THE LEGACY OF CREMANA:(CD plus BOOK) - Ruggiero Ricci plays 18 contemporary violins - THE LEGACY OF CREMONA: NARDINI: Larghetto from Sonata in D (violin by Gregg Alf); DVORAK: Romantic Pieces Op. 75 No. 1 (violin by Samuel Zygmuntowicz); SCHUBERT/PRIHODA: Litany for All SoulsÆ Day (violin by Peter Greiner); SIBELIUS: Romance Op. 78 No. 2 (violin by Primo Pistoni); LISZT/MILSTEIN: Consolation (violin by William Muller); SCHUBERT/ RICCI: Nocturne in C minor (violin by Patrick Robin); ACHRON: Hebrew Melody Op. 33 (violin by Alberto Giordano); GRANADOS/KREISLER: Spanish Dance Op. 37 No. 5 (violin by David Bague); SARASATE: Malaguena (violin by roger Hargrave); RIMSKY-KORSAKOV/KREISLER: Song of India (violin by Christoph Gotting); DOHNAYI: Andante rubato alla zingaresca (violin by Luiz Bellini); PAGANINI: Cantabile in D major (violin by Frederic Chaudiere); WAGNER/WILHELMJ: Albumblatt (violin by Domenico Fantin); SCOTT/KREISLER: Lotus Land (violin by Joseph Curtin); SARASATE: Faust Fantasy (fragment)(violin by Roberto Regazzi); WIENIAWSKI: Garden Scene from Faust Fantasy (violin by Giancarlo Guicciardi); TCHAIKOVSKY/GRUNES: Valse Sentimentale Op. 51 No. 6 (violin by Renato Scrollavezza); HUBERT LEONARD: Cadenza for the 2nd movement of BeethovenÆs Concerto (played on each of the violins).

This is the third volume in the documentary series of Milan's La Scala theatre's "golden years." Renowned Italian journalist Enzo Biagi conducted these interviews that were originally produced on 16mm film. This installment documents La Scala's 1981 tour of Japan. It includes an inteviews with Claudio Abbado, Piero Cappuccilli, and Mirella Freni. There are also clips of Verdi's "Otello" conducted by Carlos Kleiber with performances by Placido Domingo, excerpts from "Simon Boccanegra," and Verdi's "Messa da Requiem."

Enzo Biagi was one of Italy’s most famous and beloved journalists. His fondness of the prestigious Milanese venue led to the programs the Dynamic label now presents Teatro La Scala: The Golden Years, in restored fashion on DVD, originally made 1981-82. Documenting the La Scala productions of those years, Biagi entered the theatre during the rehearsals and interviewed the protagonists (conductors, singers and directors), not only the figures of those days but also the great stars of the past. Includes a short, never before seen, otherwise unpublished interview with Maria Callas!

TARTINI, G.: Violin Concertos, Vol. 7 (L'Arte dell'Arco) -

REVIEWS:
International Record Review (4/00, p.44) - "these readings are a great deal more than just satisfactory....L'Arte dell'Arco and Dynamic are to be commended for undertaking such an ambitious and worthwhile project."

That these musical treasures have lain hidden away from humankind for so long is scandalous, and kudos to Dynamic and L'Arte dell'Arco for bringing them out of the vaults and on display.

This is Volume 16 - CDs 26 and 27 - in Dynamic's massive edition of Giuseppe Tartini's complete violin concertos, all performed by Italian chamber ensemble L'Arte dell'Arco. No indication is given either in the otherwise informative booklet or on Dynamic's wilfully uninformative website as to how many more volumes are due to be released. So far a magnificent 115 concertos have appeared. Precisely how many that leaves is rather a debatable point. The difficulties raised for musicologists trying to establish a chronology of Tartini's works by his practice of leaving autographs undated is often discussed in liner and programme notes, but what is generally not mentioned is the most salient fact - that Tartini deliberately left the dates out, not because it was the vogue, or because he was lackadaisical, but because he usually revised his works, often substantially. In other words, it is not at all unusual for there to be several versions of a piece, and no way of discerning for sure which changes pre- or post-date which.

Be that as it may, Tartini's concertos are a titanic achievement, not only in number or their historical significance, but also as outstanding works of art.

All the works on this release have been dated by musicologist Minos Dounias - whose catalogue of works, with groupings made according to key, provides the numbering used in these volumes - on stylistic grounds, to Tartini's so-called 'second period': from 1735 to 1750. Like all Tartini's violin concertos, these are not orchestral works, but concerti a 5 - for solo violin, four further string parts (violin, viola, cello and violone) and continuo (harpsichord). Tartini's early concertos - those of his op.1 and op.2 in particular - were often based on models of his lifelong hero, Arcangelo Corelli, but by Tartini's second period Antonio Vivaldi's massive influence had more or less crystallised the concerto form into a basic fast-slow-fast shape, with the slow movement now self-standing and lyrical. That is the pattern for all the concertos in this set.

