In his early years, before moving to Milan to continue his studies at the age of 22, Puccini was playing in several churches in and around Lucca and composed several pieces for organ.Only recently several collections containing more than 30 unknown pieces have surfaced. They add a musical portrait of the young composer and a very special insight in the operatic style of the church music at the end of the 19th century. Liuwe Tamminga plays on the very same organs that the young Puccini has been playing in and around the Tuscan city of Lucca. Liuwe Tamminga is considered one of the major specialists of sixteenth and seventeenth century Italian repertoires for organ. He is the organist of the historic organs at the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna where he plays the magnificent instruments by Lorenzo da Prato and Baldassarre Malamini. He has recorded several albums, including works by Cavazzoni, Frescobaldi, and others.

Classical Music

The music on this recording was written by three of the great composers of the Baroque era and is undoubtedly of the highest quality. As a universal form of expression, music can overcome the boundaries of time, place and language. It has the unique power to speak to us, despite our distance from the time of its creation. Music can also permeate many a spiritual text, which seems to be far removed from our modern secular world, with emotional power and immediacy. If this happens, as here, with excellent interpreters such as the soprano Griet de Geyter and the ensemble Il gardellino, then this effect is intensified to a unique musical enjoyment.

There is no denying the vast time gap separating the Baroque violin and the accordion. By the start of the 20th century, when the accordion made it's first appearance, the Baroque aesthetic had long lost it's cultural impetus, and the violin had already acquired it's modern features. The name Duo Incoerente and the title, So far and so close, the CD mirror the disparity between the chronological gap between the two instruments and their remarkable affinity.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

In the whole of Bach's work, three church cantatas remain today that use a bass soloist, in addition to one secular cantata ascribed to him. Il Gardellino and Dominik Worner recorded Bach's Cantatas for Bass with the spirit of the composer's voice.

Classical Music

Since the mid-1990s, the Spanish lutenist Xavier Diaz-Latorre has been one of the most sought-after chamber music partners and continuo players in his field. On this Passacaille recording he also shows that he is an outstanding soloist. On his 13-string instrument he plays works and adaptations by Biber, Bach Telemann and Westhoff. Born in Barcelona, Spain in 1968, Xavier Diaz-Latorre studied in Basle with Oscar Ghiglia at the Musikakademie and Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum. He has given concerts at major venues around the world, including the Carnegie Hall, Covent Garden, the Palau de la Musica Catalana, the Teatro Real, the Teatro Colon, the Wiener Philarmonie and the Konzerthaus. He performs regularly with world-renowned ensembles such as Hesperion XXI, La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations. He has also performed with Al Ayre Espanol, the Orquesta Nacional de Espana, and others.

The repertoire for recorder slowly dissipated after the Baroque era only emerging occasionally throughout subsequent eras but becoming reliant on transcriptions primarily thereafter. The La Cicela Ensemble's 'Naples 1759' spotlights works for recorder and chamber ensemble that did emerge ever so briefly and in small quantity during 1759 though the provenance of these pieces are not entirely certain, with some speculated to have been written earlier; still, these world premiere recordings in the hands of La Cicela directed by the recorder player In�s D'Avena are given a spirited performance.

In the 18th century, musical life in Spain flourished not only at the court in Madrid, but also at the great cathedrals of the country, which were, since Siglo d’oro, no less important centers of music in the sixteenth century. The present recording with the Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla under Diego Fasolis presents some charming works from the repertoire of the Cathedral of Malaga. The today largely unknown composers show that Spain was by no means a musical diaspora around the middle of the 18th century, but, besides Scarlatti, Soler and Boccherini, still offers a whole series of unknown works. Created in 1995 by Barry Sargent and Ventura Rico, The Baroque Orchestra of Seville has been among the very best Spanish Ensembles, particularly in the field of historical interpretation. Since 2001, Pedro Gandia Martin has served as its artistic director. The group has recorded for several record labels, and has received distinctions such as Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice, Exceptional by Scherzo, 5 Stars Goldberg, and more.

The Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, in collaboration with several universities, researches repertoire linked to the history of Andalusia. This Proyecto Atalaya has already produced a series of albums with unknown jewels, which have also been released on PASSACAILLE. On this release, entitled Astro Nuevo, the musicians, under the direction of Enrico Onofri, rediscover works by Pedro Rabassa (1683-1767), who worked for more than forty years as Kapellmeister at Seville Cathedral. Also thanks to the excellent soloists - Julia Doyle and Carlos Mena (countertenor) - his music becomes a real rediscovery of the musical Baroque in Spain.

It is clear from the title page of the handwritten piano score that Tchaikovsky's popular Variations on a Rococo Theme Op. 33 can be performed with orchestral or piano accompaniment only. The recording with Sergei Istomin on PASSACAILLE uses the handwritten copy of the original piano score with the cello part, which contains numerous informative entries by the composer. Also in the piano trio recorded here, Claire Chevallier plays in proper style on a grand piano made by the St. Petersburg company Jacob Becker in 1877, whose instruments Tchaikovsky has demonstrably highly valued.