A violinist and violist, composer Ottorino Respighi knew the orchestra inside out, a skill he honed under the tutelage of the great Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia. His extraordinary skill at orchestrating is in full evidence in his three Roman works. In the Pini di Roma, the composer conjures up scenes in the gardens of the Italian capital’s Villa Borghese. We join him near the catacombs, at night-time on the Janiculum Hill, listening to a nightingale’s song and becoming aware of the Roman empire’s armies marching on the Appian Way. This album offers dazzling performances from the city’s flagship orchestra, conducted by Antonio Pappano. The gorgeous setting of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “The Sunset” (Il tramonto in Italian), premiered by this very orchestra in 1918, is sung ravishingly by Christine Rice to complete a thrilling recording.