Italian Perspectives is due for release in February 2026 on PENTATONE. The Bamberger Symphoniker and Riccardo Frizza chart the revival of Italian instrumental music, from Martucci’s Brahmsian yet impassioned Symphony No. 1 to Respighi’s vividly colored orchestral works that animate Renaissance art and transform Rachmaninoff’s Études-Tableaux into richly narrative soundscapes.
“Martucci and Respighi have, for many years in Italy, paid the price of being pigeonholed in a creative style that was judged to be too academic, of being considered ‘different’ in the birthplace of opera and, in Respighi’s case, of remaining ensnared in biographical and political matters (his association with fascism) which have hampered full understanding of his work. It is disheartening for an Italian conductor to see how the rising fortunes of these composers, partly thanks to some of Martucci’s captivating work, are today finding fertile ground mainly outside Italy.
[…]
“As a result, it is need rather than fortuitous choice that today brings me to conduct Martucci and Respighi. Martucci’s Symphony No. 1 is modern in mood and rigorous in structure. What fascinates me in Respighi’s orchestration of Rachmaninoff’s 5 Études-tableaux is its dual register, academic and experimental, culminating in the remarkable power of the orchestra’s apotheosis. The Trittico Botticelliano remains a masterpiece of Respighi’s symphonic work, merging orchestral colour and poetic expression in unparalleled perfection.”
Riccardo Frizza
Read Riccardo Frizza’s personal thoughts in full in the booklet.
DIGITAL RELEASE DATE: 8th February 2026
PHYSICAL RELEASE DATE: February 2026
