Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Ottorino Respighi’s Violin Concerto, the Concerto gregoriano, was written in 1922 and just three years later it was performed under the baton of the composer himself in Budapest. A music critic of the daily Pesti Hírlap considered that Respighi was a virtuoso musical colourist, a superb orchestrator in grandiose effects, who was complex even in his simplicity. As a conductor, he was delicate and elegant, aethereal and sublime. The piece reappeared in Budapest in 1933 and interestingly, similarly to this Radio Orchestra and José Cura concert, a liturgical work (Ernő Dohnányi: Szeged Mass) also appeared on the programme. This time around it is Puccini’s work from his youth; elements of Messa di Gloria may be familiar from his later operas such as Manon Lescaut and Tosca.