Within this new album the Armonia delle Sfere ensemble is delivering to us the complete Produzioni Armoniche work by Antonia Bembo, a collection of 41 motets dedicated in 1701 to Louis XIV, in whose court she landed after a series of vicissitudes occurred in Venice, her hometown, including the failure of a marriage and important family disputes, for which she was deprived of her paternal inheritance. After being trained under the musical guidance of Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676), organist of the ducal chapel of San Marco, Antonia secretly married Lorenzo Bembo, a Venetian nobleman, from whom she had two children, and from whom in 1672 she herself asked divorce, due to the continuing absence of her husband, whom she also accused of continuing abuse and betrayal. She then moved to Paris, perhaps following the guitarist Francesco Corbetta, where she concentrated on music and composition, and where she had the opportunity to perform in the presence of Louis xiv, at the court of which she would find acceptance and protection until the end of her life. It is the fascinating story of a strong personality that sought and found its way overcoming the difficult condition of a seventeenth century woman artist.

Pietro Antonio Locatelli's arrival on the musical scene of the first half of the eighteenth century was like a bolt from the blue. He wrote and performed things which had never been heard before on a violin; he was able to play in such acute regions "that a canary lost it's balance and fell off it's perch" according to an anecdote of the times. His contemporaries had nicknamed him "Earthquake", and he possessed great performing power and charisma. Reliable sources inform us that he used to wear a heavy, dark blue housecoat with a sword at his side for his performances, and that his concerts lasted three hours with no interval. His ability as a composer enabled him, moreover, to give a polished form to virtuosity, as yet uncommon; he gave it organisation and published it under the name of "Capricci" (is the first example of a sample range of bold dexterities for solo violin, and it was not until a hundred years later that Paganini produced his 24 Capricci, and still longer for Chopin's 24 Etudes and 24 Preludes). This is not all. Locatelli' 24 Capricci are also the cadences of 12 concertos for violin and strings, quite dissimilar, given that they were written over a long period of time; all together they take the name of "The Art of the Violin" (another title which appears for the first time in the history of music, but certainly not for the last.).The entire opera III is delivered within this triple album by the talent of Diego Conti, leading the Archi di Firenze ensemble and playing a precious violin of the Bolognese school.

The rather singular figure of Gaetano Pugnani (prone to luxury, exhibitionist, and with a lively desire for glory) stands out remarkably in the eighteenth-century music scene. Prodigy child (at the age of ten he was already in the orchestra of the Teatro Regio of Turin) he became one of the leading violinists and composers of the time in Piedmont. He was born in 1731 in Turin where he lived most of his life and where he died. Yet, his great violinistic virtuosity crossed the Italian borders as he toured and held concerts in all major European capitals where he was highly appreciated by the greatest critics and musicians of the era. His violinistic style tributes Corelli through the mediation of his master Giovanni Battista Somis. The Concerti included in this album perfectly represent the virtuosity and musicality of the Italian style that also allowed Somis to enchant all major theaters in Europe. Roberto Noferini, an exceptional performer, plays the solo violin improvising in the style of the era. He is accompanied by the Orchestra Nuove Assonanze directed by Alan Freiles Magnatta.

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With this release continues the publication of Marco Enrico Bossi's opera omnia for organ. Here we have more transcriptions of various authors such as Handel, Wagner, Debussy and Saint Saens that deeply fascinated Marco Enrico Bossi in his personal discovery of symphonic and chamber music. For this work Andrea Macinanti uses an important historical instrument: the Cavaill�-Coll organ of the Saint-Antoine des Quinze-Vingts Church in Paris, an instrument specifically built in 1894 for the very wealthy Albert de l'Ep�e baron for performing Wagner transcriptions that, same as Marco Enrico Bossi, the baron passionately loved. Andrea Macinanti was born in Bologna in 1958. He attained diplomas in organ, harpsichord and voice from the Bologna and Parma Conservatories, and completed his studies with Klemens Schnorr in Munich. He obtained a first class degree in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy at the University of Bologna. He has recorded numerous albums; the most successful include recordings for two organs (with Francesco Tasini) and others released on the TACTUS label of the complete organ works by Ottorino Respighi and Goffredo Giarda, as well as previous recordings of Marco Enrico Bossi.

