"...Three impressively skilled musicians, all capable of holding their own against other composers of their time, who had to contend with a prevailing public opinion that the very idea of a woman composer was either inconceivable or ludicrous (or both)...Today we can listen to all of the selections on this recording with less sexist prejudices and accept that each of these composers had her own distinctive voice." - Stephen Smoliar, examiner.com

This exciting CD includes works by three influential composers. Amy Beach belonged to the group known as the "Boston Six", who preceded the generation of Copland, Gershwin, etc. Lili Boulanger is one of the most important composers, and Rebecca Clarke is, in this country, certainly well known. She was [also] one of the first women who completed regular formal music studies as a career. - Naxos Direct, (translated from German)

Research in the manuscripts of the Vercelli archives has led to the attribution of known and unknown works to Luca Marenzio, one of the great masters of the late Renaissance in Italy. These works, recorded for the first time here, share a common thread: the composer’s activity in Rome and Poland. Missa Jubilate, a parody mass, is one of the most sumptuous creations of its time and a masterpiece of melodic invention whilst Magnificat sexti toni exemplifies Marenzio’s sophisticated use of echo effects. Both versions of Magnificat octavi toni and Jubilate Deo are also premiere recordings. On this recording, Don Denis Silano leads La Cappella Musicale della Cattedrale di Vercelli.

Johann Joachim Quantz wrote over 300 flute concertos for Frederick II, King of Prussia, works that have increasingly been recognized for their wealth of invention. Before his years in Berlin, however, Quantz had worked in Dresden where he wrote a series of trio sonatas. The genre had been codified by Arcangelo Corelli and was the most popular form of chamber music at the time. Quantz fashioned elegant dialogues between the instruments, fugal passages, the melodic element of the trios always highlighted next to the counterpoint. These concise, eloquent works blend styles and musical languages in a way that foreshadows his larger-scale concertos.

Falstaff was composed to a libretto fashioned by Arrigo Boito largely from Shakespeare’s play The Merry Wives of Windsor. Superficially the work is an opera buffa in its depiction of the travails of the penniless knight, Sir John Falstaff, but goes beyond the operatic tradition of the time. The vocal line is integrated into the orchestral texture, and with self-quotations and parodic elements, the opera is saturated with as much irony as comedy, forming the fitting culmination of Verdi’s entire operatic life. Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts this acclaimed staging of Verdi’s final masterpiece.

Reviews

I shall say straightaway that I am not a Verdi expert but I absolutely loved this performance, as I do this opera. The singing, the acting, the production, the conducting all seemed to me first rate. It is such a pleasure to find an opera DVD which does not fall down badly on at least one of these.

Falstaff is through-composed and largely lacks the big set-pieces characteristic of his earlier works. For this reason it took some time to make its way in the world, though Toscanini was an early champion and his support helped make it a repertory work. It is very fast moving and themes which might have been developed into whole arias in earlier works pass fleetingly by. The libretto does need to be followed in detail, which can now be achieved by surtitles in the opera house and subtitles on a DVD such as this.

The first thing about this production is that a faithful recreation of the time, space and action intended by the composer and librettist...I do need to add that the set and costumes are reminiscent of the sixteenth century rather than the fourteenth, but then Shakespeare took Falstaff from the Henry IV plays and in effect transplanted him into the sixteenth, thereby putting him into a contemporary context. The Garter Inn is nicely evoked by Julian Crouch, as is the oak tree in Windsor Forest in the last scene. The costumes, by Kevin Pollard, are all delightful and I particularly enjoyed Falstaff’s smart get-up for wooing Alice Ford.

Falstaff is an opera of ensembles and I was impressed by the way the cast not only sang their roles but also acted them. Nicola Alaimo in the title role was a new name to me, though he has a long career and a big repertoire. The part requires a wide emotional range from the singer, with at times light fast comic singing but also the synthetic indignation of the honour monologue. He also needs to be a minimally plausible lover but also cope with the farce of the laundry basket and the humour of the final Windsor Forest scene. I liked the way Alaimo not only carried all this off but also really interacted with the other characters. He also made us feel that, although Falstaff is an old rogue, there is something genuinely charming and attractive about him.

Of the other characters the most important is Alice, and Ailyn Pérez was charming and clever in this role, one she has also performed at Glyndebourne and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The other merry wife, Meg Page, is a smaller part but was nicely done by Caterina Piva. The young lovers, Fenton, sung by Matthew Swensen and Nanetta, sung by Francesca Boncompagni, were convincing and Nanetta gave us a lovely fairy song in the last scene. Sara Mingardo was an effective Mjistress Quickly with a powerful lower register when required. Simone Piazzola gave us a formidably jealous Ford and a smooth and well-controlled Master Brook, when in disguise. The smaller parts were all adequately taken.

