According to Greek mythology, Zefiro was the tender and kind God of the Western Wind. In 1989, the oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi, and the bassoonist Alberto Grazzi, members of the most outstanding baroque orchestras, founded Zefiro, a versatile music group specialising in the eighteenth-century repertoire that gives particular prominence to wind instruments. Since then, Zefiro has performed at many major worldwide festivals and recorded 20 Cds, including the complete works for wind ensemble of W. A. Mozart, all virtuosic sonatas of J.D. Zelenka (Astrée), and three instalments of the distinguished Vivaldi Edition on Naïve. After a long-term collaboration with Sony Classical/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, this new Vivaldi recording marks the beginning of an exclusive partnership of the Italian ensemble with Arcana, which will result in a true Zefiro series, characterised by its own artwork, focused on new releases but whose task will also be to make their discography still available. Antonio Vivaldi was (and has remained) the most productive composer of concertos for solo bassoon. Thirty-nine concertos for solo bassoon, strings and basso continuo by him have survived. As a group, they are noteworthy for their high musical quality, their stylistic maturity and their depth of feeling, a property shared with Vivaldi's concertos for the cello. Vivaldi shows perfect understanding of the mercurial temperament of the instrument, which is able in an instant to move from the comic to the tragic, from the melancholy to the joyful. An active player on the early music scene for the last 25 years, Alberto Grazzi is presenting here seven concertos from the enormous corpus of the Venetian composer. This selection, with 4 concertos in major and 3 in minor keys, represents Alberto Grazzi's personal choice in showing the expressive qualities of the bassoon in Vivaldi's world. This work is the result of a Alberto Grazzi's long-term practise as a baroque player, here magnificently supported by the Ensemble Zefiro.

Venice, July 1603: Giovanni Croce, known as ‘il Chiozzotto’, a priest at the church of Santa Maria Formosa, was appointed maestro di cappella of St Mark’s basilica, one of the most prestigious posts in the musical world of the time. A controversial biography, many aspects of which have not yet been elucidated, and a musical output of excellent quality constitute the appeal of this composer born in Chioggia, who is still overshadowed today by his famous successors. Yet Giovanni Croce proves to be an extraordinary figure, halfway between the conservative Venetian school of Gioseffo Zarlino and the modernism of Claudio Monteverdi. He makes masterly use of double chorus and of such special devices as echo effects, while maintaining a fine transparency in his counterpoint that links him with classical polyphony. Two exceptional young Swiss ensembles, the vocal group Voces Suaves (which has won several prizes for its first two recordings) and the instrumental ensemble Concerto Scirocco, combine here in the magnificent surroundings of the palatine basilica of Santa Barbara in Mantua, where they have the advantage of the outstanding Antegnati organ built in 1565, to honour Giovanni Croce and his contemporaries and introduce us to other aspects of the glorious musical activity at St Mark’s.

• The critically-acclaimed ensemble Mala Punica came into the limelight in the mid-1990's with a trilogy of illustrious, multi-award-winning discs on Arcana, which revolutionized the world of medieval music and performance practice: Ars subtilis Ytaliaca (A21), D’Amor ragionando (A22) and En attendant (A23). For the first time, all these milestone recordings are united in one set.

Classical Music

Since winning the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1986, Mario Brunello has established himself as one of the foremost living cellists. An eclectic musician, for some years Brunello has also taken an interest in the world of historically informed performance practice and the rediscovery of the four-string 'violoncello piccolo'. This instrument, slightly smaller than the cello, is known today for it's presence in some sacred cantatas of Bach, but it was surely used much more widely in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries than the currently known repertory would lead us to think. This recording of the Sonate & Partite per violino solo inaugurates the collaboration on the Arcana label with a 'Bach Brunello Series' of three albums, in which important compositions for the violin from his catalogue will be performed on the violoncello piccolo. The booklet includes texts by Bach scholar Peter Wollny and Italian writer Alessandro Baricco. 'I want to approach the Sonatas and Partitas "from the ground up", in every sense. Violinists "fly high", they are always on top of the melody, they see the music from above. I am therefore not proposing an imitation of the violin, but rather a specular reading, a conquest of the summit by another route. A mountain seen from the south or from the north changes the perspective, but not the substance. ' - Mario Brunello

