After releasing the complete set of Ennio Morricone's Cinema Suites for violin and orchestra on two�albums�(Cinema Suites, A495 and�Cinema Rarities, A554),�Marco Serino now presents world premiere recordings of the Maestro's own arrangements for violin and piano. Marco is joined by pianist Leandro Piccioni, who, like Marco, brings over twenty years of experience working closely with Morricone in his favoured orchestra, Roma Sinfonietta. These original arrangements, all from celebrated soundtracks,�represent the point of departure for an original anthology in which the two musicians investigate the wider repertoire connected to the cinema.�Cinema Memories�ranges from works that have since become classics such as the�Three Pieces from Schindler's List�by John Williams to Bernstein's�West Side Story Suite, one of the outright masterpieces of musicals on film, and Myroslav Skoryk's Melody in A minor, a jewel of a piece that has since become a sort of national anthem for the Ukrainian people. It is a programme that interweaves memory and imagination, melancholy and light, dreams and reality, making each listening experience a truly multifaceted experience.

Johann Sebastian Bach, though largely unaffected by the trends of his time, reimagined many older forms with striking originality, shaping the course of Western music. Among his innovations is the sonata for a melodic instrument (such as the viola da gamba) and obbligato harpsichord, where both parts engage in equal dialogue-a model later expanded by his sons and composers like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Following their acclaimed first album dedicated to Corelli's Sonatas Op. 5, Teodoro Bau and Andrea Buccarella now present their second duo recording: the Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord by J.S. Bach, each revealing a unique stylistic approach within a unified form.

This anthology of sacred works - all of which could be used in the liturgies of the Christmas festivities - features some of the leading musicians active in Venice in the 16th and 17th centuries. They range from the earliest, Andrea Gabrieli, who died in 1585, to the most recent, Francesco Cavalli, who died almost a century later, in 1676. At the centre of this broad chronological span we encounter not only veritable giants like Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi, but also prominent musicians connected to them, such as the Saxon composer Heinrich Schu�tz, Giovanni Bassano and Alessandro Grandi. After three successful albums on Arcana, Natale veneziano inaugurates a new series by Il Pomo d'Oro. This recording shines a spotlight on the choir of Il Pomo d'Oro, which has accompanied the orchestra's activities under the direction of specialist Giuseppe Maletto since 2021.

On one side, Francesco Corti, one of the most internationally acclaimed harpsichordists and protagonist of five acclaimed albums released by the Arcana label. On the other, Ilya Gringolts, making his debut for the same label: a violinist of extraordinary versatility, committed to contemporary music but also animated by a deep passion for the Baroque repertoire and historically informed performance. Proof of this is his recording of Locatelli's Il labirinto armonico (2021), which was awarded the Diapason d'Or and selected as Editor's Choice by Gramophone. Two artistically different but complementary personalities, united for years in a successful partnership, tackle a milestone of chamber music: the first great example of concertante sonatas for keyboard and melodic instrument. Completing the programme is Tertia deficiens, a piece by contemporary composer and Baroque violinist Andrew McIntosh (Grammy nominee), commissioned specifically for this project with the aim of creating an evocative bridge between past and present.

In the heart of Baroque Rome, the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is the principal Marian sanctuary of the Eternal City. For centuries it has guarded not only the relics of Jesus's cradle and swaddling-clothes, but also the celebrated marble Nativity Scene by Arnolfo di Cambio (1291), the first of it's kind in the history of art, thus earning it the title of "Bethlehem of the West". Here, in 1707, Alessandro Scarlatti was employed as maestro di cappella. Though a brief appointment - it lasted little more than a year - it was long enough to leave a deep impression, above all on the repertoire for Christmas, which was celebrated in the basilica with particular solemnity. For the 300th anniversary of the composer's death, Giulio Prandi and Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri dedicate their fifth album for Arcana to Scarlatti's unique, splendid music for a Roman Christmas.

