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.

A successful musician in the early 19th century, Giovanni Simone Mayr composed the opera Medea in Corinto in 1813, the same year it premiered at the San Carlo theatre in Naples. The two act tragedy with libretto by Felice Romani was Mayr’s most popular theatrical work. The story is that of the Greek myth of Medea. “Michael Spyres, in the role of Jason, confirms to be one of the finest belcanto performers of the moment, endowed with a nimble voice and pure and solid high notes.” (Dynamic)

This just might be one of the most important releases in the entire Dynamic catalog. Maybe even in all of recording history. For the first time ever, all of Paganini’s works have been collected in one single release, featuring all the best interpreters of the composer’s music: Salvatore Accardo, Massimo Quarta, Leonidas Kavacos, Luigi Alberto Bianchi, Stefan Milenkovic, Franco Mezzena, the Quartetto Paganini, Bin Huang, Luca Fanfoni, and many others. The release also includes historical documents featuring milestone Paganini interpretations by Ruggiero Ricci, Arthur Grumiaux, Yehudi Menhuin, Franco Gulli, Vasa Prihoda, and others. The six concertos, as well as several other works, are performed on Paganini’s 1742 Guarneri del Gesu violin. There is also a section of the release that features rare and newly re-discovered works in their world premiere recordings.

The Italian pianist Marco Vincenzi, director of the “Centro Studi Musicali Ferruccio Busoni” in Italy, gives an impressive interpretation of these Schubert works transcribed by Busoni and never recorded before. In a single release we are treated to all of Busoni’s Schubert transcriptions. It is delightful music in itself, and masterfully arranged for piano by Ferruccio Busoni. These are some of the first transcriptions made by Busoni, and are receiving here their first recordings on an original Steingraeber piano.

Hummel’s affinity with Mozart’s musical language began in 1786, when the very young Johann Nepomuk lodged with the Mozart family in their home for two years. • Hummel’s interest in, and knowledge of his teacher’s works for fortepiano and orchestra is attested by many accounts. • This recognized authority, added to the widespread approval he enjoyed as a composer, created the context in which Hummel produced his numerous transcriptions (approx. 50), scored principally for flute, violin, cello and fortepiano, applying now-historically valuable improvisatory practice solutions as well.

A classic work of its genre and historical period, Artaserse was premièred in Venice in 1730 by the most famous singers of the day: Farinelli in the role of Arbace, Cuzzoni as Mandane and the castrato Nicolino as Artabano. It was a success for Hasse, who would, in 1740 and 1760, repropose the same work in two different versions. Our CD features the Venetian version, in world première. The cast is extraordinary, with the countertenor Franco Fagioli giving a great performance of the role that was Farinelli's. Fagioli easily goes up and down the extension of more than three octaves, maintaining a uniform timbre and remarkable power and resonance. Also stunning, is the aria "Pallido sole" sung by Sonia Prina.

"...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)

In the first half of the 1700s, the aria with concertante trumpet was one of the ingredients that the public of the numerous Venetian theatres appreciated the most. + This is the first recording that makes available virtually all these still rather little-known vocal and instrumental works with trumpet that encompass Antonio Vivaldi’s entire career, works not only very interesting works from a musical point of view but also brilliantly written. + The oldest ones date from his Mantua period (1718-1720), the most recent ones belonging to the last phase of his operatic career (1732-1737).

Composed for Venice in 1837, just a year-and-a-half after the fantastic success of Lucia di Lammermoor, Pia de' Tolomei "pleased altogether", in the composer's words. He revised it a couple of times thereafter and it was shown at various theaters as distant as Malta until 1855, after which it disappeared. It takes place in 13th-century Siena: Pia is married to Nello; his cousin Ghino loves her but she refuses his advances. Ghino angrily accuses Pia of adultery with an unknown man, who turns out to be Pia's brother, Rodrigo, and Nello imprisons her. Ghino eventually feels remorse and confesses his deception, but not soon enough to save Pia from being poisoned by Nello.

