Orchestra delle Svizzera Italiana/Christian Benda Naxos 8.570883***

Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973) was, according to the New Grove, "the most original and inventive Italian composer of his generation". What's on offer here might look to be on the lines of the early music arrangements that flowed from the pen of Respighi. And that's exactly what Cimarosiana(1921) and Gabrieliana(1971) are. The symphonic fragments from the 1920s operatic triptych, Three Goldoni Comedies, are altogether different, orchestrally inventive and sometimes wryly witty evocations of an imagined past. And Stradivario, a 1948 ballet about instruments that take on a life of their own, offers plenty of scope for colourful imitation. These 1997 recordings under Christian Benda, originally issued on Marco Polo, usefully illuminate a little- known area of Italian musical life. See url.ie/57c6