A major achievement for The Stradella Project, now in it's sixth volume, this world premiere complete recording of the comic opera in three acts Il Trespolo tutore comes at a time of important new discoveries concerning Stradella's life and his operas. This includes the rediscovery of Doriclea and the recent discovery of Amare e fingere, soon to be released in the same series. Arnaldo Morelli writes: "Il Trespolo tutore was first staged at the Teatro del Falcone in Genoa for Carnival 1679. Alessandro Stradella's only comic opera, it unquestionably deserves a place among the masterpieces of this genre. On a libretto by Giovanni Cosimo Villifranchi, the entertaining plot mirrors that of a successful comedy published a decade earlier: Armore e veleno e medicina degl'intelletti o vero Trespolo tutore by the Florentine Giovanni Battista Ricciardi. The paradoxical behavior of the characters, including a ward who falls in love with her tutor and a madman who regains his wits through love, contribute to moments of intense comic delight."

After rediscovering the music of Giovanni Croce, maestro di cappella at St Mark's cathedral in Venice, Ensembles Voces Suaves & Concerto Scirocco take us to Salzburg and put the spotlight on the Verona-born composer Stefano Bernardi, a contemporary of Monteverdi. Bernardi reached the peak of his career in Salzburg, when he was appointed the first Kapellmeister of it's newly constructed cathedral, a position he held from 1628 to 1634. Bernardi contributed greatly to the integration of the Italian nuovo stile in Salzburg, especially of features such as polychordality and the stile concertato, and may therefore be seen as the musical forefather of later, more famous Salzburg musicians. The outstanding stature of his music is clearly evident from his majestic Requiem, the manuscript of which is still preserved in the Salzburg cathedral archives. Particularly impressive is the Sequentia, which forms the core of the work and opens with an elaborate Dies irae section, based on the famous chant melody. The Requiem, as well as a number of Motets by Bernardi, is recorded here for the very first time.

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 year 1736 was very important in the life of Bach: he was conferred the title of Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Court Composer. In that same year he composed the only two autographed sonatas for flute and obbligato harpsichord. Both sonatas came to us as a step of an elaborative process which could also have consisted of a diverse instrumentation. Such a practice was of inspiration in choosing two sonatas, originally conceived for other instruments, to be inserted in a project dedicated to the equal dialogue between flute and harpsichord. We have no certainties regarding the dedicatee for the autographed sonatas. The relationship with Dresden maintained by Bach in those years leads us to theorize that it might have been the flute virtuoso Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin, a close friend of the Bach family. The choice of the instrument for this recording is due to the eventful rediscovery in 2015 of the only known flute trademarked "BUFFARDIN LES FILS." A copy of it can be heard here for the first time. This particular instrument throws new light on the works that Alessandrini and Pontecorvo have selected to record after many concerts and recording projects with Concerto Italiano.

Of the many important anniversaries occurring in 2018, it is worth remembering the 350th death anniversary of the violin virtuoso Francesco Maria Veracini. What better occasion to rediscover Enrico Gatti's first reference recording for the label Arcana? The fierce Florentine violinist played throughout Europe leaving indelible marks in towns such as Dresden, London, Frankfurt and Prague. His violin sonatas show a lively imagination and personal verve combined with a brilliant instrumental technique. This release presents a selection from the two volumes of violin sonatas: 2 chamber sonatas from Op. 1 (1721), a collection of 12, divided into 6 chamber sonatas containing Overtures or Preludes followed by suites of dances and 6 church sonatas in five movements, where the violin part notably more daring than in Corelli's austere style, and 2 from the Academic Sonatas op. 2 (1744), distinguished not only for the originality and excellence of the music, but also for the presence of dynamic signs and unusual performing indications, a frequent use of the long bowing typical of the Italian virtuosi, an abundant variety of bow strokes and idiomatic inventions of great effect.

