Two violoncellos piccoli, one with four strings, the other with five, making a total of nine strings: it is as if a new instrument were born, an organ with strings instead of pipes, to perform virtuoso polyphonic masterpieces with a larger, enriched sound palette. Taking Gustav Leonhardt's keyboard transcriptions of the Suites, Sonatas and Partitas as his point of departure, Mario Brunello adds a new sonic dimension to three of Bach's solo pieces for unaccompanied violin and cello, making the polyphony previously confined to only four strings audible. He is partnered by his longstanding friend the specialist Mauro Valli, who has already appeared on Arcana with his personal reinterpretation of the Cello Suites (Bach in Bologna A459, 2019).

In a century that saw many illustrious French and German composers write for two flutes, the six sonatas of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach stand out as the most significant, complex and technically demanding of this repertoire. Ever since they were rediscovered and published almost a century ago, they have become a stable part of the flute catalogue, appreciated and performed on both historic and modern instruments. Viewing it as the quintessential work of Friedemann's creative output, the specialist Peter Wollny even sees it as a summa of his entire production, full of quotations and reminiscences of his previous works. After the album devoted to the sonatas of C.P.E. Bach (A 537, Diapason d'or), Manuel Granatiero, accompanied by the Italo-Croatian flautist Eleonora Biscevic, now turns his attention to this masterpiece by Johann Sebastian Bach's eldest son. Arriving some thirty-five years after the first, and only, recorded version on period instruments (by Barthold Kuijken and Marc Hantai), this new recording offers a fresh perspective on music of extraordinary brilliance, passion and virtuosity.

Barbara Strozzi, a Venetian singer and composer who lived between 1619 and 1677, stands out as a rare jewel in the musical landscape of the Italian Seicento. The adoptive (and perhaps natural) daughter of Giulio Strozzi, a man of letters belonging to the illustrious Florentine family, she rejected the alternative prospects of matrimony or life in a convent in order to devote herself entirely to her one true passion: music. Moreover, she aimed to assert herself not merely as a performer, but also as a composer, thereby transgressing the strict rules of the period. Over the course of twenty years she published over a hundred and twenty cantatas and other works for solo voice, a number unequalled by any of her contemporaries. In her most significant works she combines the absolute originality of her formal structures with extraordinarily intense and exuberant poetics of the "affects." In these respects her vocal writing is comparable only with that of the century's greatest Italian composer, Claudio Monteverdi. After five successful albums with Giuliano Carmignola and Mario Brunello, the Accademia dell'Annunciata, conducted by Riccardo Doni, offers us a portrait of this extraordinary artist, arguably the greatest Italian composer of all time. In an era when the music scene was almost exclusively male, Barbara Strozzi managed to carve out a unique place for herself, becoming one of the most fascinating personalities of 17th-century music, a figure that is today given voice by soprano Laura Catrani.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This recording combines three of the most significant musicians belonging to the generation of the empfindsame or "sentimental" style. As a reaction to the late baroque of J.S. Bach and Handel, they systematically explored contrast and extreme juxtapositions in their compositions. This avant-garde style remained in fashion for only a short period, but anticipated many pre-eminent aspects of early romanticism. In this recording a harpsichord concerto by W.F. Bach (J.S. Bach's eldest son) is combined with two concertos by Bohemian composer G. Benda. They perfectly illustrate the empfindsame style, quickly oscillating between excitement and melancholy, furious frenzy and serene calm. The programme concludes with major solo harpsichord pieces by C.P.E. Bach and a beautiful Adagio and Fugue for orchestra by W.F. Bach - showcasing the composer's ability in the stile antico.

A great composer and his angelic singer: a history of crossed destinies. Marc'Antonio Orrigoni, one of the most famous castratos of his generation, rediscovered through an imaginary songbook collecting the arias composed for him by Alessandro Stradella. With Rome, Genoa, Modena, splendid opera theaters and magnificent palaces that form a gilded, glittering background. An incredible journey that will thrill you while rediscovering the hidden pages of the Golden Age of the Italian Seicento.

With the release of The Queen's Favourites in 2021, La Petite Ecurie provided listeners insight into the original repertoire for the Oboe Band, which was very much in vogue at the time of Queen Anne (c. 1700). The debut album received five Diapasons in the renowned French magazine and numerous positive reviews. The International Double Reed Society described their "beautiful tone, precise intonation, rhythmic vigor, and wonderful sense of style." The inspiration for the latest album by La Petite Ecurie, No Strings Attached, originates from the preface of Johann Christian Schieferdecker's thirteen Musikalische Concerte, in which he expressed that: "They were composed with such care that, in the absence of the necessary people, they could also be performed with only 4 voices, namely 3 Hautbois and 1 Bassoon". With this sentence, Schieferdecker encapsulates the fundamental idea that strings are sometimes redundant! No Strings Attached presents music by composers from Germany (Schieferdecker & Keiser), France (Boismortier & Dornel), Italy (Vivaldi) and England (Handel & Purcell), whose compositions showcase the endless virtuosic capabilities of the Oboe Band.

