The Italian composer and musicologist Gian Francesco Malipiero led two very differing lives. On the one hand he dedicated himself to the creation of complete editions of music by the great Italian composers Monteverdi and Vivaldi, while at the same time composing a large catalogue of music in a personal and distinctly twentieth-century style. Though largely self-taught, he was a composer in every genre, including a symphonic output of 17 works to which he gave the Italian title ‘sinfonia’. This recording reveals both sides of his personality, with two original and vivid orchestral scores, and two works in the style of composers from the 17th and 18th centuries that Malipiero dressed in modern orchestral colours. The complete published Malipiero Symphonies are available on Naxos 8.570879 to 8.570882.