Respighi Reloaded or Italian Baroque with Cream Puffs

The long wait has come to an end – at least for a little while! Exactly one year after the first issue with works of Ottorino Respighi for violin and piano, GENUIN has now released the second CD with Ilona Then-Bergh and Michael Schäfer. After the impressionistic and late-romantic works of Respighi, adaptations of Italian baroque sonatas are now on the programme. Whoever is familiar with Respighi’s wonderful suites on old tunes will have an inkling of what to expect. Violinist and pianist make music with audible joy by means of chromatic passages, pleasant seventh chords and filigree tendrils sewn by the Italian colour-magician around the original versions. Warning: this CD is not suitable for advocates of historical performance practice – but, for all other music lovers, surely the best way to shorten the wait until Part Three appears…

"The Adagio of the C major Sonata by Handel's London rival Nicola Porpora is beautifully poised, with Then-Bergh's Brightly alluring tone finally beaming through in bird-like decorations. Three Veracini sonatas, including A major work launched by a noble Prelude that invites the Kremer treatment, are full of charm, and performers will certainly be grateful for their rediscovery." Read more in The Strad 3/2008!