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Also available on standard DVD

This opera, which had fallen into oblivion, was revived in 1973 in the Dutch city of Zaanstad (the Saardam of the libretto) and staged at Bergamo’s Teatro Sociale as part of the Donizetti Festival in a new critical edition made for the Donizetti Foundation by Alberto Sonzogni. In the plot, the Tsar Peter the Great works incognito as a carpenter at the shipyard of Sardaam to acquire technical knowledge to carry back home. On the podium, the knowledgeable Roberto Rizzi Brignoli leads the orchestra of the Donizetti Opera, assisted by the internationally renowned cinema director Davide Ferrario. In the cast, Andrea Concetti (a successful artist who has sung throughout the world) is joined by singers who are emerging in the belcanto repertoire, such as Giorgio Caoduro, Juan Francisco Gatell, Irina Dubrovskaya and Aya Wakizono.

• This CD, the second volume in the new DYNAMIC budget-price “ The Masters of Violin” series, presents of three violin concerti by the late-classicist era Italian composer Giovanni Battista Viotti, a form he helped greatly to advance. • Viotti's works, with a few exceptions, still remain largely unknown. • Violinist Franco Mezzena performs together with the Symphonia Perusina.

The Christmas Story

Under the banner of a renewed interest in comic opera - at least as far as the opening titles were concerned - the 2013 edition of Martina Franca's Festival staged the first modern performance of a late work by Leonardo Leo (1694-1744), the "commedia pastorale" in three acts, L'ambizione Delusa, on a libretto by Domenico Canic�. This delightful rural comedy plot has as a counterpart truly wonderful music, rich in beautiful and original melodies which, rather than being harmonized, are set by Leo to contrapuntal accompaniments, showing Leo's great compositional mastery.

Il Farnace is the most re-written and re-proposed of Vivaldi’s operas. Versions of Farnace, two in 1727 and one each in 1730, 1731 and 1732, were conceived and adapted to the different circumstances for Venice, Prague, Pavia and Mantua, always with a cast to Vivaldi’s satisfaction and with the composer in control of the production. The greatest appreciation of Vivaldi’s operatic music was expressed in a letter by a spectator of the 1727 Carnival season. The abbot Antonio Conti wrote that of all the operas of the Venice season he liked best Farnace because its music was varied, “between the sublime and the tender,” and because Vivaldi’s pupil worked wonders. In 1738, for the Ferrara Carnival season, Vivaldi wrote a new score of the opera. This is the last Farnace, in two acts, as the third was lost.

MONTEVERDI L’Orfeo • William Christie, cond; Dietrich Henschel ( Orfeo ); Maria Grazia Schiavo ( La Musica, Euridice, Proserpina ); Les Arts Florissants; Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse • DYNAMIC 33598 (DVD: 113: 00) Live: Madrid 5/19/2008


This is the third L’Orfeo I’ve seen on DVD, and it’s a real success. In style it fits among the theatrical productions that use over 20 singers and over 20 players, even adding some supernumeraries to fill the stage. Yet as a performance it should stand comparison with the intimate versions that we have heard on CD recently, since Pier Luigi Pizzi, the stage director who also designed the sets and costumes, replicated the venue of the first production in the Mantua residence. This may suggest that adhering to the minimal personnel of the alternative interpretation (a dozen singers and a dozen players, more or less) is not really necessary, or simply that Pizzi imagines a pretty big palace. But he imagines well, for this is the best stage set, the best costumes, the best lighting, and the best camerawork of the three versions I’ve seen. It is simply the best theatrical production of an opera that I’ve ever seen on DVD (not that I’ve seen very many). All three were made in live performances (the Harnoncourt video of 1979 was pantomimed in a studio 10 months after the performance was recorded), but the audience manifests itself only twice at the ends of the two halves. Christie’s was a single performance of May 19, 2008, at the Teatro Real in Madrid, while Jean Claude Malgoire’s was made at Tourcoing in October 2004 (also for Dynamic) and Stephen Stubbs’s was made in Amsterdam in July 1997 for Opus Arte.


