A rare and very interesting work composed exactly in the middle of the 19th century, Crispino e la comare is one of the last examples of Italian traditional opera buffa. Composed by Neapoltan brothers Luigi and Federico Ricci, the opera quickly gained popularity in Italy but also appreciated abroad, where it was performed, between 1854 and 1871, in Constantinople, Barcelona, Malta, London, C�diz, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, New York, Warsaw, New Orleans, Mexico City, Li�ge, Brussels, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Santiago de Chile, Baden Baden, Berlin, Calcutta and Melbourne: virtually a planetary success. The protagonist's role is one of the great bass roles of 19th-century opera buffa, requiring an interpreter equally versed in acting and singing (as is this production's Domenico Colaianni). A production of Martina Franca Festival, Italy 2013

MONTEVERDI: Vesperae de Confessore

The Dynamic label presents, in a world premiere in its video formats (DVD and Blu-ray) Francesco Cilea’s rarely heard or produced opera L’Arlesiana (1897, rev. 1898). • It’s the story of Federico, the older son of the widow and farm owner Rosa Mamai, and his insane passion for a mysterious woman who, in the opera, is never shown. Federico wants to marry her desperately, dreams of her, suffers for her, and step-by-step his mind begins to waver. • The people around him try in vain to prevent this love from becoming a damning obsession. • The end result for Federico, however, is tragic. • The opera’s famous aria "Il lamento di Federico" has been a favorite with tenors throughout the ages, including Enrico Caruso. • This recording also features the aria for tenor, "Una mattina", written by Cilea for the opera's first version and then lost, here in world première recording. • Directed by Rosetta Cucchi, a co-production between Teatro Pergolesi and Wexford Festival Opera.

Dynamic presents the second volume of a series of three releases dedicated to Overtures and Symphonies spanning three centuries of Italian opera. The first volume was dedicated to the eighteenth century, while this second features the early nineteenth century. The great popularity of Italian Opera in European courts and theatres transformed this music genre, which had first appeared at the beginning of the seventeenth century as a court entertainment, into a product of wide international circulation, universally loved. In the wake of its success, other European nations developed a local operatic tradition but Italian opera kept a predominant role in Europe throughout the entire 19th century. That being the case, it was natural for foreign composers to want to study in Italy where they sometimes remained indefinitely, becoming, for all intents and purposes, composers of Italian opera. Two such composers were Mayr and Arrieta, who join in this program, their most important Italian colleagues of that period: Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini.

World premiere on Blu-ray! Beatrice di Tenda is a tragic opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini. In Beatrice very diverse elements coexist: there are music patterns already experimented in Norma and used here to their utmost potential, side by side with new ways and techniques, which would be treasured by Verdi.

Giulio Briccialdi (1818 - 1881) was one of the greatest European flautists of the 19th century. Like all great virtuosos, he mainly wrote for his instrument, alternating the customary variations on well-known themes with original compositions, often of a more melodic and sentimental nature. This release features a fine collection of Briccialdi's works from both these veins: to the first belong Paganini's Danza delle Streghe Op. 138, and the variations on the Carnival of Venice, on Verdi's Traviata and on the Aria of Berta from Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia. Original works are the three fine Romances for flute and piano Op. 140, here recorded for the first time, inspired by the death of his daughter, and Le attuali dmozioni d'Italia Op. 103, for the same two instruments, written in the 1860s in the incandescent atmosphere that followed the national liberation wars.

Liszt’s own vast output includes a tremendous quantity of transcriptions. These range from Bach organ works to extracts of Wagner, as well as virtuoso fantasias and ‘paraphrases’ of oepras by Mozart, Verdi and Gounod, among many others. These pieces were the composer’s free reimagining of the existing works, designed to dazzle. But his transferring to the piano of Beethoven’s nine symphonies is entirely different. These accounts are profoundly faithful to the score, prepared with minute attention to matters of instrumental timbre on the one side and suitably pianistic translations of orchestral textures and techniques on the other. This is the second volume of the complete Liszt piano transcriptions of Beethoven’s 9 symphonies, released in five separate issues. The first one featured the Symphonies Nos 1 and 6. This second one contains the Symphony No. 3 (Eroica), 4 tracks, and the 6 Bagatelles Op. 126, 6 tracks. Baldocci is a brilliant young pianist who is making a fine career; he is thought highly of by Martha Argerich, with whom he often appears in concert.

A prolific composer of exceptional talent, Domenico Cimarosa was one of the leading composers of 18th-century Italian opera, greatly admired throughout Europe. Today he is known mainly for Matrimonio Segreto, but his output of operas numbers almost one hundred works, which were performed to resounding success anywhere there was a theatre and a company of singers. In his long and successful creative life, Cimarosa also wrote a series of sonatas for keyboard, generally very short but full of interest and worthy heirs to Domenico Scarlatti's 555 harpsichord sonatas. A first collection of the Cimarosa Sonatas was published by Felice Boghen in Paris in 1925. Bohen's collection consisted of 32 sonatas, and almost all performers used that publication. In 1971, two Italian pianists, Vincenzo Vitale and Carlo Bruno, made a new edition based on the Cimarosa manuscripts of the Conservatory of Florence, adding 31 new sonatas. Andrea Coen recently published the complete 88 Sonatas in two books. After a first album featuring 44 of the works, pianist Dario Canela now concludes the project with this second release. He tackles these works with the nuanced virtuosity and lyricism that only an heir to the great Neapolitan piano school can deliver, such as he is.