Giovanni Battista Fasolo most probably composed its Annuale simultaneously to the famous "Fiori Musicali" by Girolamo Frescobaldi; the Annual, however, was delivered to printing only ten years later, in 1645, possibly for editorial reasons because it was the same Venetian printer - Alessandro Vincenti - specialized in keyboard music, to publish both collections. The goal pursued by Fasolo with his Annuale was to provide "tutto quello, che deve far un Organista, per risponder al Choro tutto l'Anno" (everything that an organist has to do, responding to the Choir throughout the year). More than an artistic stand-alone product, the collection was an example of the repertoire suitable to the liturgical service of the time: a compilation of models and forms, styles and modes of composition tha thad to be learned for finally being reused in the daily practice. Unlike Frescobaldi, Fasolo does not provide any toccata intro: a genre completely absent in teh Annuale. On this album organist Luca Scandali is performing three complete masses at the historic Luca di Bernardino da Cortona organ accompanied in alternatim by the ensemble Bella Gerit.

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Classical Music

About Giovan Battista Gervasio's life we have only a few, fragmentary pieces of information. We do not know the exact years or places of his birth or death, and can only surmise that he was born in Naples in the third decade of the eighteenth century, and that he died after 1786, year of the publication of the last printed composition of his that is available to us. The music recorded here is a performance of the six sonatas in manuscript form preserved in Uppsala and Paris, the complete corpus of Gervasio's currently known sonatas. The InchordisTrio has been performing Giovan Battista Gervasio's sonatas for mandolin and basso continuo since it's establishment, including them in it's concert programmes. It is a very interesting, sometimes even surprising, music. In spite of it's rough formal simplicity, it turns out to be particularly effective and able to evoke the eighteenth-century Neapolitan Baroque atmosphere, through a series of stylistic features that belong to the typically Neapolitan composition procedure, with melodic solutions that are enjoyable, captivating, and pleasantly engrossing for both listeners and performers. The structure of the InchordisTrio, which is formed exclusively of plucked string instruments, stimulates a performance research and a rather distinctive construction of the basso continuo, based on an alternation of accompanying instruments, of empty and full parts, of timbres, and also on little melodic exchanges between the mandolin, the archlute and the harpsichord.

Leone Sinigaglia is a musician who deserves to be rediscovered. He was a Jewish composer who was born in Turin on 14 August 1868 and died there on 16 May 1944 in front of the military force that had come to arrest him in the Ospedale Mauriziano, where he had sought shelter from the Nazi-Fascist persecution. During the period of his education in his native town, Sinigaglia often stayed in Milan, where he struck up important friendships with Antonio Bazzini (a violinist and composer who was professor of composition from 1873 and became director of the Conservatory of Milan from 1881 onwards), and with his pupils Alfredo Catalani and Giacomo Puccini. Bazzini urged him to travel to Europe to complete his training with the great names of the era, first of all Brahms, who, however, not accepting pupils but recognizing their value, diverted him to Eusebius Mandyczewski, a teacher of great fame and professor of composition at the Vienna Conservatory. From these years in Vienna came the great masterpiece by Sinigaglia: the concert for violin and orchestra included in this prestigious live performance by the young world star Laura Marzadori, first violin of La Scala in Milan. The album includes two pieces for cello and orchestra performed by the refined soloist Fernando Caida Greco, and the delicate orchestral piece "Regenlied." Marco Zuccarini leads with great confidence the Citta di Ferrara Orchestra in this live concert organized by the "Comitato dei grandi Maestri".

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Classical Music

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were important for the development of the transverse flute: the technical improvements introduced by French and German flutists made the instrument become more accurate in its tuning, more powerful in its sound, and more agile in quick passages, so much so that it superseded the recorder and began to compete with the violin, even replacing it in some sonatas or concertos. Virtuoso flutists such as Philibert Rebillè, Michel de la Borre, Pierre Gabriel Buffordin, Michel Blavet, Johann Joachim Quantz and his noble pupil Frederick II of Prussia were undoubtedly a source of inspiration for the composers of the baroque and galant periods who composed music for the transverse flute and produced pieces that became landmarks in the history of music; but it was also thanks to the diffusion of the instrument among amateurs that the transverse flute repertoire was enriched by an extraordinary number of compositions, many of which were exquisite works. This is the case of these five unpublished concertos by Italian authors - some of them totally unknown, now rediscovered by the Baroque Ensemble “Carlo Antonio Marino”, led by Natale Arnoldi, and by the flute of Raffaele Trevisani.