Henschel is a fine Orfeo, a good actor as well as singer, but it is interesting that he has made a career not in early music but in contemporary opera. Schiavo, a mesmerizing stage presence, outdoes herself in adding not just La Musica but also Proserpina to her main role. At least seven previous conductors allowed Euridice to double as La Musica, and Rinaldo Alessandrini assigned Proserpina to his Euridice, but no other singer has combined all three roles. This is Pizzi’s way of identifying Pluto’s wife with Orfeo’s beloved. Christie directs from the keyboards, seeing his role as comparable to the pianist for a Schubert Lied. There is not a weak member of the supporting cast, and Christie’s players, supplemented by the brass from Toulouse, maintain their longstanding reputation. The Madrid production was associated with La Fenice as well. This can replace any previous video of the work that you may have, for it is absolutely superb.


FANFARE: J. F. Weber
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Recorded: Teatro Real, Madrid, May 2008
NTSC All Region; 16:9; Dolby Digital 5.1/LPCM 2.0; Approx. 113 mins.
Subtitled in French, Italian, English, German & Spanish

Born in L’Aquila in 1992, Davide Ferella obtained his degree in mandolin performance from the Conservatory “A. Casella of L’Aquilla” under the tutelage of M. Fabio Giudice. He was ranked first in the chamber music categories of the national competitions “Urania” and “Marco Dall’Aquila.” He also won the special “Piero Farulli” prize. He has performed in numerous Italian festivals, and has collaborated with the Baroque Ensemble “Luca Marenzio,” Ensemble “Ianua,” and “Virtuosi Italiani.” On this, his new release, he presents a program of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concertos for Harpsichord, masterfully transcribed for mandolin. Ferella himself transcribed these pieces. He is joined by Profili Barocchi, the extraordinarily capable Italian Baroque ensemble.

In the Elysian fields the Anzolo Rafael (the Angel from the facade of the Church of San Raffaele in Venice) informs an incredulous Goldoni that he will be able to journey down to earth, to his native Venice, and mingle with the masks of Carnival ball on the theme of Shakespeare's "Venetian dreams". Giorgio Baffo, a poet contemporary of - and hostile to - Goldoni, forces himself onto them at the last moment, as the villain of the situation. With Othello (Shakespeare in disguise), Desdemona, Arlecchino, Mirandolina and Despina, the three interact a surreal, dream-like opera where imagination runs rampant, in a whirling succession of images, where fragments are linked like in a kaleidoscope and rhythm plays an essential role. Directed by Davide Livermore, Davide Mancini. Starring Cristina Zavalloni, Alda Caiello, Barbara Hannigan.

WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING!
Elena de la Merced; Veronique Gens; Cecilia Diaz; Saimir Pirgu; Juan Francisco Gatell; Luca Pisaroni; Carlos Chausson; Josep Miquel Ramón

Orquesta Titular del Teatro Real (Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid)/Christophe Rousset

Irina Brook, director

NTSC All Region; 16:9; SS 5.1/LPCM 2.0; Approx. 140 mins.
Subtitled in Italian, English, German, French & Spanish
Recorded in High Definition on November 14th-18th, 2007, Teatro Real, Madrid

Il Burbero di buon cuore is a dramma giocoso in two acts composed by Vicente Martín y Soler to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on one of the most popular and amusing French comedies by Carlo Goldoni, Le bourru bienfaisant. The recording of Il Burbero di buon cuore confirms the collaboration between Dynamic and Teatro Real of Madrid (which started with the release of the double CD in World Premiere Recording La Conquista di Granata by Emilio Arrieta). This opera had been absent from Madrid’s stages since 1792. In October 1789, in fact, Mozart composed two “substitute arias” for this opera: Chi sa, chi sa qual sia KV 582 and Vado, ma dove? Oh Dei! KV 583, which, given their superior musical quality, have opportunely been inserted in this edition of the opera, sung by Véronique Gens. Soprano Véronique Gens appears also on Dynamic’s DVD Agrippina by Handel, which won the Record Academy Award 2007 in Japan in the category DVD opera. Director Irina Brook is the daughter of the famous British director Peter Brook, at her debut in Teatro Real. She sets the action in today’s times and mixes several styles and epochs, creating a very well lit and bright setting with a very effective result. The touch of classical and baroque expert Christophe Rousset perfectly enhances the music. The French conductor delivers a lesson of style extracting from the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid a sweet and smooth sound ideally harmonized with the partitura.

