Both of these quartets are transcriptions of quintets for winds and piano by their respective composers but the links that bind them go much deeper. In the year after Mozart’s death, Beethoven began the draft of a work for the unusual instrumental ensemble of four wind instruments and piano. He was inspired by the similar work by Mozart, which had largely emancipated winds from their role in Harmoniemusik, employing them instead in the sophisticated ambience of chamber music. In this performance, following Beethoven’s own practice, the cadenzas in his quartet are improvised.

The publishing of this complete edition of Giuseppe Tartini’s Violin Concertos (with the addition of two concertos each for cello and flute) is both a triumph for Dynamic label, which in its decades of activity has built a considerable catalogue of violin music and an artistic and historical document of indisputable musicological importance for anyone wishing to have a philologically reliable testimony of this aspect of 18th c. Italian instrumental music, valuable, therefore, for more than the mere dimension of listening.

To grasp the importance of this achievement we must first of all note that only a very small number of these concertos can be found in modern, easily available editions, few of which, incidentally, are truly valid from the point of view of textual accuracy and respect of Tartini’s musical precepts. This project was started, almost thirty years ago by Dynamic’s founder Pietro Mosetti Casaretto who, in 1996, recorded and published the first three-CD box-set featuring the Concerti, Op. 1, performed by L’Arte dell’Arco, with Giovanni Guglielmo, Federico Guglielmo, and Carlo Lazari as soloists, the same soloists who played in the 17th and last volume of the series published in 2013, evidence of this ensemble’s faithfulness to the project, and of their moral and artistic solidity, indispensable preconditions for any important musical achievement.

Highly praised for his orchestral works, Tchaikovsky never reached great popularity as a chamber music composer but, although his chamber output does not comprise many titles, it does includes works of distinct value, such as the beautiful but little known Trio for violin, cello and piano, Op.50 which we are featuring on this release. The work was composed in memory of his friend Nikolaj Rubinstein, who had passed away at the age of 46 and was considered at the time one of the greatest European pianists. Rachmaninov was one of the finest pianists of the first half of the 1900s and a gifted composer. After the Bolshevik coup he left his native Russia and moved abroad, where he gained fame as a performer, especially in the United States. As a composer, Rachmaninov is nowadays considered the natural successor to Tchaikovsky’s style within Russian music between the 19th and 20th centuries. The Trio élégiaque No.1 in G minor for piano, violin and cello was written in the short space of four days in 1892, when Rachmaninov was only 19. It consists of a single extended movement (Lento lugubre) in classic sonata form. It was published posthumously, in 1947. Having known each other personally for a long time, Franco Mezzena, Sergio Patria and Elena Ballario began their artistic partnership in 2015 as a natural consequence of their mutual respect and interpretative affinity. Franco’s precise and rigorous violin playing, Sergio’s inborn expressivity and Elena’s musical balance are the three main characteristics that give their trio all the necessary means to best express the music they unanimously choose to perform.

The programme of this triple album features 31 sonatas for solo violin that Giuseppe Tartini presumably wrote between 1745 and 1750 and are kept today in the archive of the Veneranda Arca del Santo in Padua. This collection contains the autograph manuscripts of these works that the composer kept editing throughout his lifetime, as the many marginal additions and corrections attest. However, many of these sonatas have come down to us also through other contemporary manuscript copies, which often differ substantially from the autographs, thus making it futile to look for a “final” or “correct” version. Quoting Giuseppe Tartini’s own words “in these small violin sonatas […] the bass is a formality; indeed, I play them without bass, which is the way I really intended them.” Although the first fifteen sonatas have a bass part, undoubtedly written for those who wished to perform them that way, the rest do not, this being a tangible proof that the continuo practice was being abandoned and the bass was no longer being included, not even as “a formality.” Further indications in Tartini’s manuscript suggest that the movements of a sonata had no predetermined position and could be interchanged with other ones from a work in the same or similar tonality. This flexibility was also extended to the order of movements, thus leaving the performer with freedom of choice. Crtomir Šiškovic, violinist from Trieste of Slovenian origin and a specialist in Tartini’s music, chose, for each sonata where there were alternative movements, those that he deemed best for his interpretation. Just as Tartini would have expected. Together with the previous release - Tartini Sonatas for solo violin, Vol. 1, published in 2012 – we are proud to have completed recording the cycle of Tartini’s solo violin sonatas in the year of the 250th anniversary of Tartini’s death.

