| Puccini, Giacomo (1858-1924) | Tosca (Excerpts) | Libretto by Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa |
| Rota, Nino (1911-1979) | La Strada: suite | |
| Respighi, Ottorino (1879-1936) | Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome) |
| London Philharmonic Orchestra | |
| Enrique Mazzola | Conductor |
| Maria Luigia Borsi | Soprano |
| Thiago Arancam | Tenor |
| Vittorio Vitelli | Baritone |
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An evening of Italian-inspired music from Puccini, Rota and Respighi conducted by Enrique Mazzola.
Even Respighi was moved beyond expectation at the first performance of his imposing orchestral cityscape Pines of Rome, proclaiming to his wife Elsa that he felt 'something odd in the pit of my stomach' at the moment the last movement throttles upwards into a pummelling orchestral crescendo.
Before Respighi's spectacular tone poem, Enrique Mazzola conducts more music with Rome at its heart: Italian film maestro Nino Rota's sparkling music for the ballet (and later film) La Strada, and excerpts from Puccini's Tosca, arguably his most intense, raw, cruel and compulsive opera.