Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Fountains of Rome (1916)
Pines of Rome (1924)
Roman Festivals (1928)
NBC Symphony Orchestra/Arturo Toscanini 
rec. 12 December 1949 (Roman Festivals), 17 December 1951 (Fountains of Rome) & 17 March 1953 (Pines of Rome), Carnegie Hall, New York
Pristine Audio PASC 725 [60]

Toscanini premiered Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals and knew the composer personally, so these performances benefit from an entirely authentic approach, with a keen understanding of the sounds and sonorities that Respighi would have wanted. There have been many great recordings since, some revered in their own right, though Toscanini’s still hold a special place in the discography.

However, Respighi’s Roman Trilogy is one of those works that demands rich, detailed stereo sound. So why is what many consider to be the reference recording one from the late 1940s and early 1950s? Despite the claims of authenticity, there are other reasons for this set’s enduring popularity. Firstly, the sound is quite exceptional for the period, capturing details that I don’t think I’ve heard in other renowned stereo performances, such as those by Muti and Reiner. Respighi’s percussive effects come through with remarkable clarity, and I am constantly struck by instrumental lines I hadn’t noticed before. Take the doubled harp and celesta that accompany the big string melody in The Pines of the Janiculum; too often they are buried, but with Toscanini, they—and the nocturnal atmosphere they evoke—are vividly apparent. I must also note that I particularly love the nightingale tape used at the end of this movement in Toscanini’s recording, it is more lively than on some other versions and brings with it a real image of the dewy light of dawn. 

There is also a raw excitement to these readings and a truly atmospheric quality. Respighi has his orchestra play with unencumbered virtuosity and a startlingly wide palette of tonal colour. Apparently, during the recording sessions, engineers warned him of overwhelming the primitive recording technology, to which he reportedly replied, ‘So what?’, probably with a bit of added shouting for which he was well known. The results are fantastic, vividly capturing the blazing Roman sun, the golden hues of its sunsets, the scintillating splash of its fountains, and the raucous joy of its festivals. Musically, these performances are unmatched; even the famous Reiner/Chicago recording sounds somewhat tame in comparison. 

In comparison with other recordings, Toscanini’s is certainly the most awe-inspiring; even the 1949 mono can’t hide the nobility and power of his conception of the Roman Festivals. Reiner is a good choice for a stereo recording of the earlier two works, more controlled but still with its own excitement. More recent recordings by Riccardo Muti and Antonio Pappano (review) are inherently more natural sounding but don’t possess quite the same drive and poetry as you will find here. 

For mono recordings, these performances have always sounded good, and their RCA CD issue was perfectly fine. However, Pristine has managed to reduce some inherent harshness without losing detail, creating a warmer, richer sound that benefits these works’ lush nature. In short, the performances sound better than ever. Although they will never match the realism of the best modern recordings, their interpretive strength and the amazing detail in the mono sound preserve their status as a reference, undiminished after all these years.

Morgan Burroughs