Mario Pilati

If I only knew the works Respighi wrote before he was 35 then I would know:

1898-99:Biblical Oratorio “Christus” for tenor, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra  (Claves cd)
1900:   Symphonic Variations for orchestra    (Marco Polo cd)
1901:   Prelude, Chorale and Fugue for orchestra   (Marco Polo and Chandos cds)
1901/03:Suite in E major for orchestra   (Marco Polo cd)
1902:   Suite for strings  (Naxos cd)
           Piano Concerto in A minor   (Chandos cd)
1902-05:Suite in G major for string orchestra and organ   (Koch cd)
1903:   Violin Concerto in A major  (Naxos cd)
1904:   Serenade for small orchestra  (Naxos cd)
1906:   Burlesca for orchestra   (Marco Polo and Chandos cds)
1907:   “Fantasia Slava” for Piano and Orchestra   (Chandos cd)
1908:   “Concerto All’Antica” for Violin and Orchestra in A minor  (Claves cd)
            Chaconne for Violin, organ and strings  (Claves cd)
             Pastorale for Violin and Strings  (Claves cd)
1910-11:Poem “Arethusa” for mezzo-soprano and orchestra   (CPO cd)
1913:   “Ouverture Carnevalesca”   (Marco Polo cd)

That is quite a substantial body of music on which to base an estimate of Respighi's skill as an orchestrator and of his future promise.

The other point to make is that Respighi belonged to a particular generation of Italian composers each born within a few years of each other: Respighi (1879), Pizzetti (1880), Malipiero (1882), Casella (1883).

Pilati, born in 1903, belonged to the generation which produced Dallapiccola and Petrassi (both 1904). Whether his music would have developed in response to their influence or that of other European composers we will never know. It is no criticism that the music we do know (or at least I have heard) from his short life sounds more like that of the composers of an earlier generation. Taken on its own merits the music I have heard is undoubtedly attractive. Whether we can base too many conclusions about the composer's standing I am not sure about.