Respighi’s Roman Trilogy: A musical prism. Featuring JoAnn Falletta

Conductor JoAnn Falletta talks with radio host Peter Hall about her recording of Respighi’s Roman Trilogy, her 24th release for Naxos with the Buffalo Philharmonic. Respighi’s tone poems employ a large symphony orchestra and use a myriad of effects to take the listener through time, space and musical styles. The resultant portraits of Roman festivals, fountains and pine trees are both brilliant and unprecedented. Colour and imagination are central to the cinematic vibrancy that underpins Respighi’s magnificent orchestral kaleidoscope of aspects of Rome, both ancient and modern.