Respighi and Frontini Christmas Music
One of the most interesting and beautiful of Christmas discs 2026
Christmas music from Italy here, far but radiant. It is always good to see Respighi : we have covered a fat amount here on Classical Explorer, from his orchestrations of Bach on BIS through Alessandro Crudele's lovely orchestral disc (including Pini di Roma) and a dosc of lesser-known orchestral works from Wuppertal on Dabringhaus und Grimm Preziosa, his notable Violin Sonata, a live performance of his Pine of Rome at the Royal College of Music, and his opera La Bella dormente nel bosco, which opera was staged at Guildhall coupled with Maria Egiziaca (my review is available here, free, but you will need to sign in).
Respighi's Lauda per la natività del Signore,takes as source material the medieval nativity play of the same name by the religious lyricist Jacopone da Todi (c. 1230-36, very much part of the composer's fascination with the past. The medieval verses are given to three soloists — the angel (soprano), the Virgin Mary (mezzo-soprano), and the shepherd (tenor) — plus a chamber choir. Respighi's response dates from 1928-30; the premiere was in late 1930, in Siena; the composer's wife, Elsa, sang the part of Mary.
Wind instruments paint a pice of shepherds piping; there is also piano four-hands nd a triangle, a sort of percussion tinsel. Eunkyun Shin is the fine soprano, singing the part of the Angel, echoing the woodwind in the opening movement "Pastor, voie che vegghiate": shepherd's a-watching. The melody seems ancient, couched in sonorities of Respighi's time:
We know the qualities Howad Arman bings to his choir via a couple of previous posts: Elgar part-songs, and music by Arco Pärt. We hear the perfection again in t second movement (ad listen o how Shin floats her high register towards the end):
Andrew Lepri Meyer is a fine tenor, his voice jusr right for the line, strong but not overly so, in "Segno, tu se discoso":
And it is Ruth Volpert who takes the part of Mary, exuding a sense of choir-backed wonderments in "O car dolce io figlio":
Dialogue between Heaven and Earth is exquisitely managed by Respighi (he sets Latin versus Italian). The choir comes into its own in the final movement, a carillon of Chistmassy delight:
There'a performance with score here.
A curious quirk of this release is hat booklet notes about the pieces are in Italian, German and English but the texts are given only in Italian and English, aad only for the Respighi.
Given the importance of Gregorian chant in Respighi's music, it is entirely fitting we have some (aranged by Aman): O sanctissima. This leads to a curio: a piece by Francesco Paolo Frontini (1869-1939). Although clearly a man of the stage, with several verismo operas to his name, Frontini also penned one 200 piano pieces (he wrote exclusively piano music in his final years). He also had a pronounced interest in Scicilian folk song. .Arman has arranged a selection of eight songs form his Canti religiosi del popolo siciliano (Religious Songs of the Sicilian People, published in 1938), a collection of 22 songs for voice and piano underlaid with Sicilian dialect verses and their Italian translations, Here, use the title Sizilianische Weihnachtslieder (Sicilian Christmas Songs).
How jolly the first is, listed as "Canzonetta del Pastori" (Song of the shepherds), gently rocking. Given he verismo aspect o Fontini's work in general, it is no surprise this sounds somewhat Puccinian. With its drone and its repeated rhythms, it certainly invoke the countryside, too:
The lovely melodic "bend" of "La nascita del Bambino Gesù" gives Fontini's setting a very particularly flavour. A pity this is so short; it cedes to "Canzone di Natale," which sounds just like a carol. The two are linked by similar melodic shapes, though:
Each of the selected songs is a gem. "Gesù bambino" is a gentle siciliano, I hear a lot of Puccini's choral writing: while "La nascia del Bambino Gesù" opens with a cor anglais solo that seems to link back to the Respighi:
Pipe and drums delightfully initiate the finale "Pastoale". All credit to the ladies of the Bavarian Radio Choir for their unanimity in Frontini's mobile line:
There is no missing Puccini himself, though, in Sogno d'amor ("Bimbo, mio bimbo d'amor," arranged Arman again), with the luxury casting of Chen Riess as soprano with the Munich Radio Orchestra - we have featured her a number of times, including on this lovely Odradek disc.
One of the most interesting and beautiful of Christmas discs 2026. Available from Amazon here.
