In 1716 Telemann published a new collection of chamber music, designed for violin or flute or oboe with basso continuo accompaniment. He aimed his dedication not towards a noble patron, but at several important musicians of the time, demonstrating a new, proud self-image of the artists among themselves. The composer himself authorized performance of them on the keyboard alone, and so Andrea Coen has taken Telemann at his word and made his own lively arrangements. Each partita consists of a prelude and six brief dances or arias. Despite such seemingly formal uniformity, the cycle of Kleine Kammermusik contains a wealth of ideas, and it is not without reason that Telemann later recycled much of its melodic material: thus we may find here his musical world in miniature. In a short space we find French rondos and chaconnes, reminiscent of the affettuoso style of the Italian trio sonata, chromatic songs of lamentation and dances such as the Minuet, the Jig, the Gavotte and the Passepied. Andrea Coen is an organist, harpsichordist, and fortepianist, who has studied with such distinguished artists as Ton Koopman and Alan Curtis, and has collaborated with such figures as Christopher Hogwood and Monica Huggett. His recordings of Baroque and early-Classical keyboard repertoire for Brilliant Classics have attracted glowing reviews. Coen made the first complete recording of Telemann’s Fantasias (94228). According to MusicWeb International: ‘Coen, an experienced, insightful instrumentalist with a profound knowledge of historical performance practice and a sackful of important recordings under his belt, could make Telemann sound special even on a typewriter.’

As both conductor at La Scala from 1802 to 1833, and a professor at the new conservatoire in Milan, Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841) was the heartbeat of Milanese music in the turbulent early decades of the 19th century. He was also an accomplished performer on both violin and viola, and his own compositional output reflects his instrumental mastery, filtered through his experience of leading the Italian premieres of quartets and symphonies by Beethoven as well as operas by Mozart: he was a complete musician of his time. The F major Viola Concerto opening this attractive new album belongs to Rolla’s apprentice years in service to the ducal court at Parma. With its uncompromising technical demands and unwavering focus on the solo instrument, the concerto represents a missing link between the idioms of Tartini and Paganini. The dawn of bel canto may be discerned in the slow movement of the album’s concluding D minor Viola Concerto, which concludes with a charmingly bucolic Rondo. Dating from Rolla’s Milanese years, the 1805 Tantum ergo also features a concertante role for the viola, in sinuous accompaniment to the vocal bass soloist: a highly original device perhaps prompted by Mozart’s famous Sinfonia Concertante. As a performer, Rolla reserved the most haunting melodies and moments for himself: After a vocal cadenza on the closing Amen it is the viola that sets the seal on the work with an intensely lyrical phrase and a brilliantly virtuosic stretta. The D major Sinfonia likewise belongs to the first decade of the 1800s – infused with Rossinian verve and bubbling with operatic drama in the quick outer movements. The Milanese violist Simonide Braconi plays Rolla’s music to the manner born, being the long-standing principal violist at La Scala. He is accompanied here by a chamber orchestra based in nearby Pavia and specialising in Classical-era works by neglected composers.

Described as "one of the most interesting composers" of recent years, composer-performer Giorgio Mirto is a leading light in the world of contemporary guitar music. Here Mirto fronts his own chamber music for guitar and strings, supported by a superb group of colleagues and friends who make this music glad and infectious. Mirto approaches composition for the guitar as only a performer and lover of the instrument can, with great affinity and delight.

Liszt: Sonata in B minor; Tre Sonetti del Petrarca; Légende

Nowadays Giulio Caccini is best known for his contributions to a selection of 16th and 17th century Arie Antiche which form an essential component of every young singer's training. Born in Rome in 1550, he moved to Florence as a teenager and died there in 1618 having become the city's pre-eminent composer at a time when it attracted wealth and people from around the world. In 1602 he published a collection of his works which promised, as the title implied, a new kind of music which spoke with what he identified in his preface as 'a certain noble negligence of song. In doing so, one sometimes used several dissonances while sustaining the bass note. [...] Never before had anyone heard the euphony of a single voice, to a single stringed instrument, [...] which had so much power to move the affect of the soul.' The texts of this collection dealt with love, it's torments and periodic fulfilment. The technique of his musical settings was placed entirely in the service of these texts so that they would speak to the listener as directly as possible, enhanced and not obscured by the harmony. He did this by simplifying textures and reserving dissonances for exceptional expressive effect: a technique that would come to exercise an enormous influence on his immediate successors, most notable among them Claudio Monteverdi. The tenor at the heart of this Caccini collection is Riccardo Pisani, born in Rome and trained there at the prestigious Accademia di Santa Cecilia, where he studied with the distinguished early-music contralto Sara Mingardo. He has taken the title role in Orfeo with Rene Jacobs and sung more Monteverdi with world-class ensembles such as Concerto Italiano and La Venexiana. This album marks his debut on Brilliant Classics.

Soprano Francesca Scaini, winner of the 2001 Maria Callas award for sopranos, New Verdi Voices, and star of Hannover Staatsoper is accompanied herein by pianist Mattia Ometto. Liner notes (in English and Italian) contain work notes and performer biographies.

Nino: Chamber Music

A recital of the complete Hindemith violin sonatas, performed by violinist Eliot Lawson and pianist Jill Lawson. The violin sonatas reflect Hindemith's compositional development and his stunning ability to absorb, transform and adapt his many and varied influences - tonality, atonality polytonality, jazz, late Romanticism, etc... Booklet contains detailed notes on the music and artist biographies.

Chopin threw down the gauntlet for all who would come after him. These 24 studies, and the three works published as 'Nouvelles Etudes' within the M�thode des M�thodes de Moscheles et F�tis - a publication including studies by Henselt, Liszt, Mendelssohn and Thalberg - probe and refine every aspect of a pianist's technique, as one might expect from the technical and didactic implications of their title. What distinguishes them, however, from the hundreds of other similar volumes published throughout the 19th century and beyond, is the melodic genius, harmonic novelty and long-range structure that is peculiar to Chopin. Alessandro Deljavan is a young Italian pianist whose previous recordings for Brilliant Classics include the violin sonatas of Anton Rubinstein (BC94605), played with his regular duet partner Daniela Cammarano. Perhaps more pertinently, Brilliant has also just released his new recording of Chopin's Waltzes (BC95208). According to Fou T'Song - no mean Chopin pianist himself - Alessandro Deljavan is 'one of the most interesting pianists I have heard in my life'. Excerpts on YouTube from his success at the 2013 Van Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth confirm the truth and promise of Fou T'Song's acclamation. Deljavan's approach to the Etudes is not as monuments of pianism but with a charming and sometimes surprising sense of relaxation which takes for granted the kind of formidable technique that they were designed to test. Deljavan is free with the rubato that makes this music breathe: there are many other recordings of the Etudes that set the pages on fire: this one riffles them in the breeze, tapping into the vein of aching nostalgia from which all of Chopin's music draws. It was first made available as part of the most recent Chopin Edition from Brilliant Classics (BC94660).

Quinck, the premier solo vocal ensemble of the Netherlands, has, since their founding in 1978, performed a diverse repertoire spanning over 500 years of music and has won a string of awards for their numerous recordings. Music, when soft voices presents madrigals from Victorian England, where the genre, despite having fallen out of fashion across mainland Europe, saw an unprecedented rebirth in popularity, prompting the creation of many glee clubs to perform the old works as well as the composition of new madrigals. Featured are Sir Charles Parry's rarely recorded Six Modern Lyrics along with E.J. Moreran's buoyant Songs of Springtime and Ralph Vaughan Williams's Three Elizabethan Part songs and Silence and Music.

Ignazio Cirri lived the best part of the 18th century, a Maestro di Cappella of the Forli Cathedral in Italy. He wrote a large amount of liturgical music, but only two works were published, Violin Sonatas Opus 2, and the present Organ Sonatas Opus 1. Cirri's sonatas are in pre-classical style, and with their two movements form a bridge between the single-movement sonatas by Scarlatti and Paradisi and the Viennese sonatas by Haydn and Mozart with their 3 movements. The writing is elegant and refined, and displays an excellent command of counterpoint. Massimo Gabba, one of the most notable young organists of Italy, plays a magnificent Grisante organ of the Parish Church of San Bononio in Pozzengo, originating from the early 18th century. All it's specifications and photo are included in the booklet, which is written in English and Italian.

The fourth installment of the complete orchestral works O. Respighi include some of his most popular works - the Ancient Airs and Dances and the Rossiniana. Respighi's imaginative use of timbre and first-class orchestration permeate these engaging works, which are skillfully interpreted by an all-Italian cast. About the first volume in the series, The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma under Francesco La Vecchia certainly plays very well, with the brass fully on top of the numerous passages in which they are mercilessly exposed.

The aim of this collection is to provide listeners with a broader understanding of how music was conceived during the Italian Renaissance, beyond the usual focus on vocal works, whether sacred or dramatic. Libraries have been ransacked to find unusual examples of solo repertoire for violin, lyra da braccio, keyboard, harp and lute, but also solo ricercars, 4-part dances, and arrangements of the vocal scores of madrigals. The wide range of pieces that make up the recording give an eloquent idea of the music that would have been played and heard in the home of an Italian gentleman.

Liszt: Études D’Exécution Transcendante

Young French violinist Matthieu Arama learned his art with Igor Oistrakh and performs worldwide in important venues with leading orchestras and conductors. This CD is Arama's recording debut, showcasing his skills and musicality in a wide range of popular violin works: The fiendishly difficult Paganini's Moses Fantasy, the lyricism and charm of Wieniawski, the vigour and passion of Brahms's Hungarian Dances, the wit and humor of John Williams' Fiddler on the Roof, ending with the ever popular Zigeunerweisen by Sarasate. Arama plays a magnificent 1713 Stradivari.