Classical Music

"Imago", one of the last words spoken by Dido as she approaches death after having been abandoned by Aeneas, becomes the emblem of this overview on Virgil's musical fortune during the Renaissance. To the humanists, Publius Vergilius Maro was a model to aim for, by virtue of his garland of subjects and perfection of style. The search for manuscripts of his works in documented to have been ongoing since the late fourteenth century. In Mantua, amongst his collections, Francesco Gonzaga had Vergilian codices and a copy of the Aeneid in vernacular - Isabella d'Este Gonzaga, born and educated in Ferrara, once become Marquise, began to cultivate reading Virgil and planned to honor the poet with a monument, designed by Andrea Mantegna. At the courts of teh Padan Plain, Virgil's verses became moreover creative material for musicians, who, with increasing frequency, set them to music according to the forms and styles of the moment. To gather them, means also to draw a line which, from Josquin Desprez to Orlando di Lasso, traces Virgil's fortune amidst the flow of compositional research of those years. Although the use of the Latin text in fact characterizes the form of the motet, usually elevated and abstract, it will not escape notice that especially the passages from Aeneid inspire compositional solutions similar to those experimented in the tumultuous world of the madrigal in Italian. Wanting thus to give a hint of this very turmoil, vocal arrangements were chosen which enhance the narrative texts, and some passages were entrusted solely to the instruments - practice much in vogue at the time. The selection, which is only part of the existing repertoire, follows a narrative thread - the bucolic exordium, the epic and encomiastic occasions, the telling of Dido, the inspiration given by Virgil.

Classical Music

An important composer during the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras, Adriano Banchieri is most noted for his founding of the Accademia dei Floridi in Bologna. Banchieri was one of the first composers to convert the madrigal into use for dramatic purposes. He developed a form called “madrigal comedy,” which was an unstaged, but still dramatic, collection of madrigals which told a story when sung together. These works are performed by the Delitiae Musicae, conducted by Marco Longhini.

The 6 Trios by J S. Bach, as originally described in the surviving manuscript bears the name of neither the arranger of Bach’s pieces nor the composer of the slow introductions. Despite that, it has long been supposed that it was the work of W. A. Mozart. As far as we can trace, it was Wilhelm Rust, the editor of the volume 9 of the Bach-Gesellschaft edition, who in 1860 first made this connection. A more recent scholarship has identified many details that help us understand the complex backgrounds of these textual deviations found in the surviving manuscripts originated from Vienna in 1770-1800. Each Trio consists of a slow introduction and a fugue. While it retains Bach’s original prelude-fugue design, the keyboard prelude was replaced with something more suitable for string ensemble. In a sense, the arrangement has a close affiliation with the Baroque Sonata da chiesa (i.e. the first two movements of the four-movement set "slow-fast-slow-fast"), the genre, which represents the repertoire of the past, appears to have been much appreciated among the connoisseurs of music in the late eighteenth-century Vienna. The slow introduction typically begins in the tonic and closes in the dominant, so that the main piece, the fugue, can begin in a well-prepared mood. Similarly it makes use of the melodic material that hints the ensuing announcement of the fugue subject. Thus the introduction unfolds in such a manner so that when the fugue subject appears ceremoniously, one feels that at last a show has begun

Classical Music

People who are passionate about music will soon have to carry out careful investigations in the ancient districts of the Austrian musical baroque, because these indeed seem to present themselves today as parts of a land rich in forgotten music. But we want to be quite close to them. With this recording we in fact enter again the period of the late 17th and early 18th centuries and our initiative is particularly interesting with regard to the graceful paths of Austrian violinism. Many have already come to love an important author of that time such as the great von Biber (1644-1704) quoted in the previous album (Austrian Baroque for violin solo) with sequence of his Rosary. But then we proceeded to the discovery of Johann Vilsmayr, who endowed us with his crystal-clear music, which rises towards high horizons. Also underlined by the outstanding interpretation of the violinist Liliana Bernardi, in this second release, under the auspices and support of the Associazione Nazionale Italia-Austria. In the present recording we turn to the second part of Vilsmay’s “partite” and of course our interest grows, if we only think of the great surprise stirred up in us by the Salzburg Master on the previous album. After all, to understand him we just dispose of his musical soul, because so little is known about his life. However, there is no wavering: we are confronted with a great musician, who makes use of a pure speech, full of curiosity for life.