After his first solo album of music by Marchand and Cl�rambault, released in 2015 and nominated for a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the harpsichordist Luca Oberti, who has performed on the international scene for years alongside such figures as Marc Minkowski and Christophe Rousset, presents a new album on the theme of Bach's imaginary journey to Italy. Sch�tz, Froberger, Muffat, Handel, Hasse, Mozart and Wagner are merely the most famous of the many musicians who crossed the Alps to immerse themselves in the world of Italian music and grasp it's atmospheres and it's secrets. Yet the composer who most fully assimilated the Italian style was Johann Sebastian Bach, who never even set foot in Italy. His journey was a virtual one: the scores of the Italian masters, which he avidly studied and absorbed from childhood onwards, guided him on an ideal itinerary from Vivaldi's Venice to Frescobaldi's Rome. Beginning with the transcriptions of concertos byVivaldi and Marcello, and continuing with pieces ofItalian inspiration like the Aria Variata alla maniera italiana, the Capriccio sulla lontananza del fratello dilettissimo and the Fantasia and Fugue BWV 904, the journey culminates in the celebrated Italian Concerto.

A tireless explorer of territories off the beaten track, Gaetano Nasillo has already addressed Venetian music with a memorable album devoted to composer and 'musico di violoncello' Antonio Caldara (A356). This new album brings us back to Venice to discover cello virtuosos and sonatas between Vivaldi and Tartini. 'In the late seventeenth century the bass member of the violin family underwent an evolution to become the instrument we know as the violoncello. Within a few decades, Venice and it's republic became an important centre of composition for the new instrument, whose popularity steadily increased, reaching a peak in the 1730s and 1740s. In his recorded anthology of sonatas for the instrument the cellist Gaetano Nasillo has selected eight works by eight different composers with a connection to La Serenissima. One composer, Antonio Vivaldi, is extremely well known; two, Benedetto Marcello and Giovanni Benedetto Platti, are slightly known; the remaining five - Girolamo Bassani, Diogenio Bigaglia, Antonio Martinelli, Antonio Vandini and Michele Stratico - are hardly known at all, and this premiere recording of their sonatas reveals the high quality and simple enjoyability of their music.' - Michael Talbot

At the beginning of the 18th century Italian instrumental music reached France and began to make its decisive impact. Michele Mascitti was a protagonist of this remarkable change. The young violinist moved from Naples to Paris where he spent most of his long life and managed to publish nine collections of instrumental music between 1704 and 1738. The extraordinary success and popularity of Mascitti’s works allowed him to live for many years as a free-lance musician and to be applauded and admired in the artistic circles of the French capital. His music brings us back to the fashionable and refined atmospheres of the Parisian aristocratic salons and to the galanterie so beautifully illustrated in the paintings of the time. The violin sonatas recorded for the first time in this album blend the brilliant and passionate expressivity emanating from the Neapolitan legacy with the elegance and grace of the French instrumental tradition and offer an exquisite example of the new union of tastes.

During the reign of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1444-76), Milan experienced an extraordinary musical era. In the 1470s, the Duke set out to form a 'famous and worthy choir', recruiting a 'goodly number of singers from beyond the Alps and from various countries'. He soon assembled a musical ensemble that boasted some of the most celebrated musicians in the Franco-Flemish polyphony of the day, from Italy and beyond. The Duke brought into being a new kind of polyphonic mass, a cycle of motets called missales to replace the traditional ordinarium, with texts attributing special importance to the worship of Our Lady of Grace and Mercy, much beloved by the Sforza family. A masterpiece of the genre is the so-called Missa Galeazescha for five voices, composed by Loyset Comp�re and performed here by an ensemble inspired by the impressive size of Galeazzo Maria Sforza's cappella. This recording brings together four vocal-instrumental groups.

Twelve years younger than Bach and Handel, Giovanni Benedetto Platti left us a collection of nine Concerti per il cembalo obligato which rank not only among the very early examples of composition for keyboard instrument and strings, but also and above all, the first specimens especially conceived for the fortepiano, the new instrument invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Brilliant soloist and regular keyboard player of Zefiro, Luca Guglielmi offers us, for the first time on period instruments three brilliant and foreseeing piano concertos, interspersed with the large-­--scale Piano Sonata in C minor, a very widespread composition at the time, and the baroque Sonata for oboe, with a special appearance by Paolo Grazzi. An astonishing music from a composer who deserves to be recognized as one of the greatest of his time.

