Antonio Salieri’s (1750-1825) catalog of instrumental music is not particularly extensive. +The symphonic works known from available recordings include two symphonies, several concerti, serenades and the like. +There is, also, a small body of chamber works, including those present on this disc. +Oboist Paolo Pollastri (b. 1960) has been first oboe of numerous orchestras and performs often as a soloist. +The Canadian Amati Quartet made its international debut in 2005 and indulges in a diverse repertoire.

Versatile musician, singer, violinist, luthier and guitarist, Luigi Legnani is a figure characterized by many different aspects. Born in Ferrara towards the end of the eighteenth century, he was a prolific and acclaimed composer and performer. He also designed interesting solutions - finally taken also by famous Viennese instrument makers - who perfected both the guitar structure and its tonal capacity. Appreciated in 1841 as “The Paganini of the guitar” Legnani leaves us a repertoire of over 250 works, most of them unknown, ranging from purely didactic compositions to those dedicated to the general public concerts. Raffaele Carpino, after a thorough investigation over the life and works of Legnani, finally proposes and interprets his works for the first time with absolute fidelity to the original nineteenth-century scores, approaching the author’s thought with the correct philological attitude.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This rarity of an album includes original works for plectrum orchestra, an ensemble formed by mandolins and instruments so derived: the mandola, the mandoloncello and mandolone, with guitars, harps, and other plectrum or pizzicato instruments added depending on the situation. Following its heyday and decline, the second half of the 19th c. throughout Europe saw many such ensembles spring up. Founded in 1898, the Gino Neri orchestra was the star of that period of splendor, and now represents the oldest plectrum orchestra still preserving and disseminating this repertoire worldwide.

The Duo Zigiotti Merlante, (Sergio Zigiotti on mandolin and Fabiano Merlante on guitar), on this album are performing a series of nineteenth-century pieces of rare charm on various vintage instruments within a compendium of melodies inspired by amorous, operatic, exotic and clever themes. The three composers, Carlo Munier, Enrico Marucelli and Luigi Mozzani were leading figures of the Italian scene between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries both as virtuous and multi-instrumental mandolinists, teachers, directors or members of famous plectrum ensembles. Luigi Mozzani also founded a guitar school-workshop that, successful all over the world, was finally selected by the great Andr�s Segovia that chose one of his instruments.

The city of Modena, under the rule of the Este family, was the capital of the Dukedom of Modena e Reggio. Thanks to Duke Francesco II's fondness for the violin, music became an essential element in the most important events at the Este court, such as receptions, weddings and official visits of foreign sovereigns. These were the occasions in which the Duke displayed all his magnificence. Modena stands out for the abundance of it's collection of musical documents in the Biblioteca Estense: the library is a real mine, largely unexplored so far. This consideration gave rise to the idea of making this beautiful, extraordinarily modern music available to those who are "pursuing" culture and art. So our goal is to promote a rediscovery of the enormous heritage preserved in the Biblioteca Estense, by carrying out a meticulous study of the sources of the works of the composers who were active at the Este Court in Modena, transcribing them into modern notation and critical editions, and producing monographic recordings of them. The first step consisted in the study and recording of the instrumental works of Giovanni Battista Vitali. In this first of 6 albums dedicated to his music preserved in the Estense Library of Modena, the baroque group Italico Splendore presents the very pleasant dances of the Chamber Sonatas op. 14.

This double album is a tribute of the contemporary music world to the great Roberto Fabbriciani, one of the most important musicians of our time, who, in addition to having established himself as an international performer, has been the undisputed pioneer of avant-garde and experimental music in the last decades. A sort of standing ovation in the form of music dedicated to him by some great composers of our century, and this album finally is a significant reference. Starting with names such as Ennio Morricone, Salvatore Sciarrino and Brian Ferneyhough, then reaching some younger artists from the Italian compositional panorama, through the use of almost all writing techniques. A must for the lovers of this genre.