There are five works on the considerably shorter first disc, two of which have alternative second movements, including the opening Concerto in D, D.30, whose two quite different Andante movements - the first sunny, the second autumnal - are both lovely and suit the outer Allegros admirably. According to the notes, there are three versions of the Concerto in F, D.66 - perhaps the others will appear in the next volume or an appendix? The Concerto in B flat, D.119 is the second with an alternative slow movement, each again quite different from one another - a simple but intensely lyrical Andante larghetto versus an almost plaintive Cantabile. The Concerto in G, D.81 opens with a spry march-like Allegro, followed by a poignant Vivaldian Largo andante. The closing work on the first disc is the Concerto in E, D.53, especially memorable, as with so many of Tartini's concertos, for its expressive slow movement.

The second, bountifully-packed disc also opens with a Concerto in D, D.38, a jaunty work again reminiscent of Vivaldi, though the elegant final movement pays homage to Corelli. The Concerto in A, D.108 may be the shortest of all those in this volume, but it is no less agreeable, from its sprightly dance-like first movement that looks forward to the new galant style of early Giovanni Viotti, to its continuo-less Larghetto, and the birdsong of the bucolic third. The imaginative first and third movements of the Concerto in F, D.69 have some of the most virtuosic writing for solo violin in this volume, expertly handled by Carlo Lazari. The Concerto in A, D.104 again shows signs of Tartini's gradual adoption of galant style. The Concerto in C, D.12 is the final work to have two slow movements included, although in this case one misleadingly follows the other, without even being marked explicitly as the two previous were. The first Andante carries a verse by Metastasio which begins "Felice età d'oro" ("Happy Golden Age" or perhaps in a poetic context, "Halcyon Days") - also the fittingly lyrical subtitle of this release - whereas the second is marked with the considerably more downcast "Misero pargoletto" ("Unhappy Child", also from Metastasio and later set by Schubert in his D.42). Either way, the concerto closes in the optimistic style typical of Tartini. The volume ends as it began, with a Concerto in D, D.29. Nicola Reniero says in his liner-notes that this is the only work "that has some distant echoes of Vivaldi's style". It is hard to agree with that - Vivaldi's influence seems omnipresent. On the other hand, Tartini had at least as much genius as Vivaldi, at any rate in instrumental writing - Tartini wrote almost no vocal music - and all of these works are, with familiarity, instantly recognisable as Tartini's uniquely.

L'Arte dell'Arco - literally 'The Art of the Bow' - perform as usual on responsive original instruments, and grow in confidence and expertise with every volume. They are equal to Tartini's understated virtuosity and rhythmic invention and play in a fashion of which Tartini himself would surely have approved - in a neutral but warm style, with gusto but without affectation.

Sound quality is very good, with an important but often neglected couple of bars' worth of rests between movements. Just occasionally, passing traffic can be faintly heard, so perhaps now would be a good time for the proprietors of Studio Magister to consider renovating their soundproofing. The multilingual booklet is soberly but attractively done. The English translation is slightly light-headed in places, but the intelligence of Nicola Reniero's writing more than compensates.

As with several previous volumes, all concertos are marked as 'First Recordings'. That these musical treasures have lain hidden away from humankind for so long is scandalous, and kudos to Dynamic and L'Arte dell'Arco for bringing them out of the vaults and on display.

-- Byzantion, MusicWeb International

Includes concerto(s) for violin by Giuseppe Tartini. Ensemble: L'Arte dell'Arco. Conductor: Giovanni Guglielmo.

It's a function of just how seriously the mad glut of releases has buried interesting new projects in a general welter of ennui that this very worthy series of Tartini's complete violin concertos (135 of them!), of which this is Volume 10, has received so little attention in the international music press. Imagine if the project had been announced in the mid-1980s by a major label such as L'Oiseau Lyre, featuring, say, the Academy of Ancient Music. The magazines (especially the British ones) would be raving, feature interviews would follow one on top of the other, and the vast majority of the classical-music-loving public would sample at least a volume or two, for in the final analysis, what's not to like? How times have changed!

No matter: The 10 members of L'Arte Dell'Arco clearly relish this music. They play with all of the rhythmic panache we expect from period groups, but they don't drive the music as relentlessly as some, and they aren't afraid to make a warm and beautiful sound in music that benefits from a sunny, relaxed approach. Although Tartini clearly based many of these works on Vivaldi's example, his melodies are more expansive, his structures more developed, and the emphasis on virtuosity is necessarily greater. Many of these pieces play for more than 15 minutes, and a couple have alternate movements that are thoughtfully included here (but check the notes for the proper explanation of the movement titles and order for the G major Concerto D83, incorrectly listed in the booklet's track index though correctly arranged on the CD itself).

Perhaps the most interesting of these works, melodically speaking, is the Concerto in B-flat D117, with its impressively grand outer movements and spicy use of dissonance to provide harmonic color. The final work on Disc 2, the Concerto in A D95 sports an extraordinarily expressive Grave slow movement, beautifully played by Giovanni Guglielmo. Another A major concerto (there are three in all included here), D94, opens with a charming Largo andante and concludes with a pastoral allegro in compound meter, which the excellent notes suggest might have destined the work for Christmas performance--a logical deduction, as I'm sure you'll agree when you hear it. In short, these are very lively and characterful works, and they receive equally characterful performances, very faithfully and realistically recorded. You can hear genuine chamber music give-and-take between the players, and the alternation of a quite prominent harpsichord continuo with a chamber organ ensures that aural fatigue never sets in over the long term.

