Fabrizio Longo directs the Opera Quinta ensemble to the rediscovery of the music by Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli, a singular character and dynamic protagonist of the Italian and European music scene of the seventeenth century. A native of Tuscany, he first moved to the Austrian court where he started his career as composer, then, as virtuoso violinist, to Messina at the time the thriving Sicilian city was distinguished for its avant-garde cultural activity. Here Pandolfi composed the collection of songs presented in this release, all dedicated to Sicilian princes and musicians, including a singer that would later be murdered by the composer in unclear circumstances. He finally ran away from Messina taking service at the Spanish court where he presumably remained until his death. Most of these compositions are brilliantly characterized by the Messina seventeenth-century sounds and instruments (i.e. scacciapensieri, triangle, triple flute, castagnette and tambourine) enriching the performances with the vitality that characterized popular dances and Spanish musical influences mixed with cultured forms of music (especially by the Roman school) on which the official institutions in the city were based.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The grandeur of the Italian Renaissance polyphonic school does not need an introduction, but this release forcuses on the work of a very little known and performed composer from Bologna: Camillo Cortellini. The complete collection of his masses gives listeners a correct understanding of the historical reassessment of the Bologna music school (as compared to the celevrated Roman or Venetian schools). The "Messa Bolognese" by Cortellini will in fact, be an important link between the late Renaissance and the Baroque. The edition of this album was made possible thanks to the participation of Bolognese choirs and other highly qualified Italian choirs that completed this huge work with great variety of organic sound.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music