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.

Classical Music

The centenary of Debussy’s death provides an opportunity to (re)discover some hidden treasures from the Arcana catalogue, which have been unavailable for many years. Debussy’s piano works make up a vast corpus of such outstanding quality that it can rightly be considered to be the most important produced in the last century. He completely renewed the art of piano playing; at the same time, he gave a decisive new direction to the very idea of structure in music. Both these aspects are found in the works here played by Stany David Lasry on two restored Érard pianos, covering the period from the works of his youth to the two great sets of Préludes, which constitute a veritable compendium of twentieth-century piano writing. The French pianist also appears in the recording of mélodies featuring bass-baritone Thierry Félix, which includes Debussy’s last sixteen songs (all those composed after he completed Pelléas et Mélisande) preceded by Mandoline and four songs composed in his early maturity.

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

Oscar� Cinema' might be a suitable alternative title for the new album with which the strings of the Santa Cecilia Academy under the direction of Luigi Piovano - principal cellist of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and much admired conductor - begin their collaboration with Arcana, after two recordings for Eloquentia released in 2014 and 2015. Yes, it's true, the three Italian composers represented here - Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone and Nicola Piovani - all won the highest honours at the American Oscar� ceremony. But this CD goes further. Alongside some of their most famous movie themes - from La strada to The Mission, from Life is beautiful to Amarcord - it also includes works written by these three screen giants for performance in concert. Although they concentrated their work on the cinema, Rota, Morricone and Piovani were still composers above all else, and their activity did not exclude an independent and committed creative dimension. Some of the pieces featured on this disc were composed or arranged for the Archi di Santa Cecilia and Luigi Piovano and are dedicated to them.

Johann Sebastian Bach has always been considered one of the greatest music transcribers of all times. Many of his transcriptions (mostly the ones from Italian composers Vivaldi and Marcello) have become instant classics, and they are still viewed as masterpieces of the baroque repertoire. Bach has always been very active as a transcriber of his own music too. His masterful transcription of his Sonata for viola da gamba & keyboard No. 1, which he transformed into a trio for two flutes and continuo, has given the inspiration for this project. Tripla Concordia and Walter van Hauwe decided to transcribe even the other two Gamba Sonatas as Trio Sonatas, walking in Bach footsteps. In doing so, the members of the ensemble actually fulfilled their desire of offering a new listening experience of this set of sonatas, with fresh colors and textures. Tripla Concordia sincerely hopes that those new versions will cast a new light on these works, thus giving the listener the opportunity of discovering new details and fresh instrumental combinations. Transcriptions of other two Bach masterpieces, the Organ Sonata No. 3 (transcription by Sour Cream) and the Partita for Lute BWV 997, complete the recording.

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.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

• 17th century singer and composer who played an important role in the development of Roman opera. • This disc represents a choice collection of works from a large body of nearly 400 compositions, showcasing his composing and vocal skills and abilities. • The premier album for the Arcana label from Andrea de Carlo and the Ensemble Mare Nostrum, which he founded.

Classical Music

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.

Classical Music

Classical Music