{"id":2425753,"date":"2026-05-21T01:27:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T01:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2425753"},"modified":"2026-05-21T01:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T01:27:52","slug":"wpr-music-new-album-of-the-week-puccinis-rare-orchestral-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wpr-music-new-album-of-the-week-puccinis-rare-orchestral-music\/","title":{"rendered":"WPR Music new album of the week: Puccini\u2019s rare ‘Orchestral Music’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In nineteenth century Italy, opera was so popular \u2014 and lucrative \u2014 that opera composers hardly wrote any other music. <\/p>\n

But when these composers were just starting out, they typically wrote all sorts of pieces, and those can offer an interesting window into their artistic evolution. <\/p>\n

This new album from conductor John Wilson<\/a> reexamines some early orchestral works by a composer virtually synonymous with opera: Giacomo Puccini.<\/p>\n

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Since reestablishing the Sinfonia of London<\/a> in 2018, Wilson has gone on to make an astonishing 29 albums with the group. Many of these recordings have been honored with some of the industry\u2019s top awards, but even in their company, this new album is a standout: It brings together almost all of the instrumental works that we know about from Puccini\u2019s first decade as a composer, plus some of his earliest opera preludes. <\/p>\n

But while many of these works will seem obscure, they might sound familiar to opera fans. Never one to let a good melody go to waste, Puccini recycled a few of them into his later operas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A highlight of the album is a string orchestra version of \u201cCrisantemi\u201d (\u201cChrysanthemums\u201d), a musical elegy for Amadeo di Savoia, an Italian prince who briefly ruled as King of Spain in the 1870s. Amadeo spent his final years in Turin, where he struck up a somewhat improbable friendship with Puccini, still early in his career. <\/p>\n

When he heard of his friend\u2019s passing in 1890, Puccini wrote this short piece, naming it after the Italian flower of mourning. Parts of it would go on to accompany a pensive scene in his breakthrough opera, \u201cManon Lescaut\u201d:<\/p>\n

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