Notes left by Gustav Holst reveal that he began recording his compositions in 1895, and continued until his death. In the pages dating from 1909, we find the first mention of the 1st Suite for Military Band Op. 28. This is, curiously, the only information we have concerning the work's origins. Icredibly, the first performance did not take place until 1929, (a similar fate awaited the 2nd Suite, composed in 1911, and not given its first performance until 1922!). With a history dating back to 1836, the Soncino band established itself nationally in 1906 on the occasion of the Milan Exposition music competition. In 1993 under the direction of Ugo Vanoli and Giancarlo Locatelli, the band was completely refounded and since 1999 it has been a semi-professional group under the direction of maestro Luca Valenti. The group has performed in Italy and abroad in more than 130 concerts, and has recorded 45 albums. Their repertoire consists primarily of transcriptions of symphonic music and operas, and original works for winds.

An overall glance at the history of opera shows that in many ways, the growth of multinational record companies after the end of the Second World War has had far-reaching effects. Up till then the national singing schools controlled the scene and nothing could have been more logical than for Italian, German, Russian and French singers to perform mainly in their own language. The language an opera was staged in depended on where the opera was being performed. For example: Boris Godunov wasput on in Russian at the Bolshoi, in Italian at the Scala, in French at the Opera, in German at the Staatsoper in Vienna, in English at Covent Garden and in English or Italian at the Met, depending on which company was performing. This release, despite it's 1962 recording, follows that same tradition of singing the presented opera in the language of the country in which it is being performed. In this case, Italian.

Mauro Giuliani was a composer deeply rooted in the everyday musical life of the Vienna of his era, a city on which Mozart had recently left his mark, where Haydn's art had come to his final flowering and where Beethoven and Schubert were soon to tower above all others. Never in the history of the guitar has the instrument been so close to and so in tune with the great names of classical music. On this release, Antonio Puccio presents Giuliani's complete Rossiniane and Pot-Pourris. Giuliani arranged many nineteenth century opera themes for the guitar. His work Le Rossiniane includes numerous themes from the operas of Rossini, including Otello, L'Italienne a Alger, Cendrillon, and others. He wrote his Pot Pourri in 1811, more than a decade before his Rossiniane. These two sets of pieces have been rarely performed and recorded, and quite unfairly so. Originally recorded and released to great acclaim in 1999, this album is now available nearly twenty years later, and still just as significant.

Any attempt at a review of compositions devoted to the bassoon, will inevitably reveal how few of them there are, despite the fact that, in our century, greater exploration of the possibilites of this instrument has led to an increase ia a repertoire which is fundamentally very limited. On the other hand, the many technical improvements have resulted in the bassoon's icreased participation in ensemble chamber compositions, frequently accompanied by the piano. In addition to compositions originaly conceived for piano and bassoon, this release includes, in the second half, trascriptions of compositions originally written for variously formed ensemble, which have contributed to the extension of the repertoire, at the same time exploiting to the full many possibilites offered by these instruments. The works are performed here by Stefano Canuti and Massimo Somenzi, two of Italy's most sought-after bassonists.

A short article can hardly hope to do justice to the memory of Boris Christoff, the famous Bulgarian bass born in Plovdiv on May 18th 1914 who died in Rome on June 28th 1993. One could write endlessly about his career which began almost by chance after he graduated in law, or about his relationship with his teacher, the great baritone Riccardo Stracciari, or about his clashes with directors (for example in the 1948 version of Boris Godunov directed by Peter Broook) or colleagues (the 1956 Medea in Riome with Maria Callas). One could give a detailed description of his concept of art, of opera, of music and of life itself. But, alas space is short. Let us concentrate then, on this production of Khovatchina, recorded live at the Foro Italico on August 3rd 1958 in Rome during the then magnificent RAI seasons. It should be noted at once that this recording fills a most serious gap and brings us one of the key roles Christoff was to perform during his career. It is incomprehensible why he was made to record the complete edition of Mussorgsky's melodies - a monument to Christoff's art - two versions of Boris Godunov (in 1952 with Issay Dobrowen and ten years later with André Cluytens) but never his colorful interpretation of Dossifej. Khovanshchina was written between 1872 and 1880 in St. Petersburg, Russia. When the composer died in 1881, the opera remained unfinished and unperformed. The work deals with Russian history, particularly the rebellion of Prince Ivan Khovansky, the Old Believers, and the Muscovite Streltsy against the regent Sofia Alekseyevna and the young Tsars Peter the Great and Ivan V.