Respighi: Roman Trilogy

After recordings of Beethoven's complete symphonies, two Ravel albums, one Rautavaara album, and the award-winning album 'Americascapes', Robert Treviño now turns his focus on the symphonic poems by Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936).Together with the Orchestra Nazionale Sinfonica della RAI, Robert Treviño presents the composer's famous Roman Trilogy, an exciting orchestral masterpiece culminating in the triumphant Pines of Rome.

Respighi's fascination with the Eternal City, where he had been living since 1913, is nowhere better expressed than in the three symphonic poems that make up the so-called Roman Trilogy. the Sinfonia Drammatica, dating from 1914, still reveals the lasting influence of Brahms and Franck. But just one year later, he finally shook off the shackles of late 19th-century Romanticism, and offered a first glimpse of the remarkable use of color that would soon become a hallmark of his orchestral writing. Perhaps the best-known part of the trilogy is dedicated to the Stone Pine, an iconic tree that was - and still is - an unmistakable feature of the Roman landscape. Not by chance, when Respighi finally moved into his dream home on the Monte Mario hill in 1930, he chose to call it "Villa i Pini". According to his wife Elsa, the tall pines shading the villa's garden helped him find the peace of mind he had been searching for all his life. The three works that make up the Roman Trilogy have deservedly stood the test of time. Not only do they illustrate Respighi's remarkable skill as an orchestrator, dazzling the listener with his refined and often extravagant palate of color, but they also reveal a composer who has readily absorbed certain tendencies of early twentieth century music, while maintaining a personal idiom that is well accessible to his audiences.