Roman Trilogy

Respighi’s fascination with the Eternal City, where he had been living since 1913, is nowhere better expressed than in the three symphonic poems that make up the so-called Roman Trilogy. the Sinfonia Drammatica, dating from 1914, still reveals the lasting influence of Brahms and Franck. But just one year later, he finally shook off the shackles of late 19th-century Romanticism, and offered a first glimpse of the remarkable use of color that would soon become a hallmark of his orchestral writing. Perhaps the best-known part of the trilogy is dedicated to the Stone Pine, an iconic tree that was – and still is – an unmistakable feature of the Roman landscape. Not by chance, when Respighi finally moved into his dream home on the Monte Mario hill in 1930, he chose to call it “Villa i Pini”. According to his wife Elsa, the tall pines shading the villa’s garden helped him find the peace of mind he had been searching for all his life. The three works that make up the Roman Trilogy have deservedly stood the test of time. Not only do they illustrate Respighi’s remarkable skill as an orchestrator, dazzling the listener with his refined and often extravagant palate of color, but they also reveal a composer who has readily absorbed certain tendencies of early twentieth century music, while maintaining a personal idiom that is well accessible to his audiences.

The Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai made its official debut in 1994 with Georges Prêtre and Giuseppe Sinopoli. Robert Treviño holds the role of Principal Guest Conductor. Starting October 2023, Andrés Orozco-Estrada is going to be the new Principal Conductor. Other important guest conductors include Carlo Maria Giulini, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Mstislav Rostropovič, Myung-Whun Chung, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Yuri Ahronovitch, Valery Gergiev, Marek Janowski, Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Petrenko, Vladimir Jurowski, Riccardo Chailly, Gerd Albrecht, Hartmud Hänchen, Mikko Franck, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Harding and Daniele Gatti. The Orchestra had numerous prestigious engagements worldwide: besides its international tours, and an invitation in 2006 to the Salzburg Festival and to Berlin’s Philharmonie, more recent years have seen the Orchestra performing in tours in Germany, Austria and Slovakia, including the debut at the Musikverein in Vienna.

Robert Treviño’s star has risen rapidly among American conductors. The past years have seen his appointments as Music Director of the Basque National Orchestra and Chief Conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. In 2021 The Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai (the RAI National Symphony Orchestra) announced the appointment of Robert Trevino as their new Principal Guest Conductor for the initial period of three years starting in the 2021/22 season. Trevino and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Malmö SymfoniOrkester) have also announced a mutual commitment for a further two years, with Trevino assuming the position of Artistic Advisor for the 2021/22 season. Trevino burst into the international spotlight at the Bolshoi Theater in December 2013, leading a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlo. He was nominated for a Golden Mask award, and one reviewer wrote, “There has not been an American success of this magnitude in Moscow since Van Cliburn.” Recent seasons have seen an ever-growing number of major debuts with orchestras around the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Tonhalle Zurich, San Francisco Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Sao Paulo Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Orchestre Nationale de France, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and Helsinki Philharmonic, among others.

Sleeve notes in English