H2O – A Musical Contribution to World Water Day
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Fontane di Roma (1916)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Shéhérazade, Op 35 (1888)
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Rapsodie Espagnole (1907)
Jacopo Giovannini, Yi Lin Jiang (piano 4 hands)
rec. 2023, Kronenzentrum Bietigheim Germany
ANCLEF 20240322 [70]

This release is “a musical contribution to World Water Day, March 2022”, and with that theme piano duo Yi Lin Jiang and Jacopo Giovannini have recorded three symphonic works in their composers’ own transcriptions for piano four-hands for the way they “evoke the water element through a picturesque narrative of fountains, folktales and dances”.

Having established the ANCLEF label in 2020, Yi Lin Jiang has already produced some excellent Brahms (review), and a further recording with Brahms and Schumann, Robert and Clara, on an album entitled  IV-XXI (In Memoriam) (review). With this track record you can be confident that H2O will be a classy disc, and I am delighted to be able to report that this is indeed the case.

Performing such richly orchestrated works on piano inevitably comes with its own challenges, but from its magical opening Respighi’s Fontana di Roma comes across very nicely, revealing and reminding us of its inventiveness in terms of themes and harmonies. Contrasts of colour are attentively observed, and the pacing of each movement means that each key expressive spot is marked beautifully. There is a nice touch in cymbal strokes added in the final movement, which gives an evocative feel of distance and landscape.

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Shéhérazade is a trickier prospect with its thematic repetition and sequences, and while Jiang and Giovanni are excellent interpreters this is a work that relies more heavily on its orchestration than the Respighi. This is a performance that made me realise how Wagnerian Shéhérazade is, no doubt making me very late for that particular party, but with such familiarity transposed into a different context there is always scope for discovery. Perhaps heroic rather than glorious this remains an enjoyable listen, with poetry in the lyrical passages and plenty of atmosphere where the score allows, and a lively quicksilver touch in the final Festival at Baghdad.

Ravel’s Rapsodie espangnole is more fruitful ground, being a work that had its origins in piano music and having been originally written in a two-piano version before being orchestrated. Ravel’s treatment of the piano is far more imaginative than Rimsky-Korsakov’s, and the atmosphere of the opening Prélude à la nuit is gorgeous. Jiang and Giovannini’s dance rhythms are impeccable. They draw a lovely resonance from their favourite Steinway Model D instrument, and the fireworks of the finale are compelling indeed.

Attractively packaged and superbly recorded with both piano and acoustic in an ideal balance, this is an excellent release and one that brings together a programme without too much competition. The Fontane di Roma are certainly more magical here than from Gabriele Baldocci and Francesco Caramiello on the Tactus label (review), and in any case, orchestral recordings of all of these works by far outnumber their piano versions.

Dominy Clements

Previous review: Nick Barnard (January 2024)