Composed 25 years after the celebrated work of the same name by Pergolesi, and for the same forces, the Stabat Mater by Nicola Logroscino (pronounced "Logr�scino") belongs to the long list of compositions born of the Neapolitan school, beginning with the model by Alessandro Scarlatti (1723). Although inspired by it's illustrious precedents, this work distinguishes itself in it's strong theatrical character, derived from the author's long experience in opera (especially comic opera), of which he was a leading figure until the mid-eighteenth century. His Stabat Mater thus seems to be a veritable synthesis of operatic style, whereby lengthy arias alternate with lively duets, and passages of almost folk origins alternate with very simple recitatives. Giulia Semenzato, soprano, and Raffele Pe, countertenor, are the protagonists of this important rediscovery. This album - the first monographic recording dedicated to the composer - includes a brilliant cantata for soprano as well as a concerto for flute (played by Marcello Gatti), a work that represents a precious addition to the repertoire for this instrument. The ensemble "Talenti Vulcanici", under the direction of Stefano Demicheli, deliver an instrumental performance of stylistic coherence and calibrated virtuosity, following their successful recording, Arias for Nicolino (A427), praised by critics for it's "theatrical tautness and �lan", and "a reliable sense of pacing, detail and texture". (David Vickers, Gramophone, August 2017)

Following the huge success of the 2017 release, "Cinema per archi", featuring the music of Rota, Morricone and Piovani, the Arcana label is back with another recording by the Archi di Santa Cecilia conducted by Luigi Piovano, the eminent cellist whose duo performances with Antonio Pappano have been met with widespread acclaim among chamber music aficionados. Composed of players from the excellent Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the ensemble here interprets two of the best-loved works of the entire string repertoire: the Serenata in C major op. 48 by Tchaikovsky, and the Serenata in E major op. 22 by Dvor�k. Both of these works have been special attractions in concert programs at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome and in other prominent concert venues throughout Italy. The Ensemble's enormously successful first recording of music by Schubert, including Mahler's arrangement of Death and the Maiden, was described by Ralph Moore on MusicWeb International as "mesmerizing, intense, thrilling and liberated in a way too few recordings are these days" and elicited David Vernier to declare in Classics Today that "the concluding fourth-movement Presto is an impressive display of ensemble virtuosity."

Francesco Landini was the most famous Florentine Trecento composer, known for being a multi-instrumentalist, most notably a virtuoso on the organ. As known, he lost his sight at the age of 7 but, despite his disability, he excelled in the study of music and all liberal arts. Might the condition of blindness have affected the poetic production of Landini? LaReverdie together with Christophe Deslignes, investigates this hypothesis, with a new project that presents both well known masterpieces and pieces never recorded before, searching signs that might be eventually impressed in the verses and the music of Magister Coecus by the loss of his sight. The reference to the eyes from literary topos becomes in many Landini’s texts a melancholic poetic expedient to express the distance, the absence or the loss of the beloved woman, that only “the heart’s eye” (L’Occhio del Cor) is able to imagine. A project which fills the recent recording void on a fundamental author at the sunset of the Middle Ages, reread through a perspective never explored until now. A passionate work on the strict bond between poetry and music, well explained by Davide Daolmi, is associated to a necessary musicological research about sources.

Bach and Gabrielli: the focus of this recording is an unusual musical match involving the famous 6 Suites for violoncello solo by Johann Sebastian Bach and the little-known 7 Ricercari for violoncello solo (1689) by Domenico Gabrielli of Bologna, the first example of a work for unaccompanied cello in history, and thus the only precedent and possible model for the Bach masterpiece. In what ways are the two series of compositions linked? Cellist Mauro Valli is convinced that there is a connection between the two for a number of reasons, including the preponderant correspondence of the keys. Bach assiduously performed and transcribed works by Italian composers, not only those of his contemporaries but also of earlier musicians, so it is highly likely that he was familiar with Gabrielli's works, in particular with the Ricercari. Mauro Valli provides an intriguingly new interpretation of Bach's six masterpieces by heralding each one with the corresponding Ricercare. The outcome is strikingly fresh and original, with a wealth of courageously personal diminutions and embellishments that derive from Valli's deep knowledge of the Italian baroque repertoire. Bach was fascinated by composers such as Frescobaldi, Albinoni and Vivaldi, and it certainly makes good sense to perform his Suites in the Italian style!

Luca Marenzio was the most brilliant representative of the sublime art of the madrigal during the last twenty years of the sixteenth century. Whereas the style of his early works is light, fluid and transparent, in his maturity Marenzio's language turned towards a more complex, introspective attitude that made him the most emblematic musical exponent of Late Renaissance melancholy. L'amoroso & crudo stile brings together some of Marenzio's finest madrigals, aiming to reproduce the most intimate expressive facets of a music of extraordinary beauty and profound humanity. With the emotional intensity and deep respect for the poetic text that distinguishes the ensemble, Rosso Porpora begins in this debut recording it's personal exploration and celebration of the madrigal, the earliest and still unsurpassed representation of Italian musical identity.