The whole idea behind this release is finally throwing some light on the female contribution to the musical world: it’s a programme of works for piano and wind instruments written by ten contemporary female composers from the four corners of the world (Jordan, Greece, France, Canada, Argentina, Latvia, Australia, Nigeria, China and Italy). It is a sort of anthology of different currents and trends, perfectly illustrating the wealth of ideas that 21st-century female composers have to offer. It has been recorded by the Ensemble Chaminade, consisting of clarinet, oboe, horn, bassoon and piano, an ensemble specifically founded to study, record and divulgate this kind of repertoire. These works are receiving here their world premiere recording.

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REVIEW:

The music on this disc ranges from romantic to atonal harmony; there are waltzes from Latvia, Argentine tango, and jazz from Australia. It would be desirable that one or the other piece sometimes made it into a concert program. An absolutely worthwhile addition to the repertoire.

– WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk)

Alessandro Stradella was a highly influential composer in his day, producing an abundance of masterpieces despite his dissolute and dramatically brief life. Written for the lavish celebrations marking Leopoldo de’ Medici being made a cardinal, La Circe is set near a fountain on the leafy slopes of Parnassus. It evokes the spirit of the sorceress Circe who, while searching for the grave of her son, is dazzled by a bright light – the presence of a Medici. Complete with echo effects and deliciously lyrical and expressive music, La Circe is both a fascinating enigma and a perfect example of aristocratic tastes in Baroque Rome. This double album release contains the unabridged version of La Circe I and the World Premiere Recording of La Circe II, and the booklet provides detailed notes. Played on period instruments.

REVIEW:

The recording presents two versions of the story of the sorceress Circe, described as an operetta. The two versions are quite different, which goes far beyond the usual adaptations of compositions to local requirements. The composition has an operatic feel with its virtuosically ornamented arias, frilly and pronounced ornamentations, interwoven duets and effective recitatives. In common formal schemes Stradella creates a great variety of expression, surprising turns as well as delightful shaping of affect.

Estevan Velardi and his original sound ensemble Alessandro Stradella Consort present, in addition to the two versions of Circe, a Sonata di Viole in D major and other samples from the chamber cantata oeuvre of the Italian composer: Soffro, misero, e taccio and the Prologue to La Dori.

Velardi is also responsible for the settings and instrumentation. He keeps his ensemble playing in a lively and tomboyish manner that can easily be imagined in the atmosphere of a feast in an Italian garden. While the cantata Soffro, misero, e taccio and the prologue still sound a bit anemic, the music unfolds its full liveliness in the Circes. At the same time, the ensemble plays very well the complicated gentle melodies and the sometimes bold harmonies for the 17th century.

Singing overall is exquisite. Leslie Visco as Circe is convincing in both cases with individual timbre, agile and focused voice, and fine articulation of the text. The clearly led, if restrained voices of Cristina Farinelli and Anna Chierichetti prove good mediators for the difficult balance between declamation and virtuosity. Tenor Franceso Toma and bass Giuseppe Naviglio provide euphony for the male voices.

Alessandro Stradella was the undisputed star composer of his day who wrote hundreds of works in varying genres. His cantatas are in essence miniature operas in which the themes of love and the complexities of the human condition reflected the composer’s own ‘cloak and dagger’ misadventures amidst Roman and Venetian aristocracy. From an allegory of life in Apre l’uomo infelice and captivating pastoral scenes in Qui dove fa soggiorno, to unrequited love and the desire for freedom expressed in Per tua vaga beltade, Stradella adapted his inventiveness to his patrons’ tastes to create these veritable jewels in music, all of which are rich in splendid melodies and refined artistry.

