This disc continues the Marco Polo label's practice of finding and resurrecting worthy Romantic-era music that lay dead for years on library shelves. In this case, they present two orchestral works of Sylvio Lazzari, a Paris-based Austro-Italian from the Tyrol originally named Josef Fortunat Silvester: an undated Symphony in E flat and a 1920 work called Tableux maritimes (Maritime Pictures).
This is a worthy pair indeed, especially in the hands of the conductor
Adriano (he uses only his surname) and the
Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Performed here, the Tableux have a coloristic sparkle (despite the use of a very standard orchestra with only a bass drum in addition to the timpani as percussion). The taut performance seems full of commitment and understanding, and the orchestral execution is fine. The ending of the first movement, depicting the sun setting into the sea, is a magical moment.
As for the symphony, one gets the impression that the work is slightly too academic, an odd coupling of Franckian cyclic form and more nearly impressionistic harmonies. But this listener is not sure whether this is the fault of the music or a too-formal approach by the conductor.
The sound engineer, Edvard Shaknazarian, is a veteran Melodiya records producer. His basically clean recording set-up still partakes in that label's penchant for dry acoustic and too-frequent spotlighting, but not too much.