R E V I E W:



MARTÍN Y SOLER Il burbero di buon cuore • Christophe Rousset, cond; Elena de la Merced ( Angelica ); Carlos Chausson ( Ferramondo ); Véronique Gens ( Madama Lucilla ); Salmir Pirgu ( Giocondo ); Cecilia Diáz ( Marina ); Juan Francisco Gatell ( Valerio ); Luca Pisaroni ( Dorval ); Josep Miquel Ramón ( Castagna ); Madrid Teatro Real O • DYNAMIC 33580 (2 DVDs: 140:00) Live: Madrid 11/2007


The plot to Il burbero di buon cuore was taken from a 1771 play by Goldoni, Le bourru bienfaisant . As with all of Goldoni’s mature comedies, stereotypes of commedia dell’arte and old Roman farce are humanized with vivid personal detail. Thus, the Bartolo-like antagonist, Ferramondo, isn’t a conventional blusterer, but a kindly, well-intentioned man who is easily irritated and possesses a hair-trigger temper. His niece, Angelica, is too frightened to do more than equivocate before her uncle. This, of course, only drives him quickly up a wall. The other figures surrounding them are similarly more than expected—such as Ferramondo’s nephew, emotive Giocondo, a master of bad financial decision making, who desperately tries to live up to his uncle’s standards; and Giocondo’s wife, Lucilla, a spendthrift who dearly loves her husband, and doesn’t realize the monetary hole they’re in. (Not for nothing is the opera described as a dramma giocoso , which is usually taken to mean a work that mixes buffo and semi-seria elements.) Even the servant, Castagna, is deftly characterized, an alert, ironical philosopher who lectures Giocondo on living within his means. Lorenzo Da Ponte, not surprisingly, creates a clever libretto out of this material, and Martín y Soler provides a thoughtful setting that starts simple—not unlike Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro —only to grow in technical complexity and expressive depth as matters become more complicated.


Speaking of Figaro brings to mind the friendly rivalry of the two composers on Viennese operatic stages, best known for Mozart’s wink at Martín y Soler’s success with a musical quote from Una cosa rara (1786) in Don Giovanni (1787). Mozart also wrote a pair of substitute arias for Louise Villeneuve, the original Lucilla, when Il burbero was revived in 1789. They’re used in this performance, though one could wish the originals had been offered as a purely audio alternative among the extras. (There are also some significant cuts here, including material relating to a sub-plot involving the placement of Angelica in a nunnery so that Giocondo can acquire her dowry.)


The time and setting have been changed in this production, and we find ourselves in modern times, in the lobby of a moderately shabby hotel, still showing signs of former quality—along with a broad ragbag of typical hotel bric-a-brac from the late 19th century on up to the present. Irina Brook’s direction makes excellent and understated use of the lobby layout and its many appropriate props, with characters working, relaxing, and eating—in short, engaging in activities one would expect to occur where they are, instead of being placed in empty, sterile environments where they can only sit and wait for their lines. To her credit, the actors’ movements and reactions seem both natural and inevitable.


But you have to watch out when you change an opera’s time and location. They’re tricky things. Even here, with so much being handled well, the act I finale is problematic. Why should Ferramondo and his chess partner, the placid Dorval, suddenly express horror followed by anger at finding a man they don’t know in Marina’s hotel? The answer lies in the original setting. Marina wasn’t a hotelier, but a housekeeper, and the house belonged to Ferramondo. To find an unknown man upon entering one’s own house—and with only unmarried women present!—would have caused any man of the period grave concern.