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After his Neapolitan training Gaspare Spontini settled in Paris for a few years, where he was nominated “compositeur particulier de la chambre” of Empress Josephine, Napoleon’s wife. It was indeed Napoleon who, in 1808, commissioned him the opera, Fernand Cortez, ou La conquete du Mexique, of which he attended the 28th November 1809 premiere. The strongly idealized figure of Cortez, presented as a brave, wise and merciful general, predestined to victory, was to be an image of Napoleon. His fight against Spanish “obscurantism” was Cortez’s fight against the cruelty, superstition and dark power intrigues of the Aztec sacerdotal class. Cortez frees the Mexicans from their “evil god”, and only the High Priest refuses his clemency. Like in a piece a sauvetage, at the last moment Montezuma’s niece, Amazily, who had offered her life in exchange of that of her beloved Cortez’s brother Alvar, is rescued. The Mexican chief Telasco promotes the cessation of hostilities: the marriage between Cortez and Amazily sanctions the peace between two peoples. In Spain, the French troops met a very different fate than Cortez’s men in the happy ending of Spontini’s opera and it has been suggested that the disastrous outcome of the Spanish campaign was responsible for the limited number of performances run by Fernand Cortez in Paris between the end of 1809 and January 1812. This production is a world premiere recording of the first modern times performance of the original 1809 version. It was recorded in October 2019, exactly 500 years after Cortez’s first arrival in Mexico. Director Cecilia Ligorio drew inspiration from a murales painted by Orozco inside a building in Mexico city, where Cortez is depicted in a shiny, silver armor and Malinche – the historical figure who inspired the character of Amazily – wears no clothes and is painted with the color of Earth.

In the collective imagination, the string quartet is associated with the great classical repertoire, but in the past twenty years it has inevitably been affected by the experimentations of contemporary music and by the influence of the increased circulation and popularity of jazz. Thus the creation of a “non-classical” string quartet which, however, borrows the classical quartet’s discipline, technique and founding philosophy. The Alkemia Quartet became immediately interested in the works of Giovanni Sollima. Though entirely notated, these pieces require some improvisation and a modern and transverse freedom of interpretation, fully reflecting the technical and creative mastery of their composer, who melds music from John Dowland to Kurt Cobain, from Bach to Webern. Sollima 4 strings starts from the roots, blending minimalistic Mediterranean atmospheres with Celtic, pop and rock music, always in the search of a new, suitable sound. This programme includes the world premiere recording of Africa, a work dated 1994 in the Sonzogno catalogue and about which Sollima said: “I found it dancing, in a tragic way. You dug it up again, and you have given it an awesome, new, fresh, sensual, dynamic and very personal reading.”

Camillo Sivori, considered Paganini’s only pupil, was the most illustrious member of the Genoese violin school. He was also a significant composer whose Piccolo tema con variazioni is both polyphonically rich and operatic, while the Rondò in D major is flecked with virtuoso panache. His teacher in the city had been Giovanni Serra who dedicated his subtle String Quartet in F minor to Sivori. The third Genoese composer is Carlo Andrea Gambini whose String Quartet in E minor was much admired by Rossini. Quartetto Ascanio was formed in 2004 by the section leaders of the Orchestra da Cameradel Trasimeno, eager to tackle the beautiful string quartet repertoire under the guidance of Elizabeth Graham; they perfected their skills at the Fiesole Music School with Andrea Nannoni and at the Stauffer Academy with the Quartetto di Cremona.

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Wagner sourced material for his national legend Der Ring des Nibelungen in medieval German and Scandinavian sagas, though much was his own invention. Das Rheingold is the prologue to this tetralogy of music dramas. It introduces the principal events in this visionary work, the theft by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich of the ring made from Rhine gold, and its seizure by Wotan, ruler of the Gods. This production was recorded in 2010 at the Sofia Opera and Ballet theatre as the first title of the complete Wagner cycle that we will be releasing entirely in separate titles. The theatre’s managing director Plamen Kartaloff succeeded in creating an amazing “Sofia Ring” with local cast and crew, chiseling each detail with care: from singers’s vocal training to set design, lights and costumes, thus delivering a most modern and captivating rendition which was acclaimed by international press.

Schumann composed the Intermezzi Op. 4 in Spring 1832 and declared that they were special works, conceived as “longer Papillons” where “every note ought to be weighed and balanced”. The Intermezzi employ the same techniques used in Op. 2: quotations, fragments, and metamorphoses of poetry into music. The Piano Sonata in F sharp minor Op. 11 was written between 1833-35 and dedicated to his beloved Clara Wieck, to whom Schumann addresses with the two alter-egos of his split personality, Florestan and Eusebius, the former enthusiastic and passionate, the latter introvert and reflective. This recording was made on a Simon fortepiano dating from the 1830s, which possesses the same characteristics of the instrument used by Robert Schumann himself. Italian-born Tullia Melandri is specialized in Music philology and has got a diploma in piano and fortepiano. An award winner at numerous piano and chamber music competitions, Melandri has performed at festivals and in concert seasons all over Europe.

