When Toscanini encouraged Nino Rota to study at the Curtis Institute, where instructions by Fritz Reiner and a friendship with Aaron Copland awaited the precocious composer, it was already clear he would have a massive career. Only the direction wasn’t certain yet. It turned out to be classical music and film music, the former informing the latter. Notable when you listen to the delicious waltz from War & Peace or the darkly humorous snippets from the very apropos Orchestra Rehearsal. And while the de-facto horn concertino Castel del Monte, inspired by King Frederick II’s famous medieval castle in southern Italy, isn’t technically film music, it very much sounds like music to a fantasy film of Rota’s imagining.

Guerra e Pace (War and Peace)
01 Introduzione 03:13
02 Momento musicale 01:40
03 Valzer di Natascha 01:38
04 Polonaise 01:48
05 La rosa di Novgorod 01:59
06 No. 54. Esoda da Mosca 03:23
07 Andrea e Natascha 02:50
08 No. 66. La ritirata della Grande Armée 02:43
09 No. 67. Prigionia 04:18
10 Ritorno a Mosca 02:17
11 Finale 02:44

Castel del Monte
12 Castel del Monte 11:32

Concerto for Strings
13 I. Preludio: Allegro ben moderato 04:08
14 II. Scherzo: Allegretto comodo 03:57
15 III. Aria: Andante quasi adagio 04:20
16 IV. Finale: Allegrissimo 03:04

Harp Concerto
17 I. Allegro moderato 08:13
18 II. Andante 06:33
19 III. Allegro 06:32

Prova d'orchestra (Orchestra Rehearsal) (excerpts)
20 Risatine maliziose 02:08
21 Valzerino No. 72 01:55
22 Galop 02:18

Total Time: 01:23:13