There’s a casting choice that causes minor problems of its own, as well. Luca Pisaroni is a young bass-baritone, not more than 25 by his looks, yet there are several references in the libretto to his advanced age. Whether he was first choice for Dorval or not, he sings well, and acts in a pleasant if generalized “situation comedy” manner that works. Given a choice between having him shown at his proper age or disguised to look 20 years older or more isn’t a contest, as such disguises rarely work in realistic settings.


Most of the rest of the cast is similarly strong. Both Pirgu and Gatell possess effective lyric tenors, with the former getting the lion’s share of the work. His act I aria, “Degli anni sui fiore,” seems meant for a slower tempo than the quick, prosaic one Rousset wished upon it, but Pirgu floats an attractive tone and displays a pleasing sense of phrasing. Gens and Merced are vocally and interpretatively excellent, with the patricianly tone of the former and the sweetness of the latter providing good contrast. Ramón’s bass is little tested by his secondary aria, but he does a fine job overall. The best acting and some of the strongest singing comes from Chausson. He plays the choleric but large-hearted Ferramondo with a focus and attention to details of characterization that would grace a quality production of a Sardou play; yet he doesn’t lack for the customary verbal agility and solid, resonant depth of a basso buffo . Only Diaz seems overparted, her intonation sometimes suspect, her tone gray except at the bottom of its range when it blossoms out magnificently. The Madrid SO is in fine shape, and aside from rushing three slower arias, Roussett conducts sympathetically and with a light, engaging touch.


The camerawork is good, focusing on elements of action rather than whoever is singing—so you really do get to view all of what’s going on at any given time. Sound is Dolby Digital 5.1, and Linear PCM 2.0. Subtitles are available in Italian, English, German, French, and Spanish. The video format is 16:9.


In short—with a few noted reservations—this is a fine cast in an unusually well-directed production of an entertaining, forgotten opera. It’s far above the standard cut of modern premieres for works of its period, and really could stand as an example of how to build a stage environment that works with singers and helps develop their characters instead of narrowing their actions. Do I think this represents the edge of a new trend? Not a chance. Do I think Il burbero di buon cuore is worth a viewing or several? Without question.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

Unlike many Bach works adapted for guitar, the keyboard-specific intricacies of the Goldberg Variations do not easily lend themselves to six strings. In the late 1990s Kurt Rodarmer circumvented these limitations via overdubbing and using a custom-made guitar with an extended bass register. He also transposed the piece to D major, a key that lies more comfortably for guitar than the original G major. By contrast, József Eötvös’ contemporaneous solo transcription adhered to the original key and contained all of the music within a solo guitar’s six string range, albeit necessitating slower tempos, contrapuntal compromises, and frequent transpositions of lines up or down the octave.

Marco Salcito shares Eötvös’ essentially purist conception, although he is less shy to incorporate idiomatic flourishes and articulations that guitarists love, such as rolling chords, and sliding or bending into and between notes. He does this extensively when repeating each variation’s “A” and “B” sections, yet the fanciful embellishments enhance rather than obliterate Bach’s melodic lines. In addition, Salcito’s recasting of the scintillating cross-handed variations in more deliberate, guitar-oriented terms is not unlike watching rapid basketball moves played back in slow motion: you lose the dance but you gain the details.

A good example of this is Variation 26’s triplet figurations that ordinarily sprint up and down the keyboard. When slowed down, previously overlooked inner melodies emerge. Granted, the combination of the guitar’s limited dynamic range, Salcito’s leisurely pace, and his observance of all repeats save for the Aria da capo might make this nearly two-hour-long interpretation seem interminable over the course of a single hearing. Yet Salcito’s quiet, compelling mastery and eloquent musicianship, together with Dynamic’s intimate, full-bodied engineering, will win over guitar enthusiasts, and perhaps seduce a few Bach fans as well.

– Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

The Richard Strauss Project: Complete Works for Piano Solo,

Paganini: Unpublished

MAZZONI Antigono • Enrico Onofri, cond; Michael Spyres ( Antigono ); Geraldine McGreevy ( Berenice ); Pamela Luciarini ( Demetrio ); Divino Sospiro • DYNAMIC 7686/1–3 (3 CDs: 196:58) Live: Grand Auditorium, Lisbon 1/21–22/2011


Antonio Mazzoni was a fairly prolific Italian composer in the middle and late 18th century (1717–1785), and he wrote Antigono for the opening season of one of the world’s shortest-lived opera houses: the Ópera do Tejo in Lisbon. It opened on March 31, 1755, and was destroyed seven months later by an earthquake. (Its site is now a navy dockyard.) The libretto is by the famed Metastasio, and Mazzoni was clearly considered an important figure in his time. Metastasio wrote the librettos of the only three serious operas performed in the seven months of life for the opera house in Lisbon, and the choice of Mazzoni to write the music for one of them demonstrates his reputation at the time. He wrote perhaps 19 operas (we aren’t sure), many of which have not survived. Antigono is performed here in a critical edition edited by Nicholas McNayr.


Some people argue that works that have been forgotten lie in obscurity for good reason. Others argue that there is often merit in undiscovered works, whether or not they reach the stature of greatness. I tend to fall into that latter category. Antigono is no undiscovered masterpiece; a good many of its arias go along like sewing-machine music, humming along without making real impact. However, there are a number of arias and ensembles that do hold the attention of the listener, and reward that attention. This is an opera that is neither great nor terrible, but in that vast middle range. It will provide pleasure to those who enjoy hearing something out of the ordinary. The musical style is best described as late Baroque, with plenty of vocal ornamentation required of the cast. There are some passages of striking originality, including a brief solo harp interlude before the final scene. This is the type of opera against which Gluck rebelled, but we don’t have to choose between Gluck and that which he opposed; we can have both. Dynamic’s performance is very well sung, despite the need for a large and accomplished cast of soloists. I do wish a more imaginative and energetic conductor were on the podium, though Onofri gets some energy going in the march in the middle of the first act, and in general manages real energy in the faster music. However, he doesn’t seem to be able to sustain the musical line or intensity at slower speeds and in the more gentle numbers.


Each of the six characters has at least one challenging aria that makes excessive technical and expressive demands. With four soprano roles, one would ideally like tonal differentiation, but that might be asking too much. What is remarkable here is that all four sing very well. We may be a generation lacking in the great Verdi and verismo singers that we had in the middle of the 20th century, but we surely have more fine Baroque and Classical singers who can turn out roulades and trills with ease. In addition to the four sopranos, the role of Alessandro is sung by a countertenor, and Martin Oro manages it fairly well but without the vocal ease of the great ones. The only traditional male voice in Antigono is the title character, sung by the American tenor Michael Spyres. His is a triumphant performance. His singing of his first aria “Tu m’involasti un regno” is jaw-droppingly spectacular in its technical feats.


I wish Dynamic had a more thoughtful approach to their productions. They make a libretto available on their web site, and I did download and print it, but it is an inconvenience. They could offer the set at two prices, with a higher one including the libretto. In addition, they have misspelled at least one and probably two of the names of their singers. Geraldine McGreevy uses the upper case “G” even on her own web site, but Dynamic spells it Mcgreevy throughout. And all other recordings and web site references to soprano Pamela Luciarini spell her name with one “c,” whereas Dynamic spells it with two. The notes about the opera are informative but the plot summary is rudimentary and too brief. The recorded sound is well balanced and clear, and the audience is not intrusive at all. The only applause we hear is at the ends of acts. Anyone with an interest in opera before Mozart is likely to find this of interest, particularly in this fine performance. It might even be preferable on a recording, because one can listen to one act at a time (each act is an hour or longer), and one can skip past some of the recitatives (sorry, purists).


