Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, John Neschling - Respighi Transcriptions of Bach & Rachmaninoff (2021)

The success of Ottorino Respighi’s Roman Trilogy brought the composer international fame as an outstanding orchestrator. One side effect of this are the orchestral transcriptions gathered on this album: all made in 1929-30 and commissioned by eminent conductors such as Arturo Toscanini and Serge Koussevitzky for their American orchestras. Respighi’s wide-ranging musical tastes included an interest in early music which probably contributed to him taking on the task of transcribing organ works by Bach – or creating ‘orchestral interpretations’, as he himself called the results.

Among the Bach works are the celebrated Passacaglia in C minor – which Stokowski had orchestrated just a few years earlier – as well as the Prelude and Fugue in D major. Both are given the full treatment by Respighi, with orchestral forces including strings, triple woodwind, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani and piano four hands for the Prelude and Fugue. The score for the Passacaglia asks for even greater forces (including an organ); Respighi compared Bach’s original to ‘a cathedral built exclusively of sound’ – a description equally valid for his own arrangement.
Tracklist
01. Prelude & Fugue in D Major, P. 158 (After J.S. Bach's BWV 532): I. Prelude
02. Prelude & Fugue in D Major, P. 158 (After J.S. Bach's BWV 532): II. Fugue
03. Passacaglia in C Minor, P. 159 (After J.S. Bach's BWV 582): Passacaglia
04. Passacaglia in C Minor, P. 159 (After J.S. Bach's BWV 582): Fugue
05. 3 Corali, P. 167: No. 1, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (After J.S. Bach's BWV 659)
06. 3 Corali, P. 167: No. 2, Meine Seele erhebt den Herren (After J.S. Bach's BWV 648)
07. 3 Corali, P. 167: No. 3, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (After J.S. Bach's BWV 645)
08. 5 Etude-tableaux, P. 160: No. 1, La mer et les mouttes (After Rachmaninoff's, Op. 39 No. 2)
09. 5 Etude-tableaux, P. 160: No. 2, La foire (After Rachmaninoff's, Op. 33 No. 4)
10. 5 Etude-tableaux, P. 160: No. 3, Marche funèbre (After Rachmaninoff's, Op. 39 No. 7)
11. 5 Etude-tableaux, P. 160: No. 4, Le chaperon rouge et le loup (After Rachmaninoff's, Op. 39 No. 6)
12. 5 Etude-tableaux, P. 160: No. 5, Marche (After Rachmaninoff's, Op. 39 No. 9)