Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Concerning his teaching method, Chopin held rigorously to the old legato school, the school of Clementi and of Cramer. This statement by George Mathias is in itself enough to gauge the importance of Johann Baptist Cramer in the history of piano teaching. Cramer's approach to composition retained the strong baroque influence of Bach, H�ndel and Scarlatti combined with the Viennese classicism of Mozart and Haydn - Cramer's lasting friendship with the latter began when he played for Haydn in 1791. Cramer was also open to the new music of the time and his tours enabled him to hear it first hand in Paris, Berlin, the Low Countries, Munich and Vienna. From 1817 he lived for a period in Germany - indeed in the second decade of the 19th century Cramer was considered among the greatest pianist-composers together with Clementi and Dussek. The 60 Etudes contained in this publication are those which have become classics as selected and revised by Hans von B�low with comments and fingering. Cramer published the original complete 84 Etudes in two books: the first in 1804 for Breitkopf & H�rtel of Leipzig and the second some time between 1807 and 1808. Those dates are particularly important because Book I of Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum op. 44 did not come out until 1817.

The shadow of Johann Sebastian Bach looms large over the few compositions for organ by Johannes Brahms which escaped their composer's destructive hand around 1880. Several date back to Brahms' youth when in 1856 he studied the organ in Dusseldorf as a self-taught player. They also show the influence of the contrapuntal writing which had been his daily bread when he was hard at his craft as an apprentice composer. The other works for the instrument belong to Brahms' mature years when he plumbed the depths of the spiritual. On this release, Johannes Brahms' organ works are performed by Italian organist, conductor, and musicologist Arturo Sacchetti. Sacchetti studied at the Conservatorio di Milano. He has given more than 2,300 concerts as a choral conductor, orchestral conductor, organist, harpsichord, and pianist. He has performed in public the complete works of Bach, Buxtehude, Mozart, Telemann, and others, and has made no less than 150 recordings.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Donizetti’s opera Parisina is a tragedia lirica in three acts with libretto by Felice Romani. The work is based on Lord Byron’s poem of the same name, written in 1816. The work was well received at its premiere in Florence in 1833, then gained more notoriety a decade later when it was referenced in Alexandre Dumas’ novel The Count of Monte Cristo. Mariella Devia sings the title role in this performance. Both the public and critics alike have noted this role among the other bel canto roles she has sung in her career. This production was recorded live on May 20, 1990 at the Teatro della Pergola, Florence, the same location where the work was premiered.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music