Having dedicated his first two albums for Arcana to Johann Sebastian Bach (Little Books, A480) and Georg Friedrich Handel (Winged Hands, A499), Francesco Corti turns to Domenico Scarlatti, the third great keyboardist of the 1685 generation. For this recording, he selected a group of sonatas copied in the years 1752 and 1753, strictly organised in pairs. Concentrating on works from the same period, it showcases the composer's extraordinary ability to stretch the boundaries of the sonata form and to extensively elaborate his thematic material. Instrumental virtuosity and an experimental approach to the harpsichord sound go hand in hand with an astonishing formal freedom, combined with a playful sense of structure and expectation. Corti has chosen to perform these sonatas on a Humeau harpsichord, a copy of Italian models (courtesy of Bertrand Cuiller), and record them at the Royaumont Abbey.

After the success of the complete works for lute by J. S. Bach, crowned by the recognition of international critics (Diapason d'Or, Choc de Classica, Excepcional Scherzo, Record Geijutsu, Eccezionale di Musica, Joker Absolu Crescendo), Evangelina offers a double album dedicated to the music of the greatest lutenist of all time: Sylvius Leopold Weiss. In his work, virtuosity and sumptuousness merge against the elegant and ethereal background of the gallant encounters and court dances of the 18th century. A new recording that restores the lute to it's due and ancient glories.

This first joint project by the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin and the Basel-based vocal ensemble Voces Suaves is dedicated to the musical milieu into which Johann Sebastian Bach was born, and especially to those composers who had a demonstrable influence on the work of the man who would later become Thomaskantor in Leipzig. In addition to pieces from the Altbachisches Archiv (Archive of the Older Bachs), the album features sacred concertos and early cantatas by Bach's predecessors and superiors from Arnstadt, Muhlhausen, Weimar and Leipzig, and with them impressive proof of how highly developed the musical tradition of Central Germany then was. Although many of the composers are completely unknown to us today, their works, some of which are recorded here for the first time, provide a fascinating insight into the musical language of late seventeenth-century Germany with it's inspiring wealth of colours and forms.

25 years of La Cetra Basel! To celebrate this anniversary, La Cetra and Arcana are releasing the "greatest musical masterpiece of all time", as the work was called in the 19th century: Bach's Mass in B minor. "It is a dream come true to have recorded this work for La Cetra's 25th jubilee - the best birthday present ever!" says maestro Andrea Marcon. Under his direction, La Cetra Basel has made a name for itself in recent years with acclaimed interpretations of J. S. Bach's most important sacred works. Featuring top-flight soloists, this recording presents Andrea Marcon's particular vision for this Mass, notable for the division of voices between "concertists" and "ripienists". The sonority and character of each movement emerge from the skilfully crafted balance between solos and tuttis, creating a three-dimensional sound reminiscent of a three-manual organ. The result is a unique tonality, full of fresh nuances and colours, and no doubt very close to what Bach had imagined.

Born in Brussels in 2020, The WIG Society (TWS) has rapidly grown into one of the most exciting musical ensembles on the European Early Music scene. As a rising ensemble within the EEEmerging+ programme, TWS has developed an original approach to the chamber music of the galant and classical period. Their playing highlights the lavish, extravagant, and witty elements of a repertoire principally designed to entertain an aristocratic society on the decline. They re-imagine rococo ballrooms and salons as contemporary dance floors, Haydn as the Beyoncé of the 1770s. Their sound is rich and nuanced in depth thanks to the employment of both the harpsichord and the double-bass, instead of the traditional cello. Alongside works by celebrated composers, TWS proposes some world premiere recordings of neglected composers from the Mannheim School and beyond.

Just as the worthy and skilled painter imitates all things created in nature by varying the colours, in the same way you can imitate the expression made by the human voice on a wind and stringed instrument. This concept, which was explained by Silvestro Ganassi in his Opera intitulata La Fontegara already in 1535, has inspired Concerto Scirocco to seek�the maximum expression when interpreting the instrumental music of the 16th and 17th centuries. Hand in hand with the development of the instrumental repertoire, rhetoric became the link between instrument and voice, between imitation and reality. Where words were lacking, composers and instrumentalists used rhetoric to delight listeners just as singers did.� In�this, it's�fifth, recording, Concerto Scirocco focuses on an early baroque anthology of pieces, "painting in notes" a number of musical portraits full of contrasts:�the pulsating rhythm of the battle in the�Symphonia "A�gran�battaglia",�the�beguiling�mermaids in Marco Uccellini's�Aria sopra�"Questa bella Sirena",�or the operatic tension in the�Sonata a�tre�by Francesco Cavalli.