Whether it be buffa, giocosa, semi-seria or seria – without a quantum of love's troubles, baroque and classical opera would be in poor shape. Arias of desperation, heart-wrenching entreaties, scenes of jealousy and webs of intrigue are all part of the iron-clad stock of effective staged works – whatever class of society the protagonists belonged to. The noble emperor, who ultimately grants a pardon to the evildoers, was just as little immune to emotional humiliation as the bubbly and flirtatious Colombinchen, who in the end refreshingly thumbs her nose at her unfaithful lover, while the audience gleefully slap their thighs. Soprano Stéphanie Varnerin, accompanied by the excellent instrumental ensemble L’Astrée, is the soloist in this new production dedicated to a colourful anthology of Turin's opera scene in the 18th century. Fourteen arias by nine once successful composers, whose works were performed or premiered at one of the two famous theatres in Turin (Regio and Carignano) are included in the program, where only one emotion is absent – boredom.

172 pieces, 400 movements, 3, or more, compositional decades: those are the main features at the basis of the corpus of the keyboard Sonatas of Baldassare Galuppi, known as “il Buranello”. The indeterminacy of a specific instrument and the cultural influence of several European countries give to his music a heterogeneous character both in formal and stylistic terms, following that movement of ideas so typical among the best composers of the time. The Sonatas included in this Album come from different manuscripts and their musical language seems almost a sampler of Buranello’s different compositional modes.

Today there are different types of the instrument known in German-speaking countries as the Hackbrett, mainly associated with local traditional music, such as the cimbalom in Eastern Europe, the santūr in Persia, etc. The history of European music has also known moments when this type of instrument was appreciated in art music, thanks especially to its sonority, which predestined it for the so-called ‘sensitive’ (empfindsam) style. This recording is devoted to the salterio, the Italian form of the instrument, for which a considerable number of works were composed in the eighteenth century. Margit Übellacker and Jürgen Banholzer present a selection of world premiere recordings of sonatas for salterio and basso continuo. These reflect the galant style of north Italy in the second half of the eighteenth century.

Peter Seivewright was amongst the first musicians to seriously research (in 1994) the 100+ keyboard sonatas by Venetian composer Galuppi, also famed as a pioneer of opera buffa. While others have since come to appreciate and record the fine variety and novelty of these works, for many personal and career reasons, Seivewright’s series was held up after volume 3 was released in 2004 but is now back on track with this intermediate album which includes also the G major Piano Concerto. Many of the sonatas have had to be reconstructed from single movement manuscripts. They show amazing diversity, from single-movement works to two- and three-movement pieces, and from basic baroque style to a Romanticism prescient of Schumann. Seivewright strongly believes that the works were specifically written for the pianoforte rather than harpsichord due to their frequent need for sostenuto and other factors. Peter Seivewright studied at Oxford then at the Royal Northern College of Music. He has performed extensively as recitalist and concerto soloist and has taught in colleges around the world, from Scotland to Trinidad to Afghanistan and most recently in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Known as Il Buranello after his island birthplace of Burano, opera composer Baldassare Galuppi was also admired as a keyboard player. His sonatas are quiet, refined gems of the utmost elegance and lyricism, with expressive contrasts ranging from poignant operatic aria style movements to the energetic influence of Scarlatti. This selection includes late works from the Passatempo al Cembalo. Matteo Napoli has been praised for his “enviable poise” (International Record Review) in volume 1 (8.572263) and “finely nuanced” playing (Fanfare) in volume 2 (8.572490).