Ottorino Respighi clearly had a thing for Rome, composing three tone poems depicting the Italian capital in all its vibrancy. The Trevi Fountain, Villa Borghese, Circus Maximus and Piazza Navona are among the tourist sites he brilliantly captured in sound. Without leaving the confines of the Royal Albert Hall, John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London whisked the BBC Proms audience off for a dazzling spin through the Eternal City, aural snapshots of a Roman holiday, even if Audrey Hepburn was nowhere to be seen.
This is larger than life, panoramic music and it suits the vastness of the Royal Albert Hall. In The Pines of Rome, the off-stage trumpet solo in the catacomb section was placed in the Gallery (not exactly off-stage for the prommers up there!) and half the extra brass battalion for the bracing march along the Appian Way flanked organist Richard Hills. The nightingale in The Pines of the Janiculum warbled (loudly) above Door 3.
From the gladiatorial opening of Roman Festivals, worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, to its gaudy Epiphany celebrations, from the epic majesty of The Trevi Fountain at Midday to the relentless pounding along The Pines of the Via Appia, the massed ranks of the Sinfonia of London did Respighi’s decibels full justice, powered on by Wilson’s unflinching beat. Yet the softer numbers scrupulously observed the hushed dynamics, especially the Valle Giulia dawn and Villa Medici sunset of Fountains, rippling softly, Peter Facer’s beguiling cor anglais gracing the latter. Wilson clearly adores this music; I’d love to hear him conduct Belkis, Queen of Sheba, another Technicolor Respighi score.
William Walton’s Cello Concerto was composed after he had moved to the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples, thus maintaining the evening’s Italian theme. It’s not a combative concerto and, unlike the Respighi trilogy, it’s a difficult work to bring off in the Albert Hall, full of intimate moments. Soloist Jonathan Aasgaard, the Sinfonia’s Principal Cello, gave a luminous rendition, delightfully nimble in the puckish opening to the central movement, but his lean tone didn’t always project far beyond the Arena. It will have sounded fuller on the live radio broadcast.
The evening was topped and tailed by two Italian opera overtures. The brass chords heralding Verdi’s The Force of Destiny tolled ominously before Chris Richards caressed the clarinet solo at its centre warmly. And for their encore, Wilson and the Sinfonia launched into the galop from Rossini’s William Tell with vim and vigour to conclude an action-packed Italian day trip.