RossoPorpora made it's Arcana debut with an album dedicated to Luca Marenzio, which received widespread critical acclaim, including the German Record Critics' Award, Classic Voice's Disc of the Month, a Diapason rating of 5, and five-star reviews from Musica and Amadeus. It was described as "magnificent" by Early Music Review and hailed as "a desert island disc" by Forum Opera. Now, with it's second album, the ensemble turns to one of the cornerstones of 17th-century music: Claudio Monteverdi's Sixth Book of Madrigals. In a deeply immersive exploration of the composer's inner world during his final years in Mantua, RossoPorpora delivers a profoundly moving interpretation of the many masterpieces contained in the collection-Lamento d'Arianna, Lagrime d'Amante sul sepolcro dell'Amata, Zefiro torna, Oime 'l bel viso, Qui rise o Tirsi-which together mark one of the highest achievements in the history of the madrigal.

In London in 1736, the Baroque genius Handel celebrated the power of music with his oratorio about Alexander the Great, one of the greatest successes of his life. Covent Garden was never so full as on the evening of the premiere. For this original English version, Alfredo Bernardini unites the fantastic voices of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir with his lively Zefiro Baroque Orchestra. The three soloists Miriam Kutrowatz, Daniel Johannsen and Damien Gastl tell the ancient story of how the singer Timotheus was once able to change the mood of the great Alexander, evoking a whirlwind of diverse emotions, highlighting the power of music over politics and war.

To arouse wonder: this was the mission the Baroque bequeathed to the Galant style. The celebrated opera composer and keyboard virtuoso Baldassare Galuppi achieved this by applying tools from the visual arts to music, playing with light, colour, and perspective. The trendsetting fire of his imagination and the sweetness of his cantabiles captured the spirit of the city of Venice with the whimsy and drama of it's new Goldonian theatre, earning him renown throughout Europe. Wonder in Venice is a selection of solo sonatas and concertos for harpsichord and strings that showcase the eclecticism of Galuppi's music, which combines the brilliance of the Venetian Galant style with tempestuous Sturm und Drang outbursts. The young Italian harpsichordist Arianna Radaelli, a brilliant soloist who performs with Il Pomo d'Oro, Zefiro and Jordi Savall, gives Galuppi's keyboard works a new reading which is faithful to historical performance practice, yet also dynamic and audacious. Flanked by the excellent string ensemble La Filarete, she successfully explores the expressivity of this repertoire, which is ripe for rediscovery.

The aim of this musical tour - an expedition that travels backwards, from today to the Renaissance - is to reconstruct the overarching strands that comprise and unite five centuries of music of a "Roman school" famed for it's contrapuntal rigour, melodic flair and popular roots. The label "romano", which many a musician of bygone eras proudly displayed after their name, is a sure sign of belonging to a school, to a special style. The backdrop for this excursion back in time is Rome, which in this same Jubilee Year of 2025 is the destination for millions of pilgrims on the march from every part of the world, each with their own history and culture. And the various stops on the journey present the music of the eternal city, a music that - no matter whether sacred or secular or whatever the type of work - is as capable today as then of moving, delighting and nourishing the soul of any human being. After exploring the personality of Giovanni Zamboni (L'ultimo romano, 2016) and the refinements of the French repertoire (Meditation, 2022), in this, his third solo album for Arcana, Simone Vallerotonda engages with contemporary and ancient music, broadening the horizons of the lute with a confidence and sense of novelty that fascinate and surprise

Handel's violin sonatas composed in London stretch from the heyday of the Royal Academy of Music's Italian opera productions to his last English oratorios. The original purposes, contexts and performers of the sonatas are unknown: only a few survive in autograph manuscripts, and the authorship and instrumentation of pieces preserved in unreliable early printed sources are a confusing mess. Quartetto Vanvitelli invent a narrative that explores the possibilities of emotions, sonorities and connecting tonalities that are offered by several authentic violin sonatas, a few spurious misattributions, quotations from Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1724) and arrangements from several keyboard pieces - a creative vision designed to refract light through the prism of Handel's music.

