There are only two other versions of the Concerto currently available, by Geoffrey Tozer and Konstantin Scherbakov on Chandos and Naxos respectively, neither of which I have heard. It is based on a medieval plainchant Viri Galilaei (the Introit for the Mass of Ascension Day) written in one of the ancient church modes, number seven, the Mixolydian, which, I am sure you don’t need reminding, is the scale of G major with its seventh (F sharp) replaced by an F natural. This underpins the entire work (36'32"), completed in 1925 and premiered by the New York Philharmonic under William Mengelberg in the same year.

Personally, I found it hard to get a handle on even after three hearings. Its amorphous form, constant internal shifts of rhythm and focus, and episodic nature managed to keep me at arm’s length, admiring Respighi’s craftsmanship but not, in terms of a satisfying concert experience, the work, described by one writer as ‘stylised neo-archaic’. The slow movement is, perhaps, the most rewarding with its elegiac opening theme on the lower strings. Mustonen, with that chilly piano tone he prefers, is a fluent and committed soloist.

Fountains of Rome brings us to more familiar (and competitive) territory. Helsinki’s House of Culture has a dry acoustic, allowing Oramo and his Finnish players to give us a highly atmospheric reading of exemplary clarity and, in the ‘Trevi Fountain’, powerful dramatic effect. But the warmer bloom of Rome’s Sala Santa Cecilia with Antonio Pappano conducting the complete Roman Trilogy makes his version (EMI, 11/07) preferable.