This album is a journey through seventeenth-century Rome, the rough and magnificent city where Caravaggio and Stradella lived. Strict counterpoint and learned polyphony in the lute and keyboard pieces by Kapsberger, Pasquini and Frescobaldi mingle with light dances and popular songs for guitar. Improvisation is the feature linking both sound-worlds: the high culture of church chapels and noble palaces, and the lore of streets and taverns. A careful study of the original sources guided our choices as to instruments and interpretation. According to historically informed practice, the celebrated Antidotum Tarantul� and further early specimens of tarantella, as written down by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher, are played on bagpipes, drums and guitars. While on their first album 'Alfabeto Falso' I Bassifondi refreshed the image of the Baroque guitar and it's harmonic extravaganzas, with 'Roma 600' the ensemble brings the music of seventeenth century Rome back to life with inspired and imaginative improvisation. Soprano Emoke Barath and violinist Enrico Onofri are the distinguished guest artists who join I Bassifondi in this new adventure.

Zefiro has already proved its strong affinity with Georg Philipp Telemann's music, and the ensemble's recording of his Ouvertures a 8 was awarded a Gramophone Editor's Choice. As Julie Anne Sadie pointed out, ''the much-vaunted lean muscularity of the Ensemble Zefiro performances favors the wind instruments and, when joined with one-to-a-part strings, produces a freshly balanced sonority that alters our experience of these works''. The 250th anniversary of Telemann's death offers now a neat incentive to re-release this successful recording - originally issued on the Ambroisie label - on which his Wassermusik, generally referred to as Hamburg Ebb and Flow, is coupled with Handel's more familiar aquatic suites. Both are occasional pieces composed within a few years of each other, the former written to celebrate the centenary of the Admiralty in Hamburg, and the latter for royal water parties on the Thames. Unlike Handel's work, Telemann's suite attempts to evoke images of water, aided by references in the titles to scenes and characters associated with the sea, and may therefore be considered as ''programme music''.

Despite the rivalry between the operatic companies leaded by Haendel and Porpora in London (1734-1737), much has to be said about the real nature of the connection between the two composers. Both the musicians were considered outstandingly original for their aesthetic choices. Both admired each other's music. The few whirlwind years of their defiance in Great Britain produced memorable scores: among them, Ariodante by Haendel and Polifemo by Porpora, performed with simultaneous runs in the city theaters. The fight between the two operatic company was an opportunity for the composers to meet and discover each other, to deal with the taste of the audience and to experiment new ideas, getting strength from the incredible skills of the members of the vocal casts (Farinelli, Senesino, Carestini, etc.). This release tries to capture the soul of such a complicated intellectual relationship, presenting significant exemples of the composers' style and outlining the borders of the mutual esteem between two giants in the history of music. On her debut solo album, the young talented mezzosoprano Giuseppina Bridelli performs with effortless bravery the difficult pages written for some of the most famous singers of the 18th century: between them, a version with original variations of Haendel Scherza infida.

The focus of Extravagantes Seicento is the musical exuberance of a century full of contradictions, and at the same time receptive towards all kinds of novelty. By means of a rich collection of instrumental sonatas for violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord, the recording portrays the peregrine world of composers and instrumentalists who travelled throughout Europe in their search for receptive cultural circles and the degree of financial stability required for the creation of new works. In particular the Habsburg courts of Vienna and Innsbruck attracted artists from Italy and central Europe, becoming hubs for innovation in the visual arts, the theatre and instrumental music. Under the imperial protection of Ferdinand III, Leopold I and Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria, the great violinists of the 17th century Ignazio Albertini, Giovanni Padonolfi Mealli, Samuel Capricornus, Heinrich Schmelzer and Ignaz Biber expanded the technical potential of the violin and the viola da gamba, producing a repertoire of highly melodious sonatas featuring virtuoso brilliance and such eccentricity of sound as to surprise or even disconcert audiences, both then and today.

In early 18th-century England, the recorder was a popular instrument among music lovers, therefore- since the eminent Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli’s works made an enormous impression in the country- it was only a matter of time before numerous virtuoso recorder arrangements of his string works began to appear.Estro Cromatico leader Marco Scorticati and his longstanding partner Davide Pozzi join forces with Evangelina Mascardi, Sara Campobasso, Michela Gardini, and Pietro Pasquini to deliver a new rendition of this well-loved music, including two premiere recordings. Improvised ornamentation, as well as the multifaceted texture provided by diversified combinations of the continuo instruments, play a central role in the present interpretation, thus bringing Corelli’s extraordinary music back to life; as Roger North wrote in 1710 “if music can be immortal, Corelli’s consorts will be so.”

Brother and sister Marc Mauillon and Angelique Mauillon present this new release, Li Due Orfei. The music featured on this album is primarily by composers Giulio Caccini and Jacopo Peri. The two virtuosic singers and composers lived in Florence in the early 1600s, and were rivals in every sense, both striving to rediscover the Greek tragedy. The works on this album were meant to be sung with a simple accompaniment of a plucked instrument, such as lute. The composers would sometimes accompany themselves, but would frequently perform with family members, making the brother-sister team performing here a natural fit.