The conductor was John Eliot Gardiner, who is an old hand at Falstaff, [who] brought out what seem to be occasional Wagnerian touches in the score, for example in Ford’s aria. The director was Sven-Eric Bechtolf whose obvious affection and respect for the work has given us a performance at once exuberant and touching. The sound and picture are fine and I know this will be going into my records of the year.

--MusicWeb International (Stephen Barber)

A native of Naples, Ferdinando Carulli established his reputation as a leading guitarist and teacher in Paris, and his Guitar Method, Op. 27 is still in use today. As a composer he shrewdly satisfied the demands of players and audiences alike. Entertaining light waltzes can be found alongside popular melodies treated to virtuoso variations of great brilliance and indisputable originality. Musical references to Carulli’s contemporary Paganini and the fashionable influence of Spanish styles and techniques are brought together in a program that includes numerous world premiere recordings to deliver a portrait of a Neapolitan musician who deserves to be much better known.

Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe’s life is largely shrouded in mystery, and almost nothing was known of his music until these Concerts à deux violes esgales were discovered in Geneva in 1966. Full of inspiration and fantasy, these pieces are often technically very demanding, innovatively deploying the viol’s entire range and putting players to the test in ways that were unprecedented in French viol literature. The sound of the viols is as haunting as the music’s titles are teasingly expressive, and for their extraordinary imagination, originality and rare sonic splendor these works are justly considered one of the great monuments of European Baroque music.

American-Armenian composer Alan Hovhaness was a significant representative of 20th-century music – a composer who sought a path independent to the fashions and trends of his time. He avoided the European avant-garde, instead embracing Armenian and oriental traditions as well as Medieval and Renaissance music. This second volume includes the sonic atmospheres of Hermes Stella, dedicated to the poet-philosopher-mystic Francis Bacon, and the complex and fascinating Piano Sonata ‘Journey to Arcturus’ which takes us to one of the most visible stars from Earth. MusicWeb International considered Alessandra Pompili “a splendid young exponent of Hovhaness's music” in Volume 1 of this edition.

REVIEW:

Komanchi, Op. 249 was inspired by the legendary Japanese poetess of the same name, and by nature. This seven-movement piece has a simple delicacy. The texture is very thin – often just a single-line melody. Hovhaness manages to capture the essence of Asian music while still writing in his own voice.

Greek Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 63 is an early work. Hovhaness completed it in 1944 when he completely reinvented his style. The melody sounds Grecian and is given a mostly monophonic treatment. This free-flowing rhapsody entices with its improvisatory beauty.

Hovhaness’ 1981 Piano Sonata, Op. 354 is a major work and is over twenty minutes in length. But don’t expect a traditional sonata-allegro four-movement structure. The subtitle “Journey to Arcturus” provides the context. This is about moving from one destination to another. As the work does over the course of its six movements.

Hovhaness was a pianist, but one with a unique idea of what piano music should be. Alesandra Pompili gives us Hovhaness’ vision in her performances. Her playing is expressive and fluid. An excellent recording. Highly recommended for anyone wanting a fuller understanding of Alan Hovhaness’ music.

-- WTJU-FM, 91.1 (Univ. of VA)

An opéra-comique by an Italian composer? This was a rarity in its day, but after the “barely averted disaster” of its opening night, Donizetti’s La Fille du régiment became a popular success, not least for the high Cs demanded from Tonio in the famous tenor aria "Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête!" The story revolves around Marie, the canteen girl of the Regiment, whose lover Tonio joins the army to be near her just as she is claimed for marriage into nobility. This acclaimed Teatro Donizetti production was considered by turns “hilarious… tender and moving… [and] overwhelmingly brilliant.” (Bachtrack)

Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari studied in Naples before finding esteem in the Parisian musical world of the late 1780s. Fleeing the Revolution he settled in London. His compositions divide equally between vocal and chamber music, but also include two piano concertos. His Four Duets for Piano and Harp reveal clearly the main features of his art: easy melodic grace founded on his studies with Paisiello, high musical quality, formal balance, and a veneration of Haydn and Mozart. Intended for professionals and amateurs alike, slow movements are expressive and rondos full of vigor. In this recording original instruments are used to do full justice to the period timbre of Ferrari’s dialogues between fortepiano and harp.

Nicol� Paganini's Quartets for Strings and Guitar offer some of the best examples of his inexhaustible creativity, including ideas and themes that were later included in his more famous concertos. The Seventh Quartet combines mastery of form with endless melodic inventiveness, while the Fourteenth is more virtuosic, allowing it's dedicatee to shine as a violinist with splendid effectiveness. The dark color of the viola gives unique timbre to the Fifteenth Quartet which, with it's moments of operatic expressiveness, is outstanding in Paganini's chamber music output. Volume 1 of this edition (CDS7912) was considered "first-rate" in every regard by the American Record Guide.

