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Title: Respighi in the Spotlight: A Week of Solo Works with Orchestra on Classic 107
This week on Classic 107, we’re turning our ears toward one of Italy’s great symphonic colourists: Ottorino Respighi. From Monday, July 7 to Friday, July 11, join us during the 1 p.m. hour each day as we explore a fascinating corner of his output—music for solo instrument and orchestra.
Though best known for his glittering tone poems like The Pines of Rome, Roman Carnivals and Fountains of Rome, Respighi had a lifelong interest in older music, particularly that of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque. Trained as a violinist and a composer, and with a keen interest in musicology, he often wove ancient modes, forms, and aesthetics into his orchestral works. This week’s selections showcase that stylistic fusion in all its brilliance—each piece a unique dialogue between soloist and orchestra.
Monday, July 7 – Piano Concerto in A minor
Geoffrey Tozer, piano | BBC Philharmonic | Edward Downes, conductor
Written in 1902 and premiered in Bologna the following year, Respighi’s Piano Concerto in A minor is one of his earliest orchestral works. It shows a young composer still under the influence of the Romantic tradition, particularly Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. The concerto is lush and virtuosic, with sweeping melodies and expansive gestures that allow the soloist to shine. While it lacks the antique flavour of some of Respighi’s later concertante works, it’s a compelling example of his early voice.
Tuesday, July 8 – Concerto Gregoriano
Lydia Mordkovitch, violin | BBC Philharmonic | Edward Downes, conductor
Composed in 1921, the Concerto Gregoriano for violin and orchestra reflects Respighi’s deepening interest in early music. The work draws inspiration from Gregorian chant, as the title suggests, weaving modal melodies and chant-like motifs into the fabric of a late-Romantic concerto. The result is haunting, reverent, and strikingly original—part liturgical meditation, part violinistic showcase. Respighi’s fascination with medieval and Renaissance music comes through in the modal harmonies and the arc-like phrasing of the solo lines.
Wednesday, July 9 – Concerto in modo misolidio
Geoffrey Tozer, piano | BBC Philharmonic | Edward Downes, conductor
Premiered in 1925, the Concerto in modo misolidio is one of Respighi’s most overtly antiquarian works. The “Mixolydian mode” refers to a scale commonly used in medieval and Renaissance music—essentially a major scale with a lowered seventh. Respighi pairs this ancient mode with a grand symphonic structure and pianistic fireworks. The juxtaposition creates a compelling tension between old and new, reinforcing Respighi’s dual identity as both musicologist and modern orchestrator.
Thursday, July 10 – Poema Autunnale for Violin and Orchestra
Julia Fischer, violin | Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo | Yakov Kreizberg, conductor
The Poema Autunnale (Autumnal Poem), composed in 1925, is a single-movement rhapsody for violin and orchestra. Unlike the modal or antique leanings of some of Respighi’s other works, this piece is more impressionistic in style, evoking the colours and moods of the fall season. While less overtly tied to his musicological interests, the work still reflects Respighi’s meticulous craftsmanship and his affinity for tone painting, a skill he honed so effectively in his Roman trilogy.
Friday, July 11 – Concerto all’antica
Ingolf Turban, violin | English Chamber Orchestra | Marcello Viotti, conductor
Respighi composed the Concerto all’antica (Concerto in the Ancient Style) in 1908 while he was based in Germany. As the title implies, this work pays homage to earlier musical forms—think Corelli or Vivaldi—but with a modern sensibility. It blends Baroque gestures and phrasing with lush orchestration and a Romantic emotional palette. This is where Respighi’s musicological training truly shines: he doesn’t simply imitate early music; he reimagines it through the lens of his own 20th-century style.
About Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936)
Born in Bologna, Respighi was a violinist, composer, conductor, and scholar. He studied composition with Russian master Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, an influence clearly heard in his colourful orchestration. But it was Respighi’s passion for early music that truly defined his compositional voice. He transcribed and arranged numerous works by Renaissance and Baroque composers and incorporated ancient modes and forms into many of his own compositions.
His blend of modern symphonic language with historical sensibilities set him apart from his contemporaries. Whether reimagining 17th-century lute dances (Ancient Airs and Dances) or channeling Gregorian chant (Concerto Gregoriano), Respighi brought the past into vivid dialogue with the present.
So tune in this week at 1 p.m. on Classic 107 and hear how one of Italy’s most distinctive voices found new life in old music—transforming history into something timeless, and deeply moving.