Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

• Mauro Tortorelli and Angela Meluso perform select chamber works of the Piedmontese musician, violinist, composer teacher and Romantic-era adherent Rosario Scalero (1870-1954). After much traveling throughout Europe pursuing his musical education, he eventually came to America, holding teaching posts for a time at the Mannes School and the Curtis Institute. His many noteworthy pupils included among others Samuel Babrber, Ned Rorem and Lukas Foss."

An unmissable album for lovers of chamber music, "Divertimento Italiano" represents a lively and different dimension of the great theatrical, cultural and musical substratum of the Italian nineteenth-century: the private completion of what happened in the great theaters. The organic instrumental feel represented by a vintage piano and a harmonium delivers a variety of rare expressive possibilities and also brings to light those 'minor' composers who represent the most intimate alter ego of the great 19th century melodramatic productions. The performance is given by two fine specialists: Andrea Toschi at the harmonium and Carlo Mazzoli at the historical piano. Andrea Toschi was born in Bologna, where he attended the Conservatory "G.B. Martini" and earned his Diploma in Organ in 1982, having participated in many master classes with famous organists. The same year, he also graduated from the University of Bologna with a degree in Agrarian Sciences. Since 1983 he has been teaching Organ in Italian Conservatories; currently he is teaching at the "Giuseppe Nicolini" in Piacenza. He taught master classes in Italy and abroad, mainly with trumpet/organ duo modern repertoires. Carlo Mazzoli first studied mechanical engineering before devoting himself to music. He has been awarded in various national and international piano competitions, and performs concerts in esteemed musical institutions in Italy and abroad as a soloist, in chamber ensembles, and in piano duos. Dedicated to the study of the historical piano, he founded the "Fortepiano Ensemble di Bologna." He is principal piano chair at the GB Martini Conservatory of Bologna.

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.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

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.

Giovanni Battista Gervasio was a significant personality in the musical scene of 'stile galante' of the second half of 18th century; composer, virtuoso and teacher, he studied and improved the four courses mandolin, which was first built in Naples in that period. Thanks to him this instrument became popular and technically refined as it is nowadays. The aim of this recording is to reproduce the tinkling sonorities of these compositions. In order to obtain thoroughly this particular natural sonority, we have decided to "capture" the natural reverberations of the environment without ignoring the sound of each single instrument, so that the phrasing is intelligible. We have played an original mandolin built in 1764 and an harpsichord copy of an Italian harpsichord of 18th century. We have chosen to play continuo only with harpsichord considering that these two instruments have a similar way to produce sound. This is the first complete recording of all the sonatas for mandolin by Giovanni Battista Gervasio and the first absolute world recording.

The organist Giulio Mercati, already protagonist of the Tactus' album dedicated to the rediscovery of Giovanni Tebaldini, on this new release covers the role of the author with the scene music of the "Interrogazione a Maria" by Giovanni Testori, and some of his own vocal, choral and organ sacred compositions. After attending the Bruno Bettinelli compositional school, Mercati here demonstrates technical and expressive awareness of great aesthetic depth which relates in a convincing and creative way to the traditional musical heritage. In the performance, where we also see him as organist in the solo pieces, we have to note: the San Bernardo Vocal ensemble (accompanied by Mattia Marelli at the organ), the soprano Lidia Basterretxea Vila, and the cellist Claude Hauri. The organ used is the 1965 Mascioni of the Church of S. Maria degli Angioli in Lugano.