The Antonio Castiglione (Casteliono) anthology, printed for the lute in Milan in 1536, is one of the most important documents of the period, testifying to how relevant the use of this instrument became - the very first to be dedicated 'intavolatura' - starting the diffusion for that 'home' use of music that will be the fortune of the main printers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The skill and knowledge of the performance practice of luteist Paolo Cherici - already a star of the interpretation of the music by Vincenzo Capirola (TC470301) - reveal to us in all it's freshness this musical cross-section of the Italian renaissance through the sounds and timbres of the lute and the vihuela. Paolo Cherici studied guitar under Ruggero Chiesa, then lute at the Schola Cantorum in Basel with Hopkinson Smith and Eugen M. Combois. He has made a large number of recordings, some of which have received high honors. He currently teaches at the Milan Conservatory.

Among practices distinguishing the European music scene in the second half of the eighteenth century, the performance of music for two players on the same keyboard is certainly one of the more remarkable and, in some ways, significant examples. The rendition of a four-handed piece on the harpsichord or the fortepiano can be considered an example of the direction that music of the second half of the eighteenth century was about to take: light-hearted, convivial, and educational, in which quality existed alongside the intention to satisfy the new “galant” tastes of the aristocracy, as well as the needs of the rising middle class. The four-handed genre becomes, in this regard, an ideal setting to express the new musical feeling. Four hands can double possibilities and exploit the keyboard’s full range. The search for expressivity is maintained by combining extended melodies with arpeggios or broken chords. In the case of performance on the harpsichord, the increased opportunity to “mix” the stops facilitates the search for unexplored colors and contrasts. On a historical copy of the famous harpsichord maker Martin Sassmann, Alberto Firrincieli and Mario Stefano Tonda perform the singular repertoire that sees protagonists Nicolò Jommelli, Muzio Clementi and Giovanni Maria Rutini, in these compositions reflecting their different peculiarities.

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Giuseppe Tartini was born in Pirano d’Istria in 1692 but spent the majority of his life in Padua. He was not a lover of fame: indeed, it took Padre Martini a great deal of time and convincing before managing to obtain a portrait of Tartini for his private collection (this original portrait, painted by Vincenzo Rota, is the only one we have today). Despite all this, however, young musicians arrived from all over Europe to study with this musician who, essentially self-taught, had dedicated his life to perfecting the violin from both a technical and theoretical standpoint. In the not insignificant output of this “Master of Nations” (as he was called), the violin predominates, for Tartini composed few works other than the concertos and sonatas dedicated to this noble instrument. The justification for this choice may be found in his theoretical writings, which represented for the eighteenth century a new moment of discovery and evolution. Implored by many to compose for the opera in Venice, he responded that “a throat is not a neck of a violin,” and this comment was followed by a strong criticism of Vivaldi, who instead tried his hand at virtually every genre. This album features the concertos for flute, for strings, and various sonatas including the famous “Trillo del Diavolo.” The two soloists Massimo Mercelli and Marco Rogliano are accompanied by the Ensemble Respighi from Bologna.

“Bel canto” and operatic reminiscences are present in all the compositions included in this cd. These works, in the wake of the melodic technicality that was typical of the nineteenth century Italian clarinet school, give the virtuoso Giovanni Punzi (First Soloist Clarinet of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Copenaghen) the chance to offer us a broad range of bravura displays. The album is a world premiere by Italian composers that with these “living room” fantasies are protagonists of the fervent musical life that underwent the powerful influence of the Italian melodrama that between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will hold the absolute primacy of the world music scene. Punzi is accompanied by pianist Amedeo Salvato and Calogero Presti at the small clarinet (for the duet from the Sonnambula by Vincenzo Bellini).

Frescobaldi’s book of Capricci from 1624 was intended as a continuation of his 1615 Book of Ricercari. It was clearly conceived, however, for the keyboard, an idiom for which this work is a masterpiece, both in regard to contrapuntal technique and to the exceedingly refined art and skill of harpsichord and organ writing. The interdependence of these two books is underlined by their publishing history already beginning with the second edition of the Capricci of 1626, and continuing for the later ones of 1628 and 1642. The first editions of the Ricercari (1615 and 1618) included five canzonas, after which the planned “second book” in actuality took on such particular characteristics that Frescobaldi decided to give the work its own title, that of “Capricci”: “In these compositions entitled Capricci, I have not kept to as simple a style as in my Ricercari.” Once again, by Frescobaldi’s own admission in his dedication to the Modenese prince Alfonso d’Este, the guiding hand of Luzzaschi is to be found at the origin of this work: “I owe to Your Highness, as Prince, who from birth has retained from his ancestors the ancient and hereditary protection of the arts, the fruit of these musical labors to which I dedicated myself in my early years under the discipline of Signor Luzzasco, most rare organist and dearest servant of the Most Serene House of Este.”