One of the formal weaknesses of the opera is that Rodrigo is a mezzo-soprano role, and that type of travesty never quite works; but even elsewhere, the fact that Pia is so passive, added to generally formulaic writing, keeps the opera from being a winner. Still, there are some fine Donizettian tunes and scenes, and it's worth hearing.

This live performance finds a remarkably committed cast struggling uphill against Donizetti's lack of true inspiration, but the singers turn out a satisfying experience in the end. The star is Patrizia Ciofi as Pia. She delivers a specific, focused reading, beautifully sung and filled with as much textual and tonal nuance as the score allows. Her voice has gained body in the middle and the top still gleams. Ghino is sung by tenor Dario Schmunck, and he exhibits a fine, ringing tenor and good Donizettian style; his opening aria and cabaletta and the second half of his duet with Nello are exciting, vigorous parts of the score, and he tears into them well. Baritone Andrew Schroeder has a nice snarl as Nello, but aside from the cabaletta to his duet with Ghino he has pretty ordinary music. Rodrigo is given similarly uninteresting music, and Laura Polverelli sings it well enough. The chorus sings with as much involvement as the cast, which is saying a great deal, and the orchestra plays with verve under Paolo Arrivabeni. Recommended for Donizetti completists.

--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

Italian/English libretto included.

Bellissimo Baroque

VERDI: Lombardi alla prima crociata (I)

Mercadante: Flute Concertos Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6 / Theme and V

KURTAG / LIGETI / BERIO / SCRIABIN / LUTOSLAWSKI: Piano 4-Ha

Nardini, P.: Violin Concertos, Op. 1, Nos. 2, 4-6

A classic work of its genre and historical period, Artaserse was premièred in Venice in 1730 by the most famous singers of the day: Farinelli in the role of Arbace, Cuzzoni as Mandane and the castrato Nicolino as Artabano. It was a success for Hasse, who would, in 1740 and 1760, repropose the same work in two different versions. Our DVD features the Venetian version, in world première. The cast is extraordinary, with the countertenor Franco Fagioli giving a great performance of the role that was Farinelli's. Fagioli easily goes up and down the extension of more than three octaves, maintaining a uniform timbre and remarkable power and resonance. Also stunning, is the aria "Pallido sole" sung by Sonia Prina.

Video Format: NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Audio Format: PCM 2.0
Sung In: Italian
Subtitles: Italian, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean
Region Code: 0 (All Regions)
Duration: 189 min.

Recorded in Seabreeze Park, Rochester, New York.
Contains 13 tracks.

From 1917 to 1919, composer Eleuterio Lovreglio was first violin of the La Scala theatre's orchestra conducted by Toscanini, and in 1919 he moved to France. Lovreglio's works blend French and Chinese musical influences (the latter absorbed during his stay in China). Endowed with uncommon musicality, he was able to write incredibly modern works, many of which are, regrettably, still unknown.

The event of "I Musici" is something extraordinary. It's the oldest (or if you prefer most long-lived) chamber group still active. They opened the way of Italian 18th century music to the whole world. They carried Rome's name, of course Italy's and Italian music to five continents, roving with their repertoire from the 18th to the 21st century.

Verdi: Il Corsaro

Rossini: Turco in Italia (Il)

• The Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin are among touchstone works in the solo violin literature. • Partita No. 2 concludes with the famous Chaconne, often played as a stand-alone work. • Italian violinist Luca Fanfoni's discography includes several previous Dynamic releases • NY debut 2002 – Carnegie Hall • Luca Fanfoni is violin professor at the Parma Conservatory

PAISIELLO: Giuochi d'Agrigento (I) [Opera]

ROSSINI: Cambiale di matrimonio (La)

HÉROLD Overtures: Zampa; Le Pré aux clercs. Symphonies: No. 1 in C; No. 2 in D • Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, cond; O of Italian Switzerland • DYNAMIC 8028 (54:25)


Reissued as part of its ongoing series of “Delizie Musicali” releases, the performances on this Dynamic CD were recorded in 1998 and appeared originally as CDS 282. In that guise, the disc was reviewed in very few words but recommended by John Bauman in Fanfare 24:2.


Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold (1791–1833) has maintained a tenuous hold in the repertoire thanks mainly to the overture to his opera Zampa , and to his ballet La Fille mal gardée . Of many composers largely forgotten today we can at least say that they were renowned and celebrated in their own time, but Hérold, despite having shown early promise, never really achieved widespread recognition outside of the early 19th-century French opera and ballet circle of composers—namely, François Adrien Boieldieu and Daniel Auber—with whom he sometimes collaborated.


Hérold’s 20-plus operas and half-dozen ballets met with variable success, more of them misses than hits. But his efforts weren’t limited to the theater. Besides the two symphonies on this disc, he also wrote four piano concertos and at least three string quartets, which I have on a REM CD performed by the Annesci Quartet.


Evidence of just how popular Hérold’s Zampa Overture once was is the fact that we played it, most likely in a simplified arrangement, in my high school orchestra, which now seems like it must have been only a year or two after the piece was written. But it’s rarely performed in concert these days, despite some 25 recordings. Reacquainting myself with the piece after not having heard it in quite some time, I can understand why, and it’s not the performance that’s at fault on this CD. The overture is as banal and cliché as the libretto on which it raises the curtain, which is to say it’s pretty typical of the fluffy cotton candy melodies and jangling gallops common to much early 19th-century French opera and ballet.


Hérold’s opera Le Pré aux clercs ( The Clerks’ Meadow ) may be the composer’s last work, for it seems he died five weeks after it was premiered by the Opéra-Comique on December 15, 1832. It’s said that his premature death was hastened by the lead soprano, one Alphonsine-Virginie-Marie Dubois, who held out for more money to appear in subsequent performances. To me, that suggests she had a rather low opinion of Hérold’s music and preferred not to have her name associated with it, but for a few extra francs she was willing to hold her nose while she sang.


The words “French composer” and “19th-century symphony” don’t usually go together in the same sentence and are often scoffed at when they do, at least until the many notable and significant exceptions are pointed out, beginning with Berlioz. The fact is that the club of well-known French composers who wrote symphonies was not really all that exclusive. Members included Bizet, Gounod, Gouvy, Farrenc, Lalo, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Boëllmann, Chausson, Magnard, and, no doubt, a number of others.


Hérold also made two contributions to the genre. The first, dated 1813, was apparently composed to satisfy a requirement that all recipients of the Prix de Rome, which Hérold had won the year before, had to write a symphony to demonstrate their progress. Accordingly, it’s an academically crafted work that follows all the standard rules of layout and form. Danilo Prefumo’s album note uses the words “traditional” and “unproblematic” to describe it. Hérold’s melodic outlines, regular phrases, and harmonic progressions are strongly reminiscent of Beethoven’s pre-“Eroica” orchestral works.


Hérold’s second symphony, according to Prefumo, followed a year later, in 1814, and exhibits “a weak penchant for lyricism.” Wikipedia’s entry on the composer, however, dates the second symphony to 1815 and places its composition in Naples, where the composer had moved to from Rome for health reasons. Whichever is correct, it doesn’t change one’s perception of the score, which, now in only three movements instead of four, shows no real advance over the earlier opus.


No one will find these works challenging to the ear or difficult to comprehend, and all should find them enjoyable, even if at times they can sound a bit frivolous and superficial. But this is mostly pleasant music, well performed by Wolf-Dieter Hauschild leading his Lugano-based orchestra, and in good recorded sound. My only reservation in recommending it is that today’s (mid-June 2012) price of $12.99 at ArkivMusic and $14.99 at Amazon seems rather high for a 14-year-old reissue. But then, if for some reason, you must absolutely have the original Dynamic CD (which I do, by the way), Amazon will be happy to sell it to you as an import for $99.99. If there are any takers, I’ll sell mine for half that and keep this “Delizie Musicali” rerelease in its place.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

To celebrate Verdi's 200th birth anniversary Dynamic is featuring a fascinating collection of performances recorded during the best period of Maria Callas' artistic career. Some moments of the greatest poignancy can be listened in Forza del Destino and Ballo in Maschera where the American born Greek soprano's interpretative art is expressed with it's full beauty.