CCMusic.com

This colorful journey across different times and places marks the first recording of Italian conductor Alessandro Crudele and the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Linn. At the helm of the flamboyant LPO the versatile conductor has recorded a compendium of programmatic works spanning the artistic life of Ottorino Respighi. Starting with one of his first masterpieces, the evocative and at times epic Pini di Roma is a botanical journey through Rome at different times of the day. The more impressionistic, travelogue Impressioni brasiliane, the result of a trip Respighi made in Brazil, is suffused with local music and culture and dates from the mature years of the composer. Much in the same vein, the late ballet Belkis, regina di Saba describes a mythological voyage this time; the little-known work recounts the Queen's route across the desert to meet Solomon, King of Israel, with whom she is in love.