Roberto Arnoldi, a talented young violinist from Bergamo, on this album plays a mix of pieces for solo violin by contemporary composers, some of which are specifically dedicated to him. By discovering these new works by Davide Anzaghi, Fabio Vacchi, Rossella Spinosa, Giuseppe Garbarino and Natale Arnoldi (Roberto's father), the Arnoldi stretches his own abilities as well as the listener's experiences. "Side by side with my study of the great classical masterpieces for solo violin, I have always been eager to deal with contemporary compositions, stimulated as I was by the persuasion that the new techniques required for the correct interpretation of present-day pieces are an important occasion for maturing and also very useful for "going back" to confront pieces from the past." (Arnoldi)

The project of the musicologist Nicoletta Confalone and of the guitarist Federica Artuso is aimed at the discovery of Emilia Giuliani, illegitimate daughter of the famous Mauro Giuliani that, with his guitar and his compositions, conquered Vienna, the capital of 19th century music. Emilia lived her entire life in a continuous state of difficulty and discomfort, dying of typhus at the age of only thirty- seven. The adverse events of her life and her condition as a woman (considering that in her days it was almost impossible to express her talent as an artist) did not prevent her from reaping flattering successes from audiences and critics in the many European stages of her unfortunately short life: suffice for all the quotation of some Viennese critics who, after a concert she shared with Franz Liszt, exclaimed with admiration: "Every finger, one Liszt!". In addition to her amazing skills as an instrumentalist, she was also appreciated for her music that she managed to publish with the major publishers of the time: Giovanni Ricordi in Milan and Artaria in Vienna. This double album includes her complete work for guitar, for the first time on an historic instrument, a 1830 Ren� Lacote.

Classical Music

This singular discographic project unites the sacred pianistic work by Franz Liszt to those by Bonifacio Maria Krug, both composers and abbots. If Franz Liszt is already known to the public, Krug (abbot in the abbey of Montecassino in 1864) is an important discovery proposed by the young and talented pianist Silvia Vaglica assisted by the Benedictine father Fabrizio Messina Cicchetti. Both Liszt and Krug joined with fervor the directions that will later be outlined by the Cecilian movement regarding the issues related to music in the liturgy, and the music proposed in this recording testifies their commitment to bringing the sacred themes out of their customary borders, contrarily to what happened in the middle of the nineteenth century in Italy, when the theatrical style also spread in liturgical compositions.

Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari (Rovereto 1763 - London 1842) was an Italian composer and theoretician. He was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant of Rovereto who at first had destined him for carrying on the family business; but since a very early age he showed a great talent and facility for music. After his father's death in 1784, Ferrari decided to pursue a musician's career, and from that time onwards his life was spent travelling a great deal and staying in the major European courts. In this recording dedicated to the unusual harp and piano ensemble, Roberta Alessandrini and Corrado Ruzza reveal a musical cross-section typical of the aristocratic salons of the late classicism, characterized by a pleasant and elegant style. The pieces are also completed by other instruments such as the hunting horns and the tambourine, whose parts could be played by occasional guests who were added to the private performances of these compositions.

Giovanni Battista Candotti was born in 1809 and died in 1876. Self-taught musician and refined sacred music expert, he was Chapel Master at the Cathedral of Cividale del Friuli (Udine, Northeast Italy). He was still a child when he was sent to study in a seminary by his family, whose poor economic conditions would not have allowed him to pursue an advanced literary education. The great diligence shown from the earliest stages of his schooling, together with the swift progress he made both in theology and in literary subjects earned him a number of prizes and acknowledgements, also enabling him to complete his studies ahead of time. He stood out in Italian, Latin, Greek and Jewish literature. From his vast production, mainly of a sacred and liturgical genre, Gerwin Hoekstra, winner of the First Prize at the "International Organ Competition for Historical Organs of the Basso Friuli", VI edition, 2018, offers to us a significant anthology of typical pieces of the Italian Risorgimento style, at the 1850 Valentino Zanin organ from the church of Talmassons (Udine - Italy).

