San Francisco Symphony & Esa-Pekka Salonen - Respighi: Pines of Rome, P. 141 (2024) [Hi-Res]

Ottorino Respighi was fascinated with the music of Italy’s distant past; his hallmark was over-the-top orchestral color. He combines both in Pines of Rome, using “nature as a point of departure, in order to recall memories and vision. The centuries-old trees . . . become witnesses to the principal events in Roman life.” Premiered in 1924, it was one of the first pieces to include electronics in its orchestration through a recording of a nightingale.

San Francisco Symphony
Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor