Masterpieces of Baroque piano literature, in critically acclaimed recordings by pianists with a fine sensibility for the 18th century. Recordings made between 2005 and 2023; new booklet essay; an ideal budget introduction to the world of the Baroque keyboard, full of elegant dances and virtuoso playing. This survey of Baroque composers ranges from the high-point of 18th-century keyboard writing, the Goldberg Variations of Bach, to little known gems such as the sonatas by Espona, Galuppi and Giustini. It places the three great masters of the Baroque - Bach, Handel and Rameau - in the context of their influential predecessor, Sweelinck, and then those composers such as Galuppi and Espona who write in a new, galant style which overlaps with the Classicism of Mozart. Some of the artists on these recordings are still in their 20s, having grown up with a culture of historically informed performance practice which they then bring to their handling of a modern piano. Others, such as Yuan Sheng and Wolfram-Schmitt Leonardy, have been playing these pieces for many decades, and bring to them a career's worth of experience in teasing out the meaning and rhetoric of 18th-century phrasing and harmony on an instrument which none of the composers ever encountered. Handel is represented not by the familiar Eight 'Great' Suites but by an imaginative collection of earlier suites. Scarlatti's fertile invention is generously celebrated with 35 of his sonatas. Bach predominates, naturally, with the Six Partitas and the Italian Concerto as well as the Goldbergs, thus representing the stylistic range of his output. Keyboard styles from all over mainland Europe make an appearance, in the Dutch/Italian nobility of Sweelinck, the Hispanic-Italian flavour of Scarlatti, the French accents of Bach and Handel, and native French of Rameau, and the exuberantly Italian flourishes and proto-operatic gestures of Galuppi and Giustini. There is something here for everyone.

Classical Music

I have devoted this most recent recording to dance. The pieces that I perform here are all linked to the art of dance from different eras and different cultures. Throughout history and in most people's perception, dance has always been a source of entertainment and joy, but it can also represent more sombre occasions, with pomp and grandeur. The Chaconne, for example, has become both tragic and sublime over time and today it's rhythm has mellowed! Chopin's Mazurkas can be rustic and folkloric, haunting or lyrical, even dramatic. In short, dance can express diametric opposites and unite those opposites at the same time. That's why I also want to pay homage to Shiva's dance, for this god, the symbol of destruction, illusion and ignorance, destroys in order to awaken human beings and lead them to create a new world. Shiva's divine dance, Tandava Nritya, is regarded by Hinduism as the origin of the cycle of creation, preservation and devastation. Vagharshapat Dance is based upon a melody from 'Yerangi' found in "Six Dances for Piano" (1906) by the legendary Armenian composer Komitas (1869?935). Vagharshapat is the location of Etchmiadzin Cathedral and the fourth largest city in Armenia located 11 miles west of Yerevan. My recording ends with Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance", in an arrangement of my own. The duality of this piece's character is obvious, as while the sabers suggest the idea of death, the dance becomes a 'living dance? one that enchants us or, a dance that comes alive. I hope that the current times of wars, destruction and social upheaval will soon be replaced by peace and the joy that comes with it, and I hope that this recording brings a form of respite and quietude and with it lightness, joy and happiness. Vardan Mamikonian "Vardan Mamikonian demonstrates a technique that combines power and poetry... and flashes of interpretive genius." New York Times Vardan Mamikonian has come to the attention of the international press and public thanks to his prestigious technique and extraordinary musicality. He has performed in the United States with such renowned orchestras as the Atlanta, San Francisco, Detroit, Pacific, Houston and National Symphonies, as well as with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. He is a guest at major international festivals such as Verbier and St. Moritz in Switzerland, Ravinia in the USA, La Roque d'Antheron in France, the Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival in Germany, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. He gives recitals in some of the world's most prestigious music venues: Musikverein Vienna, Carnegie Hall New York, Theatre des Champs-elysees Paris, Herkulessaal Munich, Wigmore Hall London, Tonhalle Zurich, Davies Symphony Hall San Francisco and Kennedy Center Washington, to name but a few. Born in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of musicians, Vardan Mamikonian began studying piano at the Spendiarian School of Music in his hometown, under Arkui Haroutunian. He continued his studies at the Moscow Central Music School and the prestigious Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Valery Kastelsky, one of the last proteges of the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus. He then went on to perfect his skills at the Piano Academy in Imola, Italy, under the guidance of Lazar Berman. In 1991, Vardan moved to Paris, and in 1992, he won the World Music Masters Competition in Monte Carlo, reserved exclusively for winners of international competitions. Vardan Mamikonian has taken part in numerous recordings for radio and television, as well as for the German label Orfeo. Several of his recordings have been praised by the international press.

With this first record, titled Profili, a collaboration (already consolidated) is born between the record label Digressione Music and the Festival and Competition "Wanda Landowska"; the latter, dedicated to the Harpsichord in all its stylistic and expressive variations, is directed by Margherita Porfido. The three young musicians we present here are the harpsichordists Davide Cicconi and Svitlana Rudd, and the violinist Juliane Oberegger, who were Absolute Winners of the "IX Edition of the 2022 Competition", the first two as W. Landowska Ex Equo Prize - Solo Harpsichord, while the two young musicians together for the Chamber Music section. The composers chosen for this recording are the great German musician Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), whose French Suite No. 2 in C minor BWV 813 and Toccata in D major BWV 912 are performed by harpsichordist Davide Cicconi, and the French composer Elisabeth Claude Jaquet de la Guerre (1666-1729) with the Second Suite for solo Harpsichord (1687), performed by Ukrainian Svitlana Rudd, and the First Suite for Violin and Harpsichord (1707) performed by Rudd and Austrian violinist Juliane Oberegger.