The composer Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a controversial figure: his original and innovative works are, in fact, cloaked in spiritualism and mysticism, and inspired by a synaesthetic concept of art. The Russian musician had a crucial importance, not yet fully recognized, in the evolution of 20thcentury music language and his ten Sonatas, indeed, are noteworthy both for their aesthetic value and historic importance. In Scriabin’s last five Sonatas the characteristic imprint of the composer’s music is fully accomplished through innovative writing techniques. Sonatas six to ten were conceived as studies or fragments of that multisensory mystic work (sounds, perfumes, lights and dances), left unfinished because of the composer’s premature death. The Sonata No. 7 Op. 64 was is entitled it White Mass, because the composer deemed that its bright and heavenly character – as opposed to the darkness of the preceding work – represented the spiritual cleansing of mankind. Different moods alternate in the Sonata No. 8 Op. 66: serenity, anxiety, agitation, impetuosity. A complex work, difficult to perform. The last two Sonatas, No. 9 Op. 68, known as Black Mass (a title not given by Scriabin) and No. 10 Op. 70 are also characterized by a strong expressive density, and share the experimentalism and mystic yearning of the three, preceding sonatas. Original, surprising and visionary works, they lead the interpreter and the listener into a dizzying dimension, in a sound world that is exciting, rich in suggestions and multiform images.

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After the great success that Il Trovatore received in Paris, Verdi was proposed to compose a French version of the opera to suit the tastes of the local public. The original work, based on the Spanish play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez, had a libretto by Cammarano, which was translated into French by Émilien Pacini . Le Trouvère was first staged in Brussels in 1856 and premiered at the Paris Opera in 1857. In this new version the composer added some music in act 3 for the gypsie ballet scene, extended the finale of act 4 and made several other revisions. The plot is highly dramatic and captivating: Verdi portrays strong characters who deal with war, obsession and revenge. To use director Robert Wilson’s words “this is a family tragedy, and in many ways, it is a very contemporary story.” Wilson’s approach to the opera aims at preserving its emotional strength by using a very essential décor, whose main element is light: “As a director, when I design the stage and lighting, I think about if what I see can help me hear better. Le Trouvère requires a tremendous amount of concentration, so the set I designed is abstract in order to create a space for the music in the Farnese. I have designed an environment in concrete, creating a juxtaposition to the theatre’s ornate interior. […] Light in my work functions as part of the architectural whole. It is an element which helps us hear and see. Without light there is no space. To light a world that Verdi has described as so dark, one needs light to make the space darker.” In the set’s background the director also uses some photos by American photographer Robert Rosenkranz. This production was staged in the splendid Teatro Farnese of Parma, which was built in 1628 and belongs to the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta, one of the oldest museums in Italy. Extra content: Interview with the curator of the Museum subtitled in all languages.

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After the great success that Il Trovatore received in Paris, Verdi was proposed to compose a French version of the opera to suit the tastes of the local public. The original work, based on the Spanish play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez, had a libretto by Cammarano, which was translated into French by Émilien Pacini . Le Trouvère was first staged in Brussels in 1856 and premiered at the Paris Opera in 1857. In this new version the composer added some music in act 3 for the gypsie ballet scene, extended the finale of act 4 and made several other revisions. The plot is highly dramatic and captivating: Verdi portrays strong characters who deal with war, obsession and revenge. To use director Robert Wilson’s words “this is a family tragedy, and in many ways, it is a very contemporary story.” Wilson’s approach to the opera aims at preserving its emotional strength by using a very essential décor, whose main element is light: “As a director, when I design the stage and lighting, I think about if what I see can help me hear better. Le Trouvère requires a tremendous amount of concentration, so the set I designed is abstract in order to create a space for the music in the Farnese. I have designed an environment in concrete, creating a juxtaposition to the theatre’s ornate interior. […] Light in my work functions as part of the architectural whole. It is an element which helps us hear and see. Without light there is no space. To light a world that Verdi has described as so dark, one needs light to make the space darker.” In the set’s background the director also uses some photos by American photographer Robert Rosenkranz. This production was staged in the splendid Teatro Farnese of Parma, which was built in 1628 and belongs to the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta, one of the oldest museums in Italy. Extra content: Interview with the curator of the Museum subtitled in all languages.