of its ensemble that he is
conducting rather than leading it here.
Whatever one’s initial scepticism, though, one does not have to listen
to this disc for very long to realize that it can occupy a distinct and valuable
niche in a relatively crowded market. First there is the sound: a model of
clarity, bloom and warmth, not least in the bass, and available in surround
sound, multi-channel stereo and SACD, as well as the ‘standard’
CD format I listened to. Then — this to me was the real surprise, since
there is no hint of it in the booklet — we have here what is surely
a first, namely ‘historically informed’ Respighi: no string vibrato,
generally brisk speeds, a certain snappiness to the accents and, above all,
a really refreshing clarity of detail. One can object that such an approach
is inappropriate for works written between 1917 and 1932 – which, admittedly,
transcribe Baroque originals, but present them in decidedly modern orchestral
dress; the Antiche danze ed arie are based on lute pieces, Gli
uccelli mainly on works for harpsichord. Yet, for me, it works.
The fact that it works reflects above all the musical qualities of the performance.
It is a great advantage to be able to hear exactly what the Munich Radio Orchestra
is doing, because it is so good. The string players come into their own especially
in the Third Suite of Antiche danze ed arie, scored for strings alone
(without double basses): when listening to its opening ‘Italiana’,
for example, I wrote down such words as ‘gracious’, ‘nicely
pointed’ and ‘tight ensemble’. The woodwind are a fine,
characterful team as well, not just in the chattering birdsong of Gli
uccelli, but in more lyrical sections like the ‘Gagliarda’
of Suite 1. The numerous, always clearly audible interventions of the harp
and harpsichord remind one tellingly of the instruments for which the pieces
were originally written. There is also much to praise about Raudales’
conducting: he moulds phrases affectionately, controls rubato particularly
well, and conveys a very palpable sense of enjoyment. I could do with fewer
and less obvious speedings-up or slowing-downs at the ends of movements. I
didn’t particularly enjoy the occasional overdone swelling at the end
of a phrase, and at times found myself missing the rather ‘straighter’
chamber orchestra approach of a Marriner or Scimone. Moreover the odd movement
is perhaps too fast: the ‘Bergamasca’ of Suite 2 or the ‘Siciliana’
of Suite 3, for instance.
These and other passing reservations are insignificant, though, beside the
appealing combination of freshness and polish that these readings convey.
The more I lived with them, the more I liked them: something which I found
to be true also of the artwork by Catrin Welz-Stein, if sadly not of the overblown,
rather self-indulgent and indifferently translated booklet note by Eckhardt
van den Hoogen. I can, I think, confidently predict that anyone who acquires
this disc and listens to it with open ears will find it life-enhancing and
highly enjoyable.
Nigel Harris
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