This recording explores Brahms' masterpieces through the lens of historical performance practice, restoring lost expressive technical traditions such as rubato, portamento and tempo flexibility. Performed on period instruments by the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht led by specialist Johannes Leertouwer, the album reveals a sound world of striking contrasts, dramatic freedom and orchestral transparency going far beyond modern conventions.

Luca Quintavalle brings together composers from different generations and aesthetic backgrounds, to reveal e remarkable plurality of musical languages, where historical forms, transcriptions and new works intersect. Throught these works, past and present meet in a continuous process of musical metamorphosis, and the harpsichord emerges as a living medium of invention.

In 1758 the London publisher John Walsh, sensing a marketing opportunity, issued a collection of harpsichord sonatas under the name of Johann Adolf Hasse. The volume includes genuine compositions by Hasse alongside some works that are in all likelihood not by him. Walsh's editorial decisions reveal a discerning musical judgment, and the pieces gathered in the collection are of consistently high quality. The present recording offers the complete set, performed on an original 1768 harpsichord by the Amsterdam builder Carl Fredrik Laescke.

At the close of the seventeenth century, Farina, Minei, and Netti created some of the most popular pieces of their day. Their dialogues for soprano and bass offer a colorful palette of emotions. This recording presents the first modern performance of several pieces that once enchanted Neapolitan evenings. Their interplay of contrasting passions is a breathtaking musical postcard from the Bay of Naples.

The Canzonette by Paolo Rolli (1687-1765) were among the greatest lyrical successes of eighteenth-century Europe. The poet, renowned for his cantatas, his extraordinary Italian translation of Milton's Paradise Lost, and his opera libretti for Porpora and Handel, likely oversaw the musical settings of the Canzonette himself, often reworking compositions by Handel and popular tunes of the time, such as the dance Aimable Vainqueur. Simple yet delightful melodies accompany amorous skirmishes between nymphs and shepherds, while also celebrating wine and the pleasures of love. This collection offers a unique glimpse into the eighteenth-century Arcadian world through the original work of one of it's greatest poets.

In this recording, Brú explores repertoire from the folk dance and song heritage of Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Traditional tunes are blended with musical elements as diverse as baroque, contemporary, and a pinch of heavy metal. Tales about magical beings, spells, hope, and deceit unfold against the alluring backdrop of Nordic nature. The contrast between life and death, love and despair, is sometimes resolved tragically, but at other times with a more humorous, down-to-earth outlook.