Gal Costa Released in 1969, Gal Costa is the album that cemented Gal as one of the boldest voices of Brazil's Tropicalia movement - and it still sounds thrillingly alive today. Coming right after the genre-shaking Tropic�lia ou Panis et Circencis, this LP captures a moment when Brazilian music was breaking rules, blending psychedelia, rock, samba, and poetic experimentation into something totally new. Vinyl LP pressing.

Classical Music

Whoever watches the Samba Schools parading in Rio de Janeiro nowadays may not perceive the Samba’s musical richness both as a musical and literary genre. The Samba is, however, in its origins a very sophisticated musical form from a poetic, instrumental and harmonic viewpoint. A typical expression of urban popular culture, its origins go back to the most popular styles among Rio de Janeiro’s inhabitants, once the country’s capital city. The classically trained Brazilian singer Cristiane Roncaglio is also an enthusiast of Brazilian music, Bossa Nova as well as Música Popular Brasileira.

Claudio Monteverdi was a musical revolutionary who championed the new style of music that replaced intricate Renaissance counterpoint with the more theatrical music of the early Baroque. Yet he was a master in both these styles, as this selection.

Didone abbandonata was one of the greatest successes in the rather brief operatic career of Leonardo Vinci, a musician who had an adventurous life about which we still know very little. Written for Rome’s Teatro delle Dame, the opera was premiered during the 1726 Carnival season and marked the first collaboration between Vinci and Pietro Metastasio, a teamwork destined to produce abundant fruits, for in the four following years Metastasio would write as many as five new librettos for Vinci. It was immediately very successful, as was the Florentine production here presented, which was the first modern performance of Didone abbandonata, finally reviving one of the great masterpieces of early 18th-century opera. This production was recorded live at Teatro di Firenze and features a cast of Baroque specialists including Roberta Mameli, Carlo Allemano, and Raffaele Pe.