The 1845 three act opera Tannhauser by Richard Wagner is based on two German legends: Tannhauser, the legendary medieval German poet, and the tale of the Wartburg Song Contest. The opera focuses on the struggle between sacred and profane love and redemption through love- themes that are commonly seen in Wagner’s mature works. This release features a production of Tannhauser conducted by the eminent Artur Rodzinski, and featuring vocalist Karl Liebl in the title role as well as fellow singers Eberhard Wachter, Gre Brouwestijn, Herta Wilfert, and others. This production took place in Rome at the Auditorium della RAI in November of 1957. Polish conductor Artur Rodzinski (1892-1958) was born in Dalmatia, but moved to Lwow, Poland where he began his musical studies. He enrolled later at the Academy of Music in Vienna, where he studied with Josef Marx and Franz Schreker (composition), Franz Schalk (conducting), and Emil von Sauer and Jerzy Lalewicz (piano). He is most remembered for his tenures as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic during the 1930s and 1940s.

That a simple visit to an exhibition of English art could have impelled Stravinsky to compose his last neoclassical masterpiece is really only slightly credible. It is true that the ultra-renowned series of engravings by William Hogarth effectively permits the conception of a 'plot' of a lyric work, but only Stravinsky's fervid fantasy could have allowed this to become a reality. But, as already stated, all this would not have been sufficient: in fact the composer himself had the firm intention of composing a lyric opera and (already from 1947 after having finished Orpheus) he had been seeking on ideal subject which would allow him to try hand in a new work, in the neoclassical style, which might be at one and the same time the apotheosis and the definitive conclusion of one of his compositional styles. His Hollywood neighbor, the celebrated writer Aldous Huxley, seeing the Stravinskian enthusiasm for the eighteenth century engravings, suggested that he entrust the libretto of the book to a really special writer: Wystan Hugh Auden. The result speaks for itself. This release features a live recording of the opera which took place at the Metropolitan Opera House of New York on February 14, 1953.

Karl Bohm was born in Graz, Austria, on the 28th of August 1894. Upon leaving school, he moved to Vienna for a year where, at the Staatsoper, he heard Leo Slezak, Carl Burrian and Enrico Caruso, and was thunderstruck by their art. In truth, it is curious to note that the main part of his autobiography is dedicated to lyric artists, song and opera, most unusual for a pupil of Eusebius Mandyczewski and the heir apparent to the great German instrumental tradition. This release features Bohm conducting great staples of his repertoire, including works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Schumann. Recorded between 1951 and 1963, these recordings capture a master at the peak of his career. Soloists heard on these legendary recordings include Wilhelm Backhaus, Enrico Mainardi, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, and more.

This brilliant recording of Mozart’s Don Giovanni was taken live in the Auditorium del Conservatorio G. Verdi di Milano in April of 1960. Sure to become a reference recording, this release features Leyla Gencer in the role of Donn’Elvra, Sesto Bruscantini in the role of Leporello, and Mario Petri in the role of Don Giovanni. The star of the show, Mario Petri was an Italian operatic bass who was widely known for his Mozart and Rossini roles. He sang his first Don Giovanni in 1950 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He quickly became associated with this role across Italy. This reputation led to invitation to appear at the festivals of Glyndebourne, Salzburg, and Edinburgh.

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.

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.

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.

The compositional style of A. J. Romani and the theme of the present recording is the idea of Romani's approachable compositions which are rooted in tonality. The first pieces for voice and pianoforte are tonal and reminiscent of the German lieder while the lyrics are by such romantic and post romantic poets as V. Hugo, G. Apollinaire and A. de Vigny. Capiacla for voice, clarinet and pianoforte is a setting of a poem by Valentina Ferri, itself loosely based on 'A. Juana' by A. de Musset. It is a moderately difficult, tonal work and recalls the style of the German romantics. The instrumental pieces are also tonal and contain a number of considerable difficulties involving both performance and interpretation, particularly in the four-handed composition for pianoforte. Pianists Leonarda Tomarchio and Stefano Coccon are featured here, alongside violinist Luca Torciani, cellist Claudio Giacomazzi, clarinetist Sergio Casellato and soprano Cristina Vera-Diaz.

This new release introduces two Requiems. The first is a German Requiem by Johannes Brahms in an unusual version translated into Italian and performed at RAI in Turin in April 1954 with a stellar cast including soprano Rosanna Carters and bass Boris Christoff conducted by the great master Bruno Walter. The other track is the Giuseppe Verdi Requiem performed in Salzburg in September 1949. The presence of Boris Christoff in both pieces is the guiding thread that connects the two works. In the Verdi, other singers include Hilde Zadek, Margarete Klose, and Helge Roswaenge. They are accompanied by the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by the great Herbert von Karajan.

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.

The compositions on this release, which walk along the border between past and present, were dedicated to the guitar by Glauco Cataldo. He is a free-thinking musician, working in self-imposed isolation, and deserving of fame not only for his experience and substantial output, but also for the quality of his work, the fruit of an extremely unusual artistic and intellectual personality. Cataldo was born in Naples in March 1920. He studied music first in Pesaro and later in Milan, with Giorgio Federico Ghedini and Antonio Votto. From 1948 onward, he served as a teacher at the G. Nicolini Conservatory of Piacenza. He passed away in 2009. The works on this album are performed by Italian guitarist Giancarlo Dellacasa.

Songs wthout a sequence. The series 'Canti selz'ordinale' (1966) for voice and harp has been written for Elena Arcuri and Paola Devot by setting text of various origin to music; it has no order except that the compositions are chronologically arranged; it consists of sixteen melodies for alto voice and harp and totals 45 minutes. The texts are mainly of the Hellenist period, taken from the fifth and twelffth books of the Greek Anthology (Palatine manuscript), and translated for these artists by Angelo della Rebecca. One lyric is by Giovanni Zilioli; one is by Gabriele D'Annunzio (from Alcyone); two are by Angelo della Rebecca.

Italian composer, teacher, and pianist Camillo Togni came from a wealthy family, and was thus able to pursue his art as he saw fit. He began studying piano at the age of 7. Eventually he received his diploma from the Conservatory of Parma. He was introduced to Arnold Schoenberg in 1938, which profoundly affected his compositional style and caused him to develop an interest in the Second Viennese School. In his later years he held positions at universities teaching contemporary music and composition. This release is a sampling of some of his finest works, including his Sonata for Flute and Piano (1954) which features flutist Severino Gazzelloni and the composer accompanying on piano. Also notable is the Live recording of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and soprano Dorothy Dorow performing Helian di Georg Trakl on June 6, 1962.

This album is a tribute to the great Romanian conductor Otto Ackermann (1909-1960) and includes live recordings from 1952 to 1956 with the Orchester der Tonhalle Zurich. In the Antonin Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor Op. 104 Otto Ackermann conducts the Orchestra with a special appearance by the famous French cellist Paul Tortelier (1914-1990). Otto Ackermann was born in Bucharest. He studied at the Berlin Hochschule, and went on to conduct the Royal Romanian Opera when he was only fifteen years old. Several of his recordings made with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Netherlands Philharmonic, and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra are still used today as reference recordings.