“No other country has had a greater impact on the development and innovation of Western music than Italy,” writes Nir Kabaretti introducing this intriguing Hyperion release. It’s a bold claim, which the conductor justifies with particular reference to Cristofori’s invention of the piano at the end of the 17th century. It could equally be added that few countries have been as unfairly neglected on record when it comes to orchestral music of the post-Puccini generation (Respighi excepted). This enterprising collection, spanning over a century from 1900 to 2015, helps right that imbalance.

The album runs chronologically, opening with the Andante e Allegro con fuoco by Guido Alberto Fano (1875-1961). Fano was a member of the so-called “Generazione dell’Ottanta”, or the Generation of the Eighties, a group who aimed to revivify an Italian repertoire dominated for centuries by opera. Casella, Malipiero, Pizzetti and Respighi are perhaps better-known, but Fano, who was later persecuted by the Fascist regime, is well worth exploring. The lyrical Andante, with Wagnerian horn calls and bucolic birdsong in the woodwind, is shapely and calm. The vigorous