The brilliant soprano Mar�a Cristina Kiehr, together with lutenist-vihuelist Ariel Abramovich, presents her first solo album devoted to Renaissance music. With her broad experience in sixteenth-century polyphonic repertoire, and a project almost completely using her native language, Kiehr brings to the music of Spain's Golden Age her own unique perspective. Imaginario reconstructs an imaginary and unknown book of vihuela songs, inspired by the seven marvelous books published between 1536 and 1576, but this time as if published in Valladolid or Seville between 1570 and 1580. Constructed in the shadow of the earlier books, each one of it's songs makes reference either in it's music or text to another song from those earlier books. The vihuelist Jacob Heringman, together with whom Abramovich created and recorded Cifras imaginaries, is also part of this project, together with the mythical British tenor John Potter, ex Hilliard Ensemble and ECM artist, who performs an enigmatic piece for tenor and vihuela. A unique project, in every sense of the word, this stretch of the imagination takes the recorded repertory of the Spanish Renaissance one step further, venturing into the world of musical fiction based on a blend of creativity and science, and with a team of researchers difficult to surpass.

Classical Music

Whereas The Art of the Fugue remains wrapped in respectful veneration and an aura of mystery, the contemporary Musical Offering has acquired relatively longstanding popularity. This is somewhat paradoxical, however, as the work is no less complex, and it's overall architecture raises just as many questions. In 1980, the musicologist Ursula Kirkendale was able to show that the various pieces of the Musical Offering are organized exactly like the various constituent parts of the discourse according to Quintilian's ancient treatise on oratorical art. Taking his cue from this hypothesis, Enrico Gatti presents this cryptic masterpiece with his Ensemble Aurora, here composed of his brother Marcello (flute) and two artists well known to the Arcana catalogue: cellist Gaetano Nasillo and harpsichordist Guido Morini, leader of the Accord one ensemble. Also included on this disc is the Sonata BWV 1021 (for violin and basso continuo) and it's arrangement as Trio Sonata BWV 1038 (for flute, violin and continuo)

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.

During the summer of 1989, oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paolo Grazzi together with bassoonist Alberto Grazzi founded Zefiro, a versatile ensemble specialized in 18th century music predominantly featuring wind instruments. Zefiro soon made a name for itself worldwide, and to celebrate its thirty years of activity Arcana is releasing an elegant 10-album set of their complete recordings of baroque music. From the ensemble’s first release (Sonatas by Zelenka - Grand Prix du Disque), the compilation alternates recordings of repertoire composers and pieces that have become absolute points of reference, such as the Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos, Handel’s Fireworks (Diapason d’or de l’année 2009) or the Bach Overtures (judged by Gramaphone to be one of the 50 best Bach recordings of all time). However it also comprises significant rediscoveries, including the Overtures for Double Choir by Telemann, and the virtuoso wind repertoire connected with the Dresden court. Another precious feature of this magnificent set is the presence of the Fasch Concertos, which were out of print for many years and are finally once more available for our enjoyment.

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Excerpts of select reviews or previously released volumes included in this set:


Bach: Overtures / Bernardini, Zefiro

In BWV1066 trio passages are played by oboists Alfredo Bernardini and Paulo Grazzi and bassoonist Alberto Grazzi with unerring momentum and nuanced deftness. French-style dances lilt, sway or scamper, with a keen attention to charismatic details (the pair of Passepieds is an ideal compound of liveliness and refinement).

– Gramophone

Telemann: Ouvertures A 8 / Bernardini, Zefiro

Zefiro adopts entirely sensible tempos, engages in no extra-musical special effects, and has mastered its instruments to the point where things like intonation, tone production, and polished execution are equal in every respect to its modern instrument counterparts. These are wonderfully solid and musically enriching performances, complemented by a perfectly spotlighted and well-balanced recording.

– MusicWeb International

Vivaldi: Concerti per Oboe / Bernardini, Zefiro

Because Vivaldi composed oboe concertos throughout much of his career, a selection of them can provide listeners with an overview of his stylistic development. The seven concertos offered here do just that. There’s much to enjoy here. The sound in the slow movements is very agreeable, and Bernardini’s tempos and other directorial choices are well-nigh on target and sensible.

– Fanfare