FANFARE: Henry Fogel

This new release from Dynamic features Luca Fanfoni on violin and Luca Ballerini on piano. Nicolo Paganini was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time and left his mark as one of the greats of violin technique. The first piece on this album, Sonata a Preghierea, is a premiere complete recording with the rediscovered introduction. Luca Fanfoni has won multiple International Competitions and regularly plays at prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Sala Verdi, Hochschule Music Hall of Vienna, and many more. Luca Ballerini has also won his share of competitions including winning the Premier Prix de Virtuosite avec distinction. He and Fanfoni collaborate regularly. Other musicians included in these Paganini recordings are Daniele Fanfoni, Luca Simoncini, and Fabrizio Giudice.

GIUSEPPE VERDI: Vladimir Stoyanov, baritone; Cesare lana, bass; Lorenzo Muzzi, bass; Renzo Zulian, tenor; Orlin Anastassov, bass; Amarilli Nizza,soprano; Tiziana Carraro, alto; etc.; Orchestra and Chorus, Fondazione Arturo Toscanini/Stefano Ranzani; Pier Luigi Pizzi, directo GIUSEPPE VERDI: I Vespri Siciliani, dramma in five acts.NTSC All Region; LPCM 2.0; Dolby digital 5.1; Color; 16/9; 143 mins; Subtitled in Italian, English, German & French.

TELEMANN Trio Sonatas: in d, TWV 42:d10; in a, TWV 42:a1; in F, TWV 42:F8; in f, TWV 42:f2; in a, TWV 42:a4; in f. Sonata in f, TWV 41:f1 • Fabio Biondi (vn); Tripla Concordia (period instruments) • DYNAMIC 7667 (52:13)


Fabio Biondi’s program of trio sonatas by Georg Philipp Telemann, apparently mastered in the late 1990s, corresponds to an identical program (same works in the same order) once listed as Stradivarius 33685 and not reviewed, so far as I can tell, in Fanfare . Tripla Concordia consists of Lorenzo Cavasanti (recorder), Caroline Boersma (cello), and Sergio Ciomei (harpsichord), and they lend almost bumptious support to the irrepressible Fabio Biondi, playing, in this case, a violin constructed by Desiderio Quercetani in 1991 after an 18th-century Neapolitan model. Danilo Prefumo’s notes explain that the ensemble has gathered together all of Telemann’s works for the combination of violin, recorder, and continuo, omitting other trio sonatas intended for recorder, treble viola da gamba, and continuo, previously considered to have been intended for violin.


The engineers come very close to the ensemble (and if the flute seems almost shrill on occasion, so does the violin on others); but the random breathing they’ve captured seems benign beside the amount of instrumental noise and multitudinous abrasive attacks they’ve registered, all of which might intimidate a faint-hearted listener (the recorded sound also gives the instrumental timbres a sharp edge that, it seems possible, might be an artifact). Nevertheless, there’s no gainsaying the irresistible élan of the ensemble’s reading of the first Sonata, with its three fast movements surrounding a slower second (all the sonatas comprise four movements, in which two fast movements generally provide a contrast with two slower ones). And the close, vibrant recorded sound, however pleasantly or unpleasantly it may strike the listener’s sensibilities from moment to moment, plays a significant role in creating the overall effect. In fact, the razor sharpness of the instrumental sound seems considerably more distracting in slow movements like the opening Adagio of the Sonata in F Minor (TWV 42:f2), rather than in headlong fast ones like the same Sonata’s Finale. The Sonata in A Minor, TWV 42:a4, seems perhaps the most balanced, with all the movements taking about two and a half minutes and alternating slow and fast in the pattern that had become pretty much standard. Yet, from my experience of the work as a performer, it seems to lack in this reading the exuberant energy that characterized the fast movements and the suavity that characterized the slow ones in their performances of the other sonatas. Recommended to those who may have missed this collection in what seems to have been an earlier incarnation and who take delight in this repertoire.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

