Black Dyke Band
Conductor: Prof Nicholas J Childs
CD: DOY CD447
For millennia, all roads have led to Rome - the inspiration not only for Emperors and their armies, but also writers, artists, architects and composers.
And whilst Ceaser Augustus is said to have built it with bricks, but left it for eternity in marble, it was the early renaissance artist Giotto who best described it as a city of echoes, illusions and yearning.
Music has played a central part of that – brass included, from the games and gore of the Colosseum to the ornate spectacle of Italian opera.
None however captured its beating heart quite as brilliantly as Ottorino Respighi, with his triptych of ‘Roman’ tone poems written between 1916 and 1928 bringing Giotto’s observations to life through orchestrations of visceral invention.
Seminal
It would be an impossible task to mirror through the brass band medium (Respighi believing he had incorporated the ‘maximum of orchestral sonority and colour’), although Howard Snell’s remarkable arrangements of ‘Roman Festivals’ and ‘Pines of Rome’ and Howard Lorriman’s insightful appreciation of ‘Fountains of Rome’, have provided the foundations on which a four year project by Black Dyke Band and conductor Prof Nicholas J Childs has been turned into a seminal achievement.
And whilst Ceaser Augustus is said to have built it with bricks, but left it for eternity in marble, it was the early renaissance artist Giotto who best described it as a city of echoes, illusions and yearning.
The performances are superb; moulded by the MD with both controlled adventure and considered refinement, the augmentation of the scores with harps, piano, organ and celeste adding absorbing levels of texture to the intoxicating sound canvas.
Although Respighi’s chronology is eschewed – opening with ‘Roman Festivals’ (1928) and closing with ‘Pines of Rome’ (1924) with ‘Fountains of Rome’ (1926) in between, the balance works. Nothing can quite top the Appian march of the legions of Ceaser into the city in triumph.
Vox populi
‘Roman Festivals’ is the ‘vox populi’ of the trio – the multi-cultural masses enjoying the charnel glory of the ‘Circus Maximus’, the connection to the Gods of ‘Il Giubileo’, the pilgrimage of ‘L’Ottobrata’ and the orgiastic revelry of ‘La Befana’. Howard Snell’s arrangement and the performance it elicits gives the listener a prime location seat to enjoy the spectacle.
Howard Snell’s arrangement and the performance it elicits gives the listener a prime location seat to enjoy the spectacle.
In contrast, the ’Fountains of Rome’ are architectural commemorations in marble and stone, as seen the through the passing of a single day; the Valle Giulia at dawn, the Triton in the morning, the Trevi at noon and the Medici at sunset – each a study of the descriptive beauty of their art. Howard Lorriman brings a draftsman’s eye to detail, the band and MD, a sculptor’s feel for its ultimate form.
Sensitivity
It was ‘Pines of Rome’ that sealed Respighi’s reputation. Howard Snell’s masterful arrangement does the same for this release; the sensitivity to the texture of the music drawing the music towards its ultimate destination.
The famous finale is a reminder of Rome and Black Dyke Band at the peak of its powers – the sound of ancient buccine trumpeting the arrival of a conquering Emperor to his city.
Once again it follows a Roman day - opening with children playing with military rigour in the shade of the pines of the Villa Borghese. The mystery of death is found in the nearby catacombs, whilst sunset and the sound of a lone nightingale is heard amid the pines of the Janiculum.
The famous finale is a reminder of Rome and Black Dyke Band at the peak of its powers – the sound of ancient buccine trumpeting the arrival of a conquering Emperor to his city.
Iwan Fox
To purchase:
CD: https://www.worldofbrass.com/102342
Download: https://www.worldofbrass.com/102342-download
Wobplay: http://www.wobplay.com
Play list:
1-4: Fest Romane (Roman Festivals)
Ottorino Respighi arr. Howard Snell
i. Circensus (Circus Maximus)
ii. Il Giubileo (The Jubilee)
iii. L’Ottobrata (The October Festival)
iv. La Befana (The Epiphany)
5-8: Fontane di Romas (Fountains of Rome)
Ottorino Respighi arr. Howard Lorriman
i. La fontana di Valle Giula all’alba
(The Fountain of Valle Giula at dawn)
ii. La fontana del Tritone al mattino
(The Triton Fountain in the morning)
iii. La fontana di Trevi al meriggio
(The Trevi fountain at noon)
iv. La fontana di Villa Medici al tramonto
(The Villa Medici Fountain at sunset)
9-12: Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome)
Ottorino Respighi arr. Howard Snell
i. I pini di Villa Borghese
(The Pines of the Villa Borghese)
ii. Pini presso una catacomba
(Pines near a catacomb)
iii. I pini del Gianicolo
(The Pines of the Janiculum)
iv. I pini della via Appia
(The Pines of the Appian Way)