The Book of Psalms is an ancient corpus of 150 texts exploring thanksgiving, lamentation, penitence, and spirituality, which have significantly influenced mythical and secular poetry. Including several premiere recordings, this album features well-loved settings of these treasured words, together with fresh compositions by emerging composers.

Between the new and the familiar, the accordion is a young instrument. This is precisely why I believe it lends itself almost naturally, or rather vocationally, to experimentation. At the same time, its place in the collective imagination, its wide diffusion in popular and folkloric cultures, also make it a “familiar”, “domestic” instrument. This combination of “familiarity” and experimentation is, then, the inspiration behind the entire “Fly. Electronic Music for Accordion” project. New works for accordion and electronics aimed precisely at enhancing such duplicity: the feeling of familiarity and the disconcerting activation of the new. For this purpose, I involved some of the Italian composers among those I most respect, with whom I could establish a creative relationship that could lead to the development of particularly significant works featuring this instrument. At least in my ambitions and intentions. What the outcome will be is not for me to say. The fact remains that when a new work is born, especially one with some compositional weight, we are always faced with an event, the opening up of a world, which, however bewildering, or perhaps precisely because of this, proves capable of putting us in relation with ourselves and with the contemporaneity in which we live. Besides this, the choice of alternating the electroacoustic works with “small” pieces (in terms of duration) taken from the historical, classical literature to which we belong, is also intended to promote precisely the coexistence between familiarity and experimentation. A piece of “easy” listening, “familiar”, a prelude or postlude, as it were, in order to “cleanse” the ear, in some way to prepare it for a different kind of listening, that of electroacoustic music, which is complex and full of novel information, not “familiar”. Fragments of history, therefore, that intervene in the rhythm of listening, supposing a linear path, almost like recollections that assail the involuntary memory, to try to undergo an experience that allows us to achieve a relationship between reminiscence and the new.
Germano Scurti

Johann Sebastian Bach never hesitated to adapt, rework and truly metamorphose his own music with remarkable aplomb. There is no shortage of examples. It is this model of transcription that the D!ssonanti ensemble has sought to follow in the programme on this disc. With the notable exception of the Ciaccona BWV 1004, originally written for solo violin - and already the subject of countless transcriptions throughout the ages - they have for the most part drawn on the keyboard repertoire, and in particular the great organ, an instrument that is both fascinating and sometimes a little intimidating. The Passacaglia and Thema Fugatum BWV 582, almost always written for four voices, is the culmination of this repertoire. Each of the members of the ensemble, in the course of a busy life spent in contact with Bach's music played on period instruments and with a concern for authenticity in the most prestigious ensembles (Les Arts Florissants, Pygmalion, Freiburger Barockorchester, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen...), have acquired sufficient proximity to his musical language to respect, if not the letter, at least the spirit. "Our hope is to use these adaptations to show Bach in a light that is both new and familiar. A protean Bach that we've had a lot of fun imagining - and the treasure chest we've opened is not about to close again...".

Robert Horton; the 2022 First Prize Winner in the American Guild of Organists' National Competition in Organ Improvisation (NCOI); presents a program of organ improvisations modeled after a variety of musical forms; in addition to his adaptations of music of Bach and Mendelssohn for solo pipe organ; on the new Pasi Opus 28 pipe organ at St. George's Episcopal Church; Arlington; Virginia USA.

The main purpose of this edition is to assist those "desirous of learning" with some suggestions and information that might be helpful in the process of learning, understanding and performing the works of Bach. These suggestions should not be taken as a "must" to follow, but are simply meant to assist in the comprehension and practical execution of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) and to encourage further exploration. This Edition is available in 2 Books, or as 48 separate 'Preludes and Fugues' scores

The main purpose of this edition is to assist those "desirous of learning" with some suggestions and information that might be helpful in the process of learning, understanding and performing the works of Bach. These suggestions should not be taken as a "must" to follow, but are simply meant to assist in the comprehension and practical execution of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) and to encourage further exploration. This Edition is available in 2 Books, or as 48 separate 'Preludes and Fugues' scores

The main purpose of this edition is to assist those "desirous of learning" with some suggestions and information that might be helpful in the process of learning, understanding and performing the works of Bach. These suggestions should not be taken as a "must" to follow, but are simply meant to assist in the comprehension and practical execution of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) and to encourage further exploration. This Edition is available in 2 Books, or as 48 separate 'Preludes and Fugues' scores.

The main purpose of this edition is to assist those “desirous of learning” with some suggestions and information that might be helpful in the process of learning, understanding and performing the works of Bach. These suggestions should not be taken as a “must” to follow, but are simply meant to assist in the comprehension and practical execution of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) and to encourage further exploration. This Edition is available in 2 Books, or as 48 separate ‘Preludes and Fugues’ scores.

The main purpose of this edition is to assist those "desirous of learning" with some suggestions and information that might be helpful in the process of learning, understanding and performing the works of Bach. These suggestions should not be taken as a "must" to follow, but are simply meant to assist in the comprehension and practical execution of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) and to encourage further exploration. This Edition is available in 2 Books, or as 48 separate 'Preludes and Fugues' scores

The main purpose of this edition is to assist those "desirous of learning" with some suggestions and information that might be helpful in the process of learning, understanding and performing the works of Bach. These suggestions should not be taken as a "must" to follow, but are simply meant to assist in the comprehension and practical execution of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) and to encourage further exploration. This Edition is available in 2 Books, or as 48 separate 'Preludes and Fugues' scores

The main purpose of this edition is to assist those "desirous of learning" with some suggestions and information that might be helpful in the process of learning, understanding and performing the works of Bach. These suggestions should not be taken as a "must" to follow, but are simply meant to assist in the comprehension and practical execution of The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC) and to encourage further exploration. This Edition is available in 2 Books, or as 48 separate 'Preludes and Fugues' scores.