GIOVANNI SGAMBATI (1841-1914): Symphony No. 1 in D, Op. 16, Cola di Rienzo - Overture.

Description: The shamefully neglected Sgambati First (1880-81), championed in performance by Martucci and Toscanini and admired by Grieg and Saint-Saëns, finally gets a new recording. A 43-minute work in five movements (Sgambati adds a Serenata between the scherzo and finale), it is everything musicologists have said it was: Italianate melody and Germanic compositional rigor, i.e. plenty of attractive tunes but no wallowing; let's keep moving along folks! World Premiere Recording of the 18-minute Cola di Rienzo, an earlier work from 1866 written as incidental music for play about the same Italian figure who inspired Wagner's Rienzi. Liszt, Schumann and Wagner are quite audible in this brooding and dramatic tone poem in all but name. Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma; Francesco La Vecchia.