This latest release of Respighi’s orchestral works completes the series of recordings by BIS that have been conducted by John Neschling with, for the most part, the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, the ensemble pictured in the booklet in the foyer of their concert hall, looking as though they are having the time of their lives. And well they might, for this coupling strikes me as the most desirable of the many that have preceded it, a route taken first by Antal Dorati and his orchestra of expatriate Hungarian musicians in 1959. Prior to that, Respighi’s posthumous standing in the post-war world was seen through the prism of his ‘Roman Trilogy’, of which Roman Festivals drew the opprobrium of the authors of the Record Guide (1955), who declared that ‘the whole thing might have been commissioned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’. My, how have times changed!

I admire the way Neschling acknowledges that life in the 17th century, from where Respighi drew the source material for his Ancient Airs and Dances, proceeded at a different tempo to ours. His affection for and pacing of each number is never more apparent than in the ‘Italiana’ from Suite No 3, where the string-playing would melt any heart. And just hear those expressive turns from oboe, violin and viola in the ‘Villanella’ from Suite No 1. In the opposite vein, the orchestra kick up a storm in the ‘Bergamasca’ from Suite No 2, taken at a brisk pace, where the country folk are clearly having a whale of a time, their step infectious, with each section of the orchestra a marvel of precision, the conductor keen to follow the composer’s tempo directions.

In The Birds, Respighi, the master musical painter, captures every humorous device to portray his eccentric and personable aviary, and his orchestra respond in kind. On this showing, it has a good claim to be Respighi’s masterpiece.

The BIS engineers ensure that every detail of Respighi’s fabulous orchestration lands, without falsification, from ppp to fff, from fore to aft. It’s a fitting finale to an outstanding series.