Nicola Vaccaj belonged to the Neapolitan school: pupil of Paisiello and contemporary of Rossini, whose fame somehow obscured his own, he was well known and appreciated at his time, to the point that an extract from the last Act of his Giulietta e Romeo was chosen to substitute the same aria in Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi for an 1832 performance and this shift has remained common practice until the end of the 19th century. Therefore it's hard to believe that Vaccaj's most notable success was neglected for such a long time as it "is an opera that could easily hold it's own among the better-known works in the bel canto canon. It has taut plot, with a strong libretto, written by Romani, and is full of well-constructed ensemble pieces"(Alan Neilson - Operawire) Within a traditional, 16th century setting, director Cecilia Ligorio choses to convey a sense of doom and tragedy which the entire work is imbued with, from the choice of costumes and settings to the stage lighting. "It really was a well-paced, and visually pleasing production that successfully captured the love and hatred which drives the narrative forward." (Alan Neilson - Operawire)

"World premiere recording! Cesar Franck's first opera – staged for the first time! Known mainly for the few transcendent, harmonically adventurous instrumental works of his later years, Cesar Franck's first opera was composed when he was barely twenty years of age. Orchestrated by composer Luc Van Hove, from the autographic piano score manuscript. Paolo Arrivabeni conducts the Orchester & Chorus of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie. Stage direction by Jaco van Dormael."

Young and talented Elisa Tomellini loves challenges and is used to climbing high mountain peaks. Both physical as well as musical. No wonder then that she is the first woman to perform the first version of the Etudes aprés Paganini (S.140) that Robert Schumann reviewed as “the most difficult work ever written for the piano, as is the original for the violin. Certainly only a few pianists will be able to tackle them, perhaps no more than four of five in the world.” Dynamic is proud to feature one of them. As pianists almost always play the simplified version re-written by Liszt himself in 1852, the album Paganini Études and other virtuoso piano works contains the first 1838 version that Liszt wrote inspired by the Caprices, successfully achieving on the piano an extreme virtuosity that was unprecedented in that instrument’s literature. Born in Genoa, Italy, Elisa Tomellini has been studying piano since the age of five. She was admitted to the prestigious Music Academy ‘Incontri Col Maestro’ in Imola at the age of sixteen. In 1997 she gained a diploma at the Conservatory G. Verdi in Milan. She has won several pries at international competitions such as the ‘Viotti Valsesia,’ the ‘Concorso di Cantu’ and the ‘Concorso Citta di Pavia.’

Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco (Live)

PAGANINI: String Quartets (Complete)

Includes qt(s) for gtr, vln, vla and cel by Niccolò Paganini. Ensemble: Paganini Ensemble.

MARCELLO: Recorder Sonatas / Cello Sonatas

Recorded at Teatro Comunale, Ferrara, January 2008

Motezuma is Vivaldi’s only opera set in the New World. The manuscripts for this rarely performed and rarely heard opera were only rediscovered in 2002 and currently only one CD version exists recorded by Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco.

Of the CD recording, BBC Music Magazine wrote: “The instrumentalists of Il Complesso Barocco are on excellent form as indeed is Vivaldi himself in a rewarding score”.

Alan Curtis, one of the leading experts of Baroque music, returns again with the same orchestra, renowned Baroque specialist Vito Priante and another expert cast for the World Premiere Recording on DVD.

Region Code: 0 (All)
Sound format: 16:9
Picture format: LPCM 2.0
Running Time: 153 min. + extras
Booklet notes: Ita / Eng / Fre / Ger
Subtitles: Fre, Eng, Ger, Spa, Ita

Gaspare Spontini’s “Le Metamorfosi di Pasquale,” was premiered in Venice in 1802. This one-act farce, on a libretto by Giuseppe Foppa was to be his last work for the Italian stage. After its debut, in fact, the young composer moved on to Paris and then to Berlin and the score of this work was lost until 2016, when it was unearthed in the library of the Dukes of Ursel in Belgium. This 2-album release is a world premiere recording of a Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini di Jesi and Fondazione Teatro La Fenice di Venezia coproduction. Baurzham Anderzhanov stars in the title role, alongside other impressive soloists including Carlo Feola, Michela Antenucci, Daniele Adriani, and others.