Carl Vine is one of Australia’s most eminent and internationally admired composers. His four piano sonatas span three decades and trace his diverse musical development. The earliest sonata is exuberant, pulsating with driving rhythms, while No. 2 enshrines a jazz-inspired toccata alongside memorable virtuoso pyrotechnics. Vivid fantasia elements mark out No. 3, juxtaposing the aphorism, reflection and turbulence of No. 4. With their traditional forms Vine’s sonatas are sophisticated, lyrical, urgent and compelling contemporary statements. Pianist Xiaoya Liu has captured the imagination of worldwide audiences through her pro-found artistry and charismatic performances as concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across Asia, Europe, and the United States with orchestras such as the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Marquette Symphony Orchestra, Round Rock Symphony, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, GSIM Festival Orchestra and in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Hill Auditorium, Palazzo Biscari, and Shanghai Concert Hall.

REVIEW:

Austrian composer Carl Vine has a maximalist approach both to expression and to pianistic technique—but there are moments when I wonder whether the technical difficulty is necessary in conveying the emotional content. The first theme of the First Sonata’s second movement, for example, is a lightning-fast flurry of 16th notes that requires both hands to remain stretched to a 10th through much of the passage and to leap as much as an octave and a half between iterations of the figuration. This places the hands in a near-continual stress position, but the musical effect is reminiscent of the final movement in Chopin’s “Funeral March” Sonata, in which Chopin allows the hands to remain in a relaxed position. Liu (and others) play the passage as if effortlessly, but I have a clear idea of the effort they must have put into mastering it, and I can’t say the passage merits that level of difficulty (and—frankly—physical discomfort if not risk of injury). Likewise, the opening of the Second Sonata involves bold chords in the treble punctuated by low bass octaves and cascades of arpeggios that span the entire range of the piano. The effect is colorful, but does it absolutely require a race from the next-to-highest octave of the piano to its lowest note and back? It’s not that I object in any way to virtuosity or athleticism in music; I’m just not always convinced that Vine’s music needs to be quite as busy as it often is. And the very few times that Xiaoya Liu is anything other than exquisitely subtle in her playing—times when she places a melody in undifferentiated accented relief rather than phrasing it with her characteristic sensitivity—it is because the writing is so thick and the physical demands so intense that she could hardly do otherwise.

But that criticism does not detract from my impression that each one of Vine’s four sonatas is tremendously expressive and is a substantial addition to the piano sonata repertoire. Xiaoya Liu gives each one a searching, thoughtful interpretation. And the sound quality is excellent throughout the recording. I give it a very strong recommendation.

-- Fanfare

Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen concludes with Götterdämmerung. The composer’s original draft, in which the gods are redeemed by the hero Siegfried’s sacrifice, had fundamentally changed by 1874. Now in this ‘cosmic catastrophe’ Brünnhilde rides into Siegfried’s funeral pyre, the Rhine overflows and Valhalla perishes, and the gods with it. It’s the longest and most complex of the four music dramas, and its orchestration is also the most colorful and sophisticated. Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and Funeral March and Brünnhilde’s immolation scene are some of Wagner’s most potent theatrical moments and bring this drama to a shattering conclusion.

Writing for the piano was the focal point of Stravinsky’s composing activity, despite the small number of works he wrote explicitly for the instrument. This program testifies to this by creating a dialogue both between the pieces themselves, and the interpreter's conversation with the composer through his music. Russian soul meets the jazzy bustle of Paris and New York, neo-Classical and Baroque reminiscence converses with the rhythmic and harmonic spice of Stravinsky’s modernity, and the poised antiquity of Apollon musagète encounters Le Sacre du Printemps.

The Italian pianist Luigi Palombi, graduated in Piano and Composition from the Milan Conservatory under the guidance of Mariagrazia Grauso and Sonia Bo. He has performed at prestigious venues all over the world, and alongside fine artists like Ennio Morricone and Nicola Piovani.

Tartini’s violin school in Padua had such a wide international character that it was known as the ‘School of the Nations’. For over 40 years his students returned to their countries of origin, circulating what became a significant cultural legacy. France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands are represented here, as are mid-18th-century tastes for virtuosity and lyrical expressiveness, infused with the fingerprints of Tartini’s stylish and often delightfully ornamental techniques. Volume 1 (CDS723) of this edition was admired for its ‘exquisite violin playing’ (American Record Guide) and was ‘strongly recommended across the board’ by Fanfare.

A pioneer in the development of opera, Claudio Monteverdi took vocal music beyond Renaissance polyphony into an era in which feelings and emotions could be expressed differently. Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria is part of a late flowering in Monteverdi’s illustrious career, and is considered the most profoundly tender and moving of his operas. Its hero Ulysses is forced to undergo cruel tests, hardships, treachery and deception before he can be reunited with his beloved queen Penelope and recover his kingdom. This acclaimed production is conducted by renowned early music specialist Ottavio Dantone, who considers Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria to be ‘the most beautiful opera ever written.’