The central role of Naples in the history of vocal music has so far overshadowed a rich tradition of instrumental music; only in recent years has musicological research begun bringing it to light once more, demonstrating that Naples also played a crucial role in the field of instrumental music, no less relevant than other centres more often associated with this repertory, such as Rome and Venice. This release presents a voyage of discovery into a musical heritage that is even less known, but of the highest value. The new project conceived by Enrico Gatti focuses on the specific scoring for three or four violins (without viola) and continuo which was so typical of the Neapolitan School. Precious gems are unearthed here (including the only solo violin sonata by Giovanni Carlo Cailò, in its first modern recording), and this programme makes many different exponents of Neapolitan instrumental composition accessible to a wider public, from the generation of Pietro Marchitelli (slightly older than Corelli) and Giovanni Carlo Cailò to Francesco Paolo Supriani, Angelo Ragazzi, Nicola Fiorenza and Leonardo Leo – contemporaries of Bach, Tartini and Locatelli, yet who are revealed as possessing a completely different style, at a time when Naples was one of the great European capitals. The musical forms range from church sonatas in the strict style to concertos of more modern conception, thus providing an enjoyable and varied listening experience.

In August 1986 two pairs of young sisters (Claudia and Livia Caffagni, and Elisabetta and Ella de Mircovich) founded the ensemble La Reverdie. The name, derived from a poetic genre that celebrates the return of Spring, reveals perhaps the principal trait of a group that, for 30 years now, has captivated audiences and critics alike for the variety in its approach to the vast and varied musical repertoire of Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

To mark the ensemble's 30th anniversary, Arcana has brought together in a single release all of the themed projects that, over the years, La Reverdie has devoted to various aspects of Medieval culture. From the image of femininity to courtly love, from the music in Medieval thought to the symbolism of light and darkness, each theme developed in this musical collection- an excellent introduction to Medieval music- explores specific repertoires from different points of view, either geographical or literary and philosophical. A journey of discovery that, by virtue of the issues addressed and the freshness of their approach, gives the listener the idea that music in Middle Ages is a fantastic kaleidoscope of sounds and words which reflect the spirit of the time. The history of Europe itself resounds in this anthology of music between 13th and 15th centuries; Latin and vernacular poetry, as well as monody and polyphony, voices and instruments feature a colorful and bright artistic landscape.

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REVIEW:

This is the box to have if it comes to Music of the Middle Ages. The musicians of La Reverdie are all masters in their game, and make it sound absolutely authentic in every way. Singing chanting speaking, it's all done with a great feel for the drama, but they never overdo it. It all comes quite naturally to all of them, and are helped by a state of the art recording.

– Harry’s Classical Music Corner (Harry van der Wal)

Zelenka's output contains mostly sacred music. His instrumental works, however, show the composer's talent and shouldn't be overlooked. The work included on this release, Sonate a due Hautbois e Basson con Basso Continuo, ZWV 181, was written in Vienna between 1715-1716. The work is notable in double reed literature for the required virtuosity of both instruments, which was uncharacteristic for the music of that time. This release is the first recording from the ensemble Zefiro. The featured double reed performers are oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi, and bassoonist Alberto Grazzi.

This is a reissue of a performance originally released on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi in Europe, one of the label’s final offerings before it was dissolved in 2008, and an import rarity that found little distribution in what was left of record retail in the US at the time. It was a shame because the recording features truly great performances in glorious, audiophile-quality sound of some of Handel’s most important and beloved orchestral works. Thankfully, Arcana has chosen to make it available once again.

For years my two longstanding reference recordings of this–the later, grander 1749 revision of the Royal Fireworks Music–were performances by Jordi Savall directing Le Concert des Nations (Astrée, now AliaVox) and Trevor Pinnock with the English Concert (DG Archiv), and I enjoyed both for different reasons. Much had to do with the tempo choices. Savall’s broader, more gracious approach–a 23-minute performance–provided a nice contrast to Pinnock’s more uptempo, often thrilling 18-minute run. At 21-plus minutes Zefiro’s performance strikes me as a “just right” middle course.

