Ottorino Respighi, the forgotten composer

Not sure about the 'unjustly neglected' tag. The Roman trilogy is his masterpiece, from what I've heard, and long ago folk woke up to the 'more than picture postcards' line (try Pappano's recent recording for sheer refinement). I'll admit I don't know the operas, but the other orchestral works have mostly had respectable outings on CD. Nupen's film is ancient history. I haven't seen this, or the Sibelius, but I do know that the Tchaikovsky double is a stinker, performances by Ashkenazy honourably excepted. A shame because, yes, we do need serious documentaries on music. But his always struck me as a bit too self-serving. Just a point of view, mind.

And the Nupen film has glaring errors. The Botticelli Pictures were not written in 1917. Its a nice film and indeed at the time, this was the first outing for the Doric Quartet in many years. Tried to contact Nupen about the couple of facts that are wrong in the film...alas no reply!

Shostakovich was not only a communist, he was "good communist" -- and that according to his best friends. A few spats with the Committee didn't mean he wasn't a dedicated communist if short of being devout. I have no idea why anyone would try to find sarcasm in his work where it isn't -- and miss the sarcasm where it is (having nothing to do with the party). It was Prokoffiev who was politically indifferent -- and preferred champaigne and pate to borsch. Prokoffiev returned to Russia because he wasn't much liked in America. Cindarella was written in Russia, FHS. Shostakovich stayed in Russia because he was a good communist --the best composer the communists produced. Not to miss the point, however: Resphigi was a fine musical historian and knew just what to do with antiquities for the 20th century, much like Orf. But the Shosh vs Prok argument is so fugging razzio-politico -- and limping lame. Did they know what Stalin was up to? It only dawned on the west very slowly and the figures still aren't in; all we know is that Stalin lost eventually.