The idea for this recording was born at the meeting of two Italian musicians. Ivan Mancinelli, a distinguished percussionist and Domenico Cagnacci, timpanist for the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, celebrate their mutual passion for the music of Ney Rosauro, a top-notch performing artist and composer of international ranking. Rosauro’s catalogue features two absolute “classics”: the Concerto for Marimba No. 1 Op 34, which originated in 1986, and the Concerto for Timpani Op. 37, composed in 2003. Mancinelli and Cagnacci came up with the idea of adding another masterpiece to the sizeable catalogue of Rosauro’s compositions for percussion and orchestra. Accordingly, they proposed the concept of a score that would include both marimba as well as timpani, to the Haydn Orchestra. The orchestra board did not hesitate to add the Double Concerto for Marimba and Timpani to the long list of commissioned works, following a tradition they have cherished for more than sixty years as a renowned cultural institution. The concerto was written by Ney Rosauro during the first months of 2017 and saw its world premiere in the performance on June 5, 2018 at Bolzano, with Mancinelli and Cagnacci as soloists and George Pehlivanian as conductor. A live recording was made of the hugely successful premiere, which again gave birth to the idea of adding two more popular compositions for solo instruments and a lean version for string orchestra to this monumental recording.

Classical Music

"The Tres temas de recuerdos are inspired chapters of memory that Jaume Pahissa (1880-1969) composed for guitar in 1938 in Argentina, evoking nostalgia for his distant Catalan homeland that he was forced to leave in 1937 owing to the Spanish civil war. Besides their meditative beauty, these pieces also offer us the inspiration for the title of this release, similarly prompted by 'recollections'. This is expressed, in fact, through a programme that to a great extent embodies the special role played by 'memory', thanks to various pieces that engender emotional reference within the collective imaginary. Pieces that are deeply rooted in the conscience of those who love the guitar and it's close association with it's most representative historical figures. Alongside these pieces inspired by memory, their composers and their arrangers, and the symbolic reality that each of them reveals, I have added other works, perhaps less familiar to the public at large. These are instead linked - more or less openly - to my more personal references, associated with the passing of my own experience; so these too, on account of their individual peculiarity, are included as part of the Temas de recuerdos that I am proposing here, in the hope that they can also become such for the listener. That is, I attempt to understand the reason for this more personal association in certain pieces that are particularly suitable for the purpose, by exploring them from within: like reflecting oneself in one's own reiterated sonic presence, almost wishing to find a secret account of the steps of one's own story. The hope is to unveil within the identity of these themes the birth of an unforeseen source of affection for our own life." (Stefano Grondona)

This release views “French style” from a strictly historic point of view, exploring the musical language of absolutism which reigned in Paris from the time of Louis XIV (1643-1715) and part of the time of Louis XV (1715-1774). Marin Marais was one of the most famous composers of “French-style,” excelling in chamber music. Performing on period instruments are Alberto Rasi on viola da gamba, Patrizia Marisaldi on harpsichord, and Beatrice Pornon on theorbo.

The pieces composed by Matteo Rigotti and presented on this album are intended for different instruments and offer the opportunity to explore and learn about the varied compositional world of the author. The instrumental variety is rich and always different. Only in Q and Q2, the instrument is the same: the clarinet. However, in this specific case, the two pieces seem to be two moments of the same thought. The second one appears indeed as an extension of the first one, almost a "reaction" to it, creating a narration that transversely joins two tracks, distinct in the album, in a "before" and a "later". In all the other pieces the situation appears limited to the piece itself which becomes a different place each time, a time and a space in which numerous gestures happen. This means that, within each of these "microworlds", sound research and experimentation paths start by taking advantage of both the possibilities that the instrument offers and, in ensemble pieces, the possible result from the interactions between the instruments.

