Giovanni Sgambati, a composer admired by Wagner, was the man Busoni predicted would take Italian music ‘towards a bright new future’. Sgambati’s Symphony no.2 is a compendium of Austro-Germanic devices whose mix of chromaticism and melodic invention is invigorating. Lost for decades, it was reconstructed by Rosalind Trübger whose performing edition is recorded here. Sinfonia epitalamio was commissioned to celebrate a royal wedding. Loosely programmatic, this beautiful work embraces the pastoral and celebratory framed in the form of a symphonic poem.

In 2002 Francesco La Vecchia took up the position of artistic director and resident conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma. Under his leadership the orchestra rapidly achieved success in highly successful visits to St Petersburg, Madrid, Belgrade, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, London, Athens, Berlin, Beijing and Vienna. La Vecchia has also conducted at many prestigious venues, including the Kennedy Center, Washington and Carnegie Hall among many others. The ‘Maestro’ series of recordings, named after him, was first released in 1999. Since then he and the Rome Symphony Orchestra have recorded for Naxos (an important and wide-ranging series of works by 19th- and 20th-century Italian composers, including many world-premiere recordings), Brilliant Classics (Respighi) and Sony (Beethoven).

Francesco La Vecchia and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma are Naxos’s specialists in late 19th/20th century Italian orchestral music and their recording of Sgambati’s Symphony no.1 on 8573007 received splendid reviews: ‘these performances by Francesco La Vecchia and the Symphony Orchestra of Rome are nothing short of magnificent and are guaranteed to stimulate the appetite of anyone who acquires this CD for more Sgambati. It’s urgently recommended to all’ (Fanfare).

‘La Vecchia, his Roman orchestra, and the Naxos producers deserve credit for continuing to mine the undiscovered world of Italian orchestral music… For those who are just getting started on Italian orchestral music from the 1800s, the top picks in this series remain Sgambati’s marvellous Symphony No. 1’ – MusicWeb International

The same forces have also recorded Casella’s Symphony no.3 on 8572415. MusicWeb International wrote: ‘To my mind one of the most interesting and successful current Naxos series is that devoted to the orchestral music of Alfredo Casella. The current release is the fourth and contains Casella’s third and last symphony. Suffice to say all of the excellent values of performance and engineering/production of the first three volumes are duplicated here so admirers need not hesitate.’

‘The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma plays with impressive vigour, atmosphere, and precision…This is music that amply repays repeated listening. Most Ghedini to date has been released in mediocre performances by provincial artists on various small labels; it’s great to see his major works getting some first class attention’ – ClassicsToday.com on 8573006