Though naturally closely associated with the organ and harpsichord, Bach had a special relationship with the violin, his father's instrument, throughout his life. Moreover, we know that he was a highly skilled player, performing regularly at the court of Weimar, and probably also at Kothen and Leipzig. He wrote and transcribed concertos and sonatas for violin, but above all created the unprecedented collection of Sonatas and Partitas for solo instrument. And it is precisely for this vehicle of pure virtuosity that Marco Serino's new project offers four masterpieces, only one of which - the Partita No. 2, the most ambitious work in the group - has survived in a version for violin. Both the first two Suites for cello and the Toccata and Fugue BWV 565, however, already boast an important tradition of violin transcriptions. Pervaded by the virtual polyphony so characteristic of the celebrated Sei solo, these extraordinary pieces, which are presented from a different perspective than usual, celebrate this art of transformation pursued by the artists of the Baroque as an ideal of continuous and fruitful metamorphosis.

Alongside the renowned female composers of the 17th century, such as Francesca Caccini and Barbara Strozzi, and the leading singers (the prime donne) that dominated the stages of opera houses, such as Anna Renzi and Giulia Masotti, we should also appreciate the considerable number of excellent - yet largely unknown - "virtuose". Though customarily concealed amidst the ranks of a court, serving as maids of honour to a queen, princess or noblewoman, these were extremely accomplished musicians who often provided vital inspiration for the celebrated composers of the day. This recording, which stemmed from a research project dedicated to the virtuose working in 17th-century Rome, presents a selection of compositions that may well have formed part of their repertoire. The famous Lamento d'Arianna stands out among these pieces, in a version that was preserved in a contemporary Roman manuscript that Monteverdi very likely brought with him during his visit to the papal city in the autumn of 1610. In this album, which marks her solo debut, Carlotta Colombo, one of the most highly esteemed singers in today's Italian Baroque scene, pays tribute to the creativity of these extraordinary women, thereby reinstating them to the centre of their artistic environment and restoring to them the recognition that was often denied to them during their lifetime.

Boasting a musical partnership of over 15 years, during which they have played in concerts throughout the world (recently at the Wigmore Hall in London and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo), the violinist Sayaka Shoji and the pianist Gianluca Cascioli have already recorded the complete violin and piano sonatas by Beethoven on modern instruments (Deutsche Grammophon, 4CDs, 2010-15). After adopting a "historically informed" outlook that has matured through long study and important collaborations, they now tackle the Mozart sonatas with an approach that begins with their choice of instruments: the extraordinary Stradivarius 'Recamier' mounted with gut strings and a Paul McNulty fortepiano (copy of Anton Walter) already used by Cascioli on his recent Beethoven recital ("Simply some of the most effervescent, creative and invigorating piano-playing I have heard in a long time." - International Piano). This release, which initiates a four-album cycle, marks the beginning of Shoji's collaboration with Arcana.

After the success of Officina Romana (awarded 5 Diapasons, 5 stars in Musica, and selected amongst the best albums in Le Monde in 2021), Le Stagioni, under the direction of Paolo Zanzu, invites the listener on a journey through 17th-century Venice in the company of outstanding singers: Emmanuelle de Negri, Blandine Staskiewicz, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Zachary Wilder and Salvo Vitale. From 1637 to 1645, between the opening of the first public opera houses and the start of the Cretan War, Venice witnessed a musical blossoming of international significance. Numerous operas were premiered on Venetian stages, with travellers from all over Europe in attendance. Alongside famous extracts of L'incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, Un secolo cantante allows us to hear little-known works by Cavalli, Sacrati and Strozzi, as well as previously unrecorded, forgotten pieces, making use of sources from the period and the most recent scholarship to offer a fresh listening experience of this fascinating music.

Ambleto is a fascinating curiosity in music history: a baroque libretto by Apostolo Zeno on the legend of Hamlet, not based on Shakespeare's tragedy but on it's primary source, the Gesta Danorum by Saxo Gramaticus. This swashbuckling drama has been first set to music by Francesco Gasparini (Venice 1705) - whose version served as the basis for a pasticcio (London 1712) with arias by various composers including Handel - then by Domenico Scarlatti (Rome 1715) and Giuseppe Carcani (Venice 1743). The surviving arias from these lost operas are brought back to life by the Concert de l'Hostel Dieu and the charismatic soprano Roberta Mameli, who lends her supple voice to the titular Danish Prince and to the strong women around him, his courageous lover Veremonda (Shakespeare's Ophelia) and his tormented mother Gerilda (Gertrude).