Ottorino Respighi

Huntingtower

Not much is known about the origin of Huntingtower, except for the fact that this ballad was composed in 1931 by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936), commissioned by Edwin Franko Goldman and the American Bandmaster Association, and was premiered on 17 April 1932 at a concert in memory of John Philip Sousa in Washington D. C. It is not even certain whether Respighi arranged the work himself, or left this to someone else. Huntingtower is the name of a castle in Scotland, where Respighi spent some time. It is possible that this ballad contains his musical impressions of his stay there. The orchestration on this CD, made by Franco Cesarini in 1987, is an adaptation of the work to the demands of the contemporary concert band.