It was in the mid-eighteen century London that the eclectic figure of Felice Giardini (or Degiardino: Turin, 1716 – Moscow, 1796) made his first appearance. He was a violin virtuoso with eye-catching executive skills, conductor, composer, impresario in contact with leading intellectuals. His musical production is multifaced. He experimented mainly with duet, trio, string quartet. His music is a perfect mixture of Italian and German tradition (Johann Christian Bach, Johann Stamitz and Manheim School that has typical features of the “Style Galant”). Evidence of this can be found in the Six Duos for Two Violins Op. II (1751), dedicated to Prince Heinrich of Prussia. Giardini’s style is spontaneous, easy to listen to, characterized by freshness and lyricism cantabile, joyous naturalness and refinement. Generally, it appears to be an essential musical writing, coming back to the formal clarity and to the contrapuntal simplicity. It develops a great tonal sensibility, supported by a dynamic rhythmic structure: the pure melody, without ornaments, is becoming increasingly important. The notoriety of his music is verified by Charles Burney: “I find all over Italy that Giardini’s solos are in great repute, and very justly so, as I heard nothing equal to them of kind, on the continent” (The Present State of Music in France and Italy, 1771).

Padre Davide da Bergamo (Felice Moretti) has been the most representative figure of the Italian nineteenth century organ music. Having become a minor friar after studying organ music with Davide Bianchi and Antonio Gonzales, and composition with Simone Mayr, he began a flamboyant career throughout northern Italy as excellent performer and improviser. Soon he became the major reference of his time for consulting, tests and inaugurations of new organs. Lauded by the crowds and by the musicians (in Milan for an inauguration he played almost uninterruptedly for eight days!), he was the greatest and most famous organist of the Italian Risorgimento, the absolute champion of that sound that took the theatrical style to permeate the the organ music and the instrument itself. Marco Ruggeri presents here an interesting selection of works for the liturgy and for the concert, performing them on the Serassi organ of the Basilica of Santa Maria di Campagna in Piacenza: the organ designed by Father Davide himself, where he served until his death.

Antonio Bazzini, violinist and composer, was born in Brescia on 11 March 1818 and died in Milan on 10 February. At the age of eight, he began to study the violin under the guidance of Fausto Camesani (or Camisani); at thirteen, he published his first composition; and at seventeen, he had six symphonies for great orchestra performed at the theatre of Brescia. In 1836, when he was eighteen, he was auditioned by Paganini, who encouraged him to embark on a career as a concert performer. From that time onwards, he was constantly successful. He held concerts in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, England and Belgium. He met many contemporary composers, one of whom was Robert Schumann, who praised him saying: “Since many years no virtuoso has given me such an intimate joy and such pleasant, happy moments as Antonio Bazzini has done. It seems to me that he is too little known, and that, even here, he has not been appreciated as much as he deserves.” The works for string quartet performed by Quartetto Bazzini in this recording are no. 1 without an opus number and no. 3 op. 76. On listening to these two works, we can understand and appreciate Bazzini’s mastery as a composer: the solo parts are skillfully distributed among the string instruments, and we can detect an influence of French and German instrumental music, filtered by his creative genius, which is never predictable or recognisable.

Giuseppe Martucci was admired and appreciated by his contemporaries Franz Liszt and Anton Rubinstein, and was an outstanding performer and teacher, as well as composer. This new release presents his Sonata in fa diesis minore op. 52, Due romanze per violoncello con accompagnamento di pianoforte op. 72, and Tre pezzi per violoncello e pianoforte op. 69. Performing these works is cellist Jacopo Francini and pianist Alessandro Deljavan.

The figure and work of Bernardo Storace are particularly fascinating because of the aura of mystery which surrounding both. The only information we have on this remarkable composer for keyboard instruments is printed on the frontispiece of his one known work, the “Selva di varie compositioni d’intavolatura per cimbalo ed organo by Bernardo Storace vice Chapel Master of the Illustrious Senate of the Noble and Exemplary City of Messina”. The continuous earthquakes that afflicted Messina right up to the beginning of the twentieth century destroyed any existing evidence of Storace and his works. The one example of the Selva, which has fortunately survived, was printed in 1664 in Venice, then a very important printing centre, but is without the editor’s name or a dedication. This vast florilegium is made up of a wide range of variations based on nearly all the popular themes of that time, as well as two courantes, two toccatas and canzonas, two ricercari and a pastorale. Francesco Cera, renowned early music specialist, here uses three different historical instruments: organ, harpsichord and spinetta, for a refined and competent performance, supported by Fabio Tricomi at the percussions.

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