Classical Music

Classical Music

The piano is a quite versatile instrument and essentially a percussion by itself; percussion is per se a universe of possibilities, at times a keyboard in itself. The invention on emission and interaction modes may generate variably dis-concerting situations – therefore exploring the instruments of the three pieces may help us to briefly outline the sound scenarios. The programme chosen by Beneventi and Rebaudengo summons a wide choice of instruments but somewhat coalesced in strong characterizations (metal - skin - wood). Composers and pieces offer a live and unexpected image of the “specialty” of this duo, and represent the tout-court compositional invention of France and Italy from the last decades. If we join the nationalities with the origins (Jewish-Moroccan and Greek for the French Ohana and Aperghis, and Lecce, Southern Italy, for Fedele), a nice geometrical figure can be drawn in the Mediterranean Sea; perhaps the eloquence and expansiveness of their musical pieces, so different from each other, are the result of this common background. In brief, the interpreters, once having conceived and recorded the album, have themselves composed a thoughtful and evocative piece.

Classical Music

Pietro Lazazzara writes: "The work My Art of Gypsy Jazz consists of 14 compositions. 11 pieces are originals that have never been published, while 3 pieces were created by [Romani] music composers. The title of the album fully expresses my vision of traditional "Gipsy Jazz" and it's possible projection into the future. My academic career as a classical guitarist, my Jazz Music and Flamenco studies have contributed to the creation of my compositions. "

He began studying classical guitar at the age of twelve and then he graduated brilliantly at "Tito Schipa" Conservatory in Lecce. In 2008 he obtained, with the highest grades and honors, the Academic Diploma of Specialist level II in Musical Disciplines, classical guitar, at the Conservatory "E. R. Duni" of Matera where he studied under the guidance of Master Clemente Giusto. Also at the Conservatory "E. R. Duni" in Matera he received his degree in Jazz Music in 2009. With the highest marks, he obtained the advanced course in classical guitar at the "Roman Guitar Academy" under the guidance of Maestro Domenico Ascione, an experience that led him to perform in several Recitals in the Capital city.

“Nowadays, three hundred years after the autograph of Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato, these solos are still a benchmark for the entire literature, not only for violin, but also for any other instrument used as a solo to shape a thought, gathering all its possibilities of sound, all its technical resources. A model and term of comparison for each composer, a trial and inspiration for any interpreter who will face Bach’s cosmos and have to discern and choose amongst the possible stylistic options emerged in three centuries, ranging from the management of vibrato to the type of instrument and bow to create a personal interpretation and shape it in the fleeting moment.” (Roberta Pedrotti)

This album includes a carefully curated selection of Renaissance and early Baroque gems. Lightly skirting the fluid boundaries between high art music and folk music in early modern Europe, much of the vocal music presented here demonstrates the grace and charm with which even the most erudite and famed composers applied their craft to popular song and dance. The instrumental music further reiterates the centrality of dance music in the 16th and 17th centuries, whether explicitly or as a rhythmic and formal underpinning. Above all, while skillfully composed by master musicians, the music is infused by musical cultures existing beyond the Church and court. At first glance unrelated, but a more discerning gaze will uncover the fine thread of cultural exchange between high art music and popular musical traditions running throughout the album.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The saxophone quartet is an incredibly homogeneous and flexible grouping, which was conceived more than 100 years ago, but little used outside jazz and is thus still to be explored. The Italian saxophone school has recently blossomed from the French school, and the technical quality of instrumentalists has much grown. In the meantime, in all of Europe an original chamber repertoire has begun to form around the various formations possible with this instrument. It was precisely the difficulty of combining something else with this composition that alerted me to a certain lack of identity in the saxophone quartet, since it cannot draw, as all other instruments can, on its own Pre-Romantic repertory. Therefore I have tried to make a real contribution to resolving the problem of repertory, in my view central, and I have thought not so much of the individual compositions as of cycles. In fact, I have conceived two programme halves, in which I have included some encore pieces. These half concertos to me seem ideal to approach as one wishes a contemporary goal, both mixed and unitary. The first proposal is called Pagine, an open anthology on different centuries and genres. In combining the pieces I have avoided stereotypes; in fact, I have aimed at the inexhaustible modernity of the masters of the past, which today it is fashionable shamelessly to ignore. I have never claimed to have said everything and I leave space for my friends, to whose wedding with the saxophone my efforts are dedicated. - Salvatore Sciarrino