In my reference recordings I also appreciated how the relatively more spacious sound engineering of Savall’s recording complemented his performance, and how in a similar way the thinner, somewhat more detailed acoustic afforded to Pinnock complemented his. The DHM engineers astonishingly provide Zefiro with the best of both approaches in creating the illusion of a rich array of life-like instrumentation set in a convincingly wide, open-air soundstage. Savall enters the work without fanfare while Pinnock begins with a brief, celebratory drum roll. Zefiro ups Pinnock’s ante, opening the festivities with an opulent, elongated percussive roll, joined at the last moment by harpsichord and strings, in effect heightening the grandeur of the following, spectacular overture by the full orchestra. Perfect!

Zefiro’s performances of the three Concerti a due cori compare very favorably with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music’s reference versions (L’Oiseau-Lyre, now Decca). Timings, the way the movements are shaped, and the dynamics are nearly identical, though again, Zefiro benefits from noticeably superior sound. The definition of the strings, and especially the brass, far surpasses what was possible with digital recording more than 30 years ago.

Mary Pardoe’s engaging notes, loaded with fascinating quotes and anecdotes, thankfully have been retained for this reissue. Arcana’s packaging and presentation, as usual, are second to none. Don’t miss this!

-- John Greene, ClassicsToday.com

New light on Pergolesi! This album sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of the great Italian composer, offering two masterpieces in their first modern edition and first recording: the Mass in D major and the mottettone Dignas Laudes. Both editions are the outcome of recent musicological research carried out by the Centro Studi Pergolesi in Milan, and show a facet of Pergolesi – his energetic and solemn character – that complements and amplifies the dramatic and introspective moods of his most renowned sacred works. This Arcana release inaugurates a collaboration with the Ghislieri Choir & Consort and celebrates the fifteenth anniversary of the ensemble, which specialises in eighteenth-century sacred repertory and has already recorded works by Galuppi, Jommelli, Perez (Il Mattutino de’ Morti) and Handel (Handel in Rome 1707) for Sony-DHM. The soloists on this recording, conducted by Giulio Prandi, are the soprano Marlis Petersen, one of the leading sopranos on the international scene, and a quintet of young Italian singers who already perform in the most important and prestigious European venues.

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REVIEW:

This release of two previously unrecorded pieces is an important one. The singing and orchestral playing are excellent, although there is occasionally a little too much operatic vibrato from the two principal soloists. It is good to hear the organ making itself felt in the Messa. This is a welcome addition to the Pergolesi recording library.

– Early Music Review

Recorded in the bright acoustics of the Teatro Bibiena in Mantua ("the most beautiful theatre in the world", according to Leopold Mozart), Zefiro's second release on the Arcana label is devoted to the colourful world of Telemann's Overtures (i.e. Suites). The three masterworks presented here highlight the unique quality of this versatile ensemble - formed by the oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi, and the bassoonist Alberto Grazzi - specialising in eighteenth-century works that give particular prominence to wind instruments.

Newly recorded in the bright acoustic of the Cenacolo of San Giorgio Maggiore Monastery in Venice, La Reverdie brings together, for the first time, musical compositions written c. 1330-1430 in honor of the Venetian Doges, or Venice itself. + This release, whose title is borrowed from the text of a most famous Johannes Ciconia-composed motet, includes the nine ceremonial motets written – according to recent research – to commemorate political, diplomatic or devotional events as well the election of the Doge, by, among others, da Padova, Landini, Ciconia, Romanus, de Monte and Lantins.

The reputation of San Giovanni Battista, by far Alessandro Stradellas best-known and most recorded work by, has so far overshadowed the rest of his surviving oratorio output, amounting to a total of six works. Unlike the most representative masterwork, San Giovanni Crisostomo here released for the first time was conceived for more intimate resources and yet perfectly expresses the modernity of the oratorio genre as it appeared in the second half of the 17th century. Sacred and moral themes are combined with political, social, and sometimes erotic ones, and the subject, libretto, and music interact on multiple levels with surprising boldness and freedom.

Presented in a stylish 4-CD box set, here is a comprehensive recording of one of the most enigmatic manuscripts in the history of European music, preserved in the museum at the Ch�teau de Chantilly in France. 'Anything that can be sung, can be written in music notation,' claimed an anonymous treatise on notation in the late fourteenth century. The harmonies thus 'captured' on parchment represent an apex in Western music, associated with the wealthiest courts in Christendom, called 'decadent' by some. Various elements of improvisation - avant-garde dissonance, astonishing rhythmic complexity, arching, lyrical melisma - meld into musical forms which test the boundaries of late Gothic sensibilities. Here are love songs for the End of the World: A time of deadly plague, devastating earthquakes, endless war, disintegrating religion, and the explosion of science and measurement.