I have to confess that hearing this set makes me sorry that I have not had the opportunity to bring this series to the attention of music lovers sooner. Dynamic is an enterprising label that has done all of the things that more famous (at least on these shores) "national" labels such as Hyperion, Chandos, Erato, Ondine, or MDG do so well: explore their home country's musical patrimony using fine local talent. There's a tendency almost everywhere to dismiss anything Italian after Vivaldi that's not an opera, and as this release proves, the rush to judgment is certainly not justified. Certainly these enthusiastic, joyous, and expressive performances demonstrate that we all need to pay closer attention to this particular musical legacy (and the labels exploring it). So why not start here?
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Baroque composer and violinist Giuseppe Tartini took up the violin after fleeing persecution by Cardinal Giorgio Cornaro. While seeking refuge at the monastery of St. Francis in Assisi, he heard Francesco Maria Veracini’s playing. After hearing such virtuosic talent, he fled to Ancona and locked himself away to practice, emerging an extraordinary violinist. Tartini’s Sonatas show the intimacy of the composer’s abilities, while the Concertos broadcast the musician’s big artistic personality. The works brilliantly complement one another on this release. For more than twenty years, violinist Crtomir Siskovic has dedicated himself to Baroque music. He performs with a violin and bow from the era, and has recorded multiple albums of Tartini’s music.

As Petrobelli wrote, Tartini's "declared intent was to achieve in the instrumental field, with a language suited to the nature of the instrument, the affections that are perfectly outlined in the arias of Metastasio's operas." The first sonatas of the collection are mostly structured in three movements, with a slow movement followed by two fast ones, as was Tartini's favourite scheme from the eighth sonata, instead, the structure in four movements becomes predominant, with a rich variety of formal patterns. Some movements bear mottos and literary quotations (like Metastasio's arias, frequently used also in the concertos, or Tasso's Aria Lieto ti prendo with which Tartini opens his Sonata No. 12 in G major, taken from the 12th canto of the Gerusalemme liberata). In them Tartini makes a fine display of his inexhaustible melodic creativity, always shunning easy symmetries and predictable developments. There are many passages with polyphonic hints, although virtuosity always appears subject to expressiveness and never a simple show of bravura. Frequent also are the hints and melodic inflections echoing popular songs and dances of the day, as for example in the Canzone Venetiana of the Sonata No. 12 in G major, or the second movement (Allegro assai) of the Sonata No. 5 in F major. Tartini is never obvious and even less predictable secluded in his Padua, he was a self-contained composer who disdained the world around him and possessed the creative power typical of - indeed, almost exclusive to - great anachronistic men.

RICHARD STRAUSS: June Anderson; Roberta Sacca; Scott Mac Allister; Daniel Lewis Williams; Birgit Remmer; Orchestra e Coro del Teatro La Fenice di Venezia/Stefan Anton Reck; Paul Curran, director; NTSC All Region; DTS 5.1; PCM Stereo 2.0; Color; 16:9; 114 mins; Subtitled in Ita RICHARD STRAUSS: Daphne.

Agostino Steffani was a musician, as well as an important state and church figure. Active in Munich, Hannover and Düsseldorf, he was highly appreciated also in London, where in 1727 the Academy of Vocal Music would make him honorary president. Baccanali, dating from 1695, is a series of reflections on the sentiments, joys and sorrows of man's life, made by eight characters set in a pastoral context. The Titan Atlas is entrusted with the prologue, which has the purpose of introducing to the events and summarizing their purpose: men should be granted a pause from their sufferings and labors at least during the days consecrated to Bacchus, the soother of all ills. Over witty verses, Steffani weaves a rich score, characterizsed by great writing variety. The young interpreters stand out not only for their beautiful voices but also for their reciting skills. The success of Baccanali must also be ascribed to the baton of Antonio Greco, who expertly leads the Cremona Antiqua Ensemble.

Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues

FRANZ SCHUBERT: Eva Mei, soprano; Reiner Trost, tenor; Markus Werba, baritone; Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Lirico di Cagliari/Gerard Korsten; Margherita Palli, sets and costumes; Luca Ronconi, director; 130 min. - 16:9 - NTSC; DTS, Dolby Digital 5+1; PCM Stereo, ODS; Subti FRANZ SCHUBERT: Alfonso und Estrella (1st DVD recording)(Sung inGerman).

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
VON HEUTE AUF MORGEN

Eliahu Inbal: conductor
Andreas Homoki: director
Frank Philipp Schlossmann: scenes
Gideon Davey: costumes
Mann - Georg Nigl
Frau - Brigitte Geller
Freundin - Sonia Visentin
Sänger - Mathias Schulz
Kind - Michelangelo D’Adamo
Orchestra & Chorus Teatro La Fenice Venezia
Teatro la Fenice, Venice, 2008