Giovanni Battista Sammartini was without doubt the most active and prolific musician in Milan for three quarters of the eighteenth century. He was both a performer and a composer - of opera, sacred, symphonic and chamber works - but today he is mainly known for his contribution to the development of the modern symphony in the form later adopted and codified by Austro-German composers. The most original trait in his keyboard sonata works is the pursuit of variety and innovation within a consistent and logical context. The successions of contrasting rhythms produce enjoyable effects both for the performer and the listener. This release offers a significant selection of the approaches, technical solutions, styles and innovations used by Sammartini in his keyboard music. The programme does not follow chronological order but rather the performer’s personal criterion. A pianist and harpsichordist, Simonetta Heger teaches at the Conservatory of Milan. She is an active international concert performer on both instruments, as soloist and in ensembles. Her repertoire ranges from the 1600s to contemporary music.

Among the musicians of 17th-century Naples who have been rediscovered and re-evaluated during the last decades - mainly thanks to Antonio Florio's performances - Antonio Nola is one of the least known, even though the few works of his that have been studied definitely place him among the forerunners and the protagonists of the Neapolitan school of the day. The few biographical information that we have about this enigmatic figure are that he was born in Naples in 1642 and entered the Piet� dei Turchini Conservatory at the age of ten. He later worked as an organist in the city's Cathedral and composed sacred music for the local music schools. Later on in his life he became a priest. The programme of this World Premiere Recording release consists of six unpublished works by Domenico Antonio Nola, five motets, a dialogue, and the sequence Stabat Mater, the manuscripts of which are all found in the Archive of the Girolamini Oratory in Naples. In addition, there is a work for instrumental ensemble by Pietro Marchitelli, a Sonata a tre composed in Naples in Nola's time. This monographic programme was prepared by Antonio Florio for the 2019 edition of the Cracow's Misteria Paschalia Festival - of which he's the artistic director- celebrating Easter week. The Neapolitan conductor is at the head of the ensemble Cappella Neapolitana and a group of solo singers who are all specialized in this kind of repertoire.

ON AN OVERGROWN PATH & OTHER P

This new DVD release celebrates one of the largest open-air theaters in the world, the Arena of Verona. This documentary contains interviews with the famous directors, conductors, and singers who appeared at the Arena in the early 1980s, including Sherrill Millnes, Rajna Kabaiwanska, Fiorenza Cossotto, and many more. Also included are excerpts from performances of Rigoletto, Aida, Traviata, and Nabucco. Subtitles are available in Italian, English, French, German, Japanese, and Korean.

The first decades of the 19th century saw an exceptional flourishing of guitar music, as an important modification in the instrument's structure had occurred in the late 1700s: the addition of a sixth string to the five in use up to then. With six strings, the guitar quickly became popular all over Europe, especially Vienna and Paris, thanks to the works of several Italian and Spanish guitarists. Among them was Mauro Giuliani, who was born near Bari, in 1781. Little is known about his training years, but in 1806 he was already an accomplished artist living in Vienna, where had friendly relationships with Beethoven, Hummel and Moscheles. Back in Italy in 1819, he failed to achieve the same success and prematurely died in Naples in 1829. In his works Giuliani skillfully merged the legacy of the Italian 18th-century instrumental tradition with the achievements of the Viennese music culture. His works are in pure classical style, but with a grace and melodic spontaneity that are typically Italian. Christian El Khouri began to study guitar at a young age. After graduating at Milan's "Giuseppe Verdi" Conservatory, he also earned a teacher's diploma which led him to his current role of guitar professor at the "Liceo Musicale P. Secco Suardo" in Bergamo. He has achieved important results as soloist in several Italian and international competitions. Maestro El Khouri's lively performing activity leads him to concertize extensively in Italy and abroad, as soloist as well as a member of ensembles and chamber music orchestras.

This is the first of five recordings dedicated to Beethoven's complete symphonies transcriptions. Gabriele Baldocci has appeared at the most important concert halls and at major music festivals. He is an ambassador, performer and professor of the Martha Argerich Presents Project and frequently plays in chamber ensembles.

Siegfried is the third in the tetralogy of music dramas that make up Der Ring des Nibelungen. It charts the progress of the young hero as he unshackles himself from the dwarf Mime, reforges his father’s sword to kill the dragon Fafner, and thus takes possession of the Ring which he ultimately gives to Brünnhilde to symbolize his devotion. Siegfried contains imperishably beautiful passages such as the Forest Murmurs, the profound psychological landscape of the Prelude to Act III and the great duet between Siegfried and Brünnhilde. This performance from Sofia Opera features an acclaimed all-Bulgarian cast.