“The few documents I had collected gave me the feeling that I was standing on the threshold of a wonderful cave, like that of Ali Baba, which I had the opportunity to explore at will. Since that time I must confess that I cannot remember how many people I have contacted, nor communities and towns visited, nor how often I have stayed, for short or longer periods, in five countries of the eastern Mediterranean. My investigations were in no way limited to poetry and song. Folklore constitutes a whole world, and I was anxious in particular to know that of my people.” Alberto Hemsi wrote these words just two years before he died, in a retrospective as a foreword to the last and tenth volume of his opus magnum, the collection of works for voice and piano known as Coplas Sefardies. More than fifty years earlier, at the beginning of the 1920s, he had begun to collect examples of the folklore of the Sephardi Jews – “his people” – and to arrange them for concert performance. The present release features the world premiere recording of the original version

Mozart himself saw the advantages of creating more accessible versions of his concertos in reduced instrumentation. Ignaz Lachner followed common 19th-century practice by leaving the piano parts of these concertos intact and making splendid transcriptions of the orchestra parts using only a string quartet with added bass. K. 488 and K. 491 are two of Mozart’s greatest and most popular piano concertos. These chamber versions throw an intense and intimate new light on familiar music. Alon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive pianists of his generation, admired for his musical intelligence and dynamic personality. His career as a soloist has taken him all over the world, working with leading orchestras and conductors. The Fine Arts Quartet ranks among the most distinguished ensembles in chamber music today, with an illustrious history of performing success and an extensive legacy of over 200 recorded works.