There’s no place like Rome: dazzling Respighi

By Mark Pullinger, 12 May 2017

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“Chianti-dark clarinet with its liquid phrasing summoning a magical off-stage nightingale”

Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 11 May 2017

Rossini, The Siege of Corinth: Overture

Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto no. 1 in B flat minor, Op.23

Liszt, Gretchen am Spinnrade, D 558 no. 8 (transcribed from Schubert D 118)

Mozart, Piano Sonata no. 11 in A major, K331: Rondo alla Turca (Arr. Fazil Say)

Respighi, Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome)

Respighi, Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome)

Sibelius, Valse triste, Op.44 no.1

Rossini, Guillaume Tell (William Tell): Overture (Galop)

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor

Yuja Wang, Piano

Yunchan Lim, Daniel Harding and the Santa Cecilia in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 4th December

Daniel Harding and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia choose proportion over spectacle as their Asian tour reaches Seoul.

****1

Sir Antonio Pappano returns to Santa Cecilia for Mozart and Bruckner

Pia Maltri, 30th October

Now Director Emeritus of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Sir Antonio Pappano conducts the rarely heard Mass in F minor by Anton Bruckner.

****1

Lorenzo Viotti conducts the death and rebirth of Spring in music

Alissa Balocco, 8th February

The Swiss conductor returns to the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, presenting a triptych of pieces by Schumann, Debussy and Zemlinsky inspired by the season of renewal.

****1

Bereft blues as the Santa Cecilia and Hrůša play at Prague Spring

Frank Kuznik, 18th May

Lackluster Gershwin undercuts an otherwise impressive outing by Jakub Hrůša and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

****1

Kirill Gerstein: a Mozartian master with the Santa Cecilia

Alissa Balocco, 25th January

The pianist enchants the audience with Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 20 in D minor, conducted by Leonidas Kavakos.

***11

Pappano and Levit take the Santa Cecilia on an incredible journey

Alissa Balocco, 2nd November

Levit offers impeccable Beethoven, while Pappano enchants the Rome audience with Cherubini and Sibelius.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

There’s no place like Rome: Pappano and the Santa Cecilians dazzle in Respighi