This album is dedicated to the works for flute and orchestra by Ottorino Respighi - a leading exponent of the “Generation of the Eighties” and a very refined composer, gifted with an excellent skill in the use of instrumental timbres - includes the world premiere recording of two works for flute and strings that came back to light after a long oblivion (and now published by Roberto Fabbriciani for the editors Suvini Zerboni). Fabbriciani can also be considered the first interpreter ever, given that there is no evidence of performances in the period in which they were composed. The “Suite” and the diptych “Melodia” and “Valse caressante” are in fact works dating back to the composer's first prolific period, remaining until now manuscripts in custody of the Museum of Music in Bologna and the Fondazione Cini in Venice. The Serenade for small orchestra and the suite “Gli Uccelli” complete the production, expanding the vision of Respighi's compositions to the writing in his full maturity.

Maurizio Guernieri’s compositions are a part of an ongoing exploration of instrumental chamber music, in this case focused chiefly on string instruments. The pieces can be divided into two main groups. The first one is Elementa (“elements” in Latin), meditations on the relationship between man and nature, and on the elements of nature, which, being often mismanaged by man, contribute to their own flourishing or decadence. Nature, which has always been called “mother”, turns out to be an “evil stepmother” when she returns to man what he has given her in an extreme attempt to re-establish a balance that has been lost. The second group consists of other pieces that are meditations on man and his inner life. As in the previous cd, Bicinium (TC 940091), the pieces can be listened to in a single musical succession, as if the disc were, to use a term of the past, a “concept album.”

This double album is the result of the collaboration of Tactus with the "Arrigo Boito" Conservatory of Parma, where Franco Margola was first a pupil, and later a teacher. Within the celebrations of this quite particular and interesting composer of the Italian twentieth century, were performed and recorded various vocal and instrumental chamber music and four concerts for soloist and orchestra covering the entire creative journey of Margola, from the early 1930s until the late 80s. His personal creative style, in the variety of solutions and styles used, made him one of the most appreciated composers by the musicians of his time, first of all Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, interpreter of numerous of his pieces. The students of the Parma Conservatory, sided by exceptional teachers and soloists (Ivano Ascari on trumpet, Francesco Buccarella on harpsichord, Luca Reverberi on bassoon and Roberto Cappello on piano) are the passionate performers of the music by Margola, whose rediscovery poses an important piece in the Italian twentieth century panorama.

This anthology presented by the organist Margherita Sciddurlo is performed on the precious historical instrument: the Petrus De’ Simone 1747 organ of the Church of San'Antonio in Mola di Bari, fully preserved and in excellent condition. The organ in question becomes the medium to reviving a cross-section of the Apulian organ tradition whose roots are deeply connected to the musical activity of the Kingdom of Naples since the 16th century, when thousands of young talents came to the capital to undertake musical studies that ensured them a secure career. Puglia turned out to be a privileged territory where one could later exercise the profession, sponsored by the numerous feudal lords or by churches, musical chapels and convents. From Rocco Rodio from Bari to Giovanni Paisiello from Taranto, through to Nicola Porpora and Niccolò Jommelli, famous allover Europe thanks to bright careers abroad. The collection presented by Margherita Sciddurlo represents a pleasant organ cameo which also includes some world premiere recordings.

The collection of madrigals "I Diporti della villa in ogni stagione” (The Pastimes of the villa in each season), consists of poems that are chained like episodes of a story marked by the seasons, like details of a larger fresco praising the pleasures of life in the countryside in the alternation of the different moments of the year and illustrating, in a succession of lively images, the occupations and amusements to which those who live far from the urban glamour dedicate themselves in the various months. Fields, rivers, flowers, trees, a varied fauna, shepherds, farmers, wine, fruits, fishing, hunting, bathing, dancing of the nymphs appearing, as it were before the eyes of the listeners: a colorful world full of that idyllic beauty longed for by intellectuals, in which echoes of the Arcadian world are felt, as already exalted in the Trionfo di Dori [Tactus, TC590003] and in many other madrigal productions of the time. Tony Corradini leads the Àrsi & Tèsi Vocal Ensemble in the performance of the madrigals dedicated to the seasons, set to