Nightingale song3/1/2023 ![]() This view, which seems a bit far-fetched today, needs to be framed by Mussolini’s Italy of the mid-1920s. ![]() Richard Taruskin, author of The Oxford History of Western Music, sees the nightingale as a symbol of precision designed to “coerce the listener’s imagination.’’ The recording cuts through the abstract tapestry of the orchestra like a razor, jarring any sense of what is real and what isn’t. Reactions have varied, and one prominent scholar cites political influences. Why did Respighi choose a recorded bird song rather than suggest it through a woodwind, such as a flute or piccolo? Even the ethereal clarinet solo preceding the nightingale could have done the job with aplomb, as Respighi was a gifted orchestrator – comparable to Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov – and adept in eliciting an emotional response from his music. It sparked a controversy that simmered into the 1950s, when academic musicians began fusing chamber and orchestral music with electronic techniques. The nightingale has been amusing and confounding people ever since the debut, when Pines of Rome became the first orchestral piece to incorporate electronic sounds. People look around and wonder “is there a bird flying around in here?’’ ![]() In concerts, the percussion section triggers the nightingale song and it resonates through the hall’s speaker system, often catching listeners by surprise. ![]() It’s the very same recording, supplied by the publisher, that has accompanied the piece since its premiere in 1924. Yes, the bird that flutters into the Pines of the Janiculum, the third section of Respighi’s 23-minute tone poem, is really a bird. Composers often use the orchestra like a giant paintbrush, splashing colors across an imaginary canvas, evoking ideas and images through a bundle of instruments.īeethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto and Respighi’s Pines of Rome ─ all on TFO’s season-opening Masterworks program Sept. ![]()
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