Serie Bianca by Tactus offers this double CD encompassing the historic recordings of two monumental piano sonatas by Carlo Alessandro Landini (recently awarded for the Missa Novem Vocum, published in 2021, tc 951202). Sonatas No. 1 and No. 2 are in fact in their mighty dimensions (each composed in a single 74-minute movement) in which the composer seamlessly explores and utilises the relationship between sounds and their primordial harmonics, overcoming both the tripartite form and other formal structures. Performing the two works on the piano is Maestro Carlo Levi Minzi, internationally renowned concert artist and full professor at the "Giuseppe Verdi" Conservatory in Milan.

Among the notable musicians born in the city of Pavia, Franco Vittadini is undoubtedly one of the most significant. The city's Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali is named in his honor, and he served as it's director from 1924 until his death. Maria Cecilia Farina uses historical organs on which to perform the author's organ music in a precise and philological manner. Rarely - and always in deference to the liturgical context - does Vittadini employ a grand and solemn language, using organo pleno sonorities or indulging in virtuosic displays. His stylistic hallmark is instead a gentle melancholy: a crepuscular atmosphere - comparable to the poetry of Guido Gozzano or Sergio Corazzini - and a contemplative, idyllic/nostalgic attitude pervade his pages, expressing his sense of faith.

The idea of developing a project on Bolognese composers for guitar has been more and more appealing to me, as my activity of ensemble guitarist increased; an activity which I had firmly chosen in accordance with the 1970s' ideals regarding collective work. I have always found this way of making music more rewarding and useful than soloistic work, which I still perceive as self-referential; especially in the field of contemporary music, very self-referential per se. Within programmes structured even for large ensembles, I have often found myself proposing pieces for soloists, sometimes very beautiful, either by young authors at the beginning of their career or by renowned composers who often belonged to the Bolognese music environment. However, what I have always found somewhat absurd is that those compositions, prepared with care, sometimes for prestigious events such as "Chigiana Novit�", were often first and last ever performances. From this sort of frustration derives the choice to collect these few pieces, in order to narrate the Bolognese voice of the guitar from the 1970s to the 2020s, along an ideal itinerary of teachers and students (who became teachers themselves) starting from their forefather, Giacomo Manzoni, and to record them so that they won't be forgotten. Andrea Orsi

Carlo Mazzoli and Silvia Rambaldi, passionate scholars of historical instruments and performance practice of early music, were teachers for many years - respectively of Piano and Harpsichord - at the Conservatorio "G.B. Martini" in Bologna, where they realised numerous teaching and concert projects. They have had a constant point of reference in Maestro Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, with whom they have collaborated assiduously in the activities of the San Colombano Museum in Bologna, which has housed it's collection of historical instruments since 2010; they are both present with some performances, both solo and in duo, in the DVD Il vibrar dell'aria dedicated to the Museum. It was precisely with performances on these ancient instruments that the study of Clementi's works for duo began, leading to this first complete recording.

Francesco Almasio (Milan, 21 April 1802 - Milan, 14 November 1871) was one of the protagonists of the musical life of Milan during the nineteenth century, and is considered the father of the reformation of sacred music in Italy. He was Kapellmeister and organist in several Milanese churches, and the very first teacher in the organ course at the Conservatory of Milan: the few surviving manuscripts of sacred music compositions of his, and the printed corpus of his organ pieces, reveal the everyday life of his liturgical and teaching activities. Francesco Almasio was born in Milan to Pietro Almasio (1780-1846), from Legnano, who also was a Kapellmeister and organist, and Maria Porri; his father made him study the piano, the organ and composition. Organist Fabio Nava uses the historic Bossi-Urbani organ from 1886 in the Prepositurale Church of Leffe (Bergamo) to best render this recording of Francesco Almasio's organ works. In addition to the original compositions, the organ transcriptions by the Milanese composer are particularly interesting. In addition to famous pieces such as Eja Mater from Rossini's Stabat Mater and the symphony from Giuseppe Verdi's La Forza del Destino, true musts of the era, he surprisingly adapts two movements from Beethoven's Septet for organ, enriching the sacred and liturgical repertoire of his time with chamber music genre.

Luigi Cherubini is one of the most interesting artistic personalities in a historical period of great changes that straddled two centuries, the eighteenth and the nineteenth. His musical career met the best possible conditions in a city, Florence, that was extremely rich in culture and dotted with important events, ranging from the performance of Handel's Messiah in Italian and the staging of operas by Hasse, Gluck, Paisiello, Piccinni, Rutini and Traetta, to Mozart's performance in 1770. The Luigi Cherubini sonatas performed by Chiara Cattani in this recording can be defined as 'galant' without depleting their meaning as compared to the great compositions of the previous period. The eighteenth century is a very prolific century for the cembalistic literature, particularly for the Sonata form, affected by various influences and changes that will bring it to it's apogee in the period of the Classicism. The taste of the Italian society goes through a profound mutation: it is now more pleasing with melodic expansion, clarity, transparency and lightness, characteristics that permeate the art of this century at 360 degrees. Simplicity and proportion are the pillars of the structure and together favor the emanation of a sense of vividness and fervor that makes writing energetic and never obvious.

This very interesting monographic recording is dedicated to the figure of Federico Bufaletti, a forgotten artist and main exponent of that Neapolitan piano school that at the end of the nineteenth century moved to Turin. The album is based on an in-depth investigation into the dual role of the Bufaletti composer and pianist: in addition to presenting his complete piano works, we have the recovery of rare recordings of the early twentieth century with the artist performing pieces by Scarlatti, Debussy, Mozart, Liszt, and others. The album also includes works dedicated to Bufaletti by exponents of the Italian piano school such as Alessandro Longo, Costantino Palumbo, Gaetano Foschini, and Pietro Floridia. The interpreter of Bufaletti's music is pianist Massimiliano Genot, already appreciated for having brought to light the piano works by Giuseppe Unia (on TC812101).

The importance of the guitar is evident throughout the span of Paganini's activity as a composer, and it is possible that as a boy, before he began to practice on the violin and the "chittara francese", he received from his father his first musical grounding on a "mandolino genovese", an instrument that had six courses or six single strings, with the same tuning relationship as that of the guitar. The Catalogue's chronological list ranges from 1795, with Carmagnola con variazioni ms. 1, to 1835, with Variazioni sul Barucab�, an entire cycle of compositions that features the constant presence of a guitar in combination with string instruments. This context contains the compositions for solo guitar, which are divided into three groups: Ghiribizzi, Sonate, and Compositions of various types, including some Sonatine. The recording dedicated to Paganini's opera omnia for guitar is divided in two double CDs volumes, the first volume includes the 43 Ghiribizzi and other various compositions (sonatas, sonatinas and free forms). Mauro Bonelli, for the realisation of this work, used a period guitar with catgut strings, tuned to 415 Hz: nineteenth-century Austrian guitar without a label; the fact that it's fretboard can be tilted by means of a peg connects it with the best Legnani-Stauffer tradition.

Pietro Giannotti, who in the title page of Op. 1 (entirely written in Italian) is described as native of Lucca, was born in that independent Tuscan city, in an unspecified year between the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth. We do not have any information about his education or his musical pursuits before his activities in France began, in 1728, when he moved to Paris. From the subsequent year to 1758 we know that he served as a double-bass player at the Academie Royale de Musique. A much-appreciated performance of his as a violinist is documented at the "Concert spirituel" of 28 March 1749; on this occasion he also played some pieces of his own. He remained in Paris until his death, on 19 June 1765. In Paris he published about twenty works, all of instrumental chamber music. In all likelihood, Giannotti also carried out his activities within private circles, in the house of an influential French nobleman, as is demonstrated by his first publication, to which we must now turn our attention: Op. 1 is dedicated to Jean-Charles de Crussol (1675-1739), seventh Duke of Uzes and French peer, scion of an ancient aristocratic family, who was not only a patron but also an "amateur" who practised music for his own enjoyment. Pierluigi Mencattini, accompanied by the ensemble Labirinto Armonico (already protagonists of the edition of the sonatas by Giovanni Antonio Piani, tc 671690) in this double CD performs the full version of the Op. I collection.