Ottorino Respighi
Concerto in modo misolidio
Fontane di Roma
Orchestral
Booklet with liner notes in English and Finnish
CD
Released:
September 2010
Catalogue No.:
ODE 1165-2
EAN/UPC Code:
0761195116524
Sakari Oramo and his Finnish forces give us a sensitive if not outstandingly atmospheric performance of (...) Fountains of Rome. (...) Olli Mustonen plays with uncharacteristic legato . (...) His lightness of touch in the passagework of the finale is a delight. This is very much a concerto where soloist and orchestra work as a partnership (...). The sound is clear and vivid. (...) Recommended as a disc that could easily grow on you.
Phillip Scott, Fanfare Magazine, 11 March 2011
Das Finnische Rundfunkorchester unter der sensiblen Leitung von Sakari Oramo vermag sich erstaunlich gut in die südlichen Stimmungsbilder einzufühlen. (...) Olli Mustonen (...) bestätigt seinen Ruf als kraftvoller Virtuose, erweist sich aber auch als einfühlsam.
Peter T. Köster, Fono Forum, Juni 2011
Die Größe des Werkes (Concerto in modo misolidio), die wir selbst bei intensivem Zuhören oft nur ahnen, hat sich Mustonen ganz offenbar in vielen Verästelungen erschlossen und verheißt schon im ersten Monolog eine Reise durch geheim-geheimnisvolle Landschaften, die so nur ein äußerst sachkundiger, einfühlsamer Führer zustandebringen kann. Die idealen Partner des gesamten Ereignisses, Sakari Oramo und das exzellente, warmherzige, nuancenreiche Sinfonieorchester des Finnischen Rundfunks, tragen uneingeschränkt das ihre zum Gelingen bei (...) und das nicht minder in den ganz und gar berückenden Fontane di Roma.
Rasmus van Rijn, klassik-heute.com, 17.1.2011, 10 • 10 • 10
Mustonen et Oramo (...) déploient, dans une expressivité maximale, tout ce qu'il peut y avir de grandiloquent et de majestueux, mais aussi de sentiments mêlant le mystérieux aussi bien que la mélancolie. (...) Un beau disque, à recommander.
Rémy Franck, Pizzicato, Décembre 2010, *****
Ce Concerto pour piano de Respighi devrait depuis longtemps faire partie du grand répertoire: c'est une page d'un romantisme flamboyant et hollywoodien (...) Son approche (à Olli Mustonen) est frémissante de vie et d'émotion tour à tour spectaculaire et d'une théâtrale grandeur ou d'un raffinement subtil dans des nuances et des dégradés d'une douceur toute franciscaine. (...) Sakari Oramo (...) renouvelle l'intérêt pour (Fontane di Roma) en faisant saillir avec subtilité et intelligence l'intense poésie, sans concession pour les habitudes routinières et casacnières qui trop souvent ont ici force de loi.
Michel Fleury, Classica, novembre 2010
This is hands down the best performance (Respighi's Concerto in modo misolidio) has received thus far on disc.
David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com, 18 October 2010, Artistic Quality 9 / Sound Quality 9
Concerto in modo misolidio (...) sopii täydellisesti Olli Mustoselle, joka silaa kolmisointujen uhkeat rinnakkaiskulut eskapistisella kullalla.
Jukka Isopuro, Helsingin Sanomat, 16.10.2010
Suffice to say that Oramo gives in (Fontane di Roma) its head in opulence and glowing Rosenkavalier delicacy. The Ondine (...) recording is superb whether roaring in manifold Straussian excess in the Fountains or in marginally more restrained drama in the first movement of the Concerto.
Rob Bernett, MusicWeb-International, October 2010
Respighi's grandiloquent Concerto in the Mixolydian Mode of 1925 is a magnificent testament to piano opulence, fully expounded here by Olli Mustonen. Respighi's famed orchestral skills are far more prominent in the Fountains of Rome, in which Oramo and his Finnish forces provide the finesse and atmosphere
Geoffrey Norris, The Telegraph, 4 September 2010
This new recording features chief conductor Sakari Oramo and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra with two Italian masterpieces by the late-Romantic composer Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936).
The symphonic poem Fontane di Roma (1916) remains one of Respighi's most popular works and forms part of his Roman Trilogy. Each movement depicts one of Rome's fountains during different periods of the day and night, while the work as a whole showcases the centuries-old Italian marriage of culture, art and worldly pleasure. The discovery piece on this disc, the monumental Concerto ‘in the Mixolydian mode' for piano and orchestra (1925), deserves more widespread introduction into the standard repertoire; its title refers to the work's majestic main theme that is derived from medieval plainchant.
Piano soloist Olli Mustonen has been hailed by The Sunday Times as, "a living dream of pianism, having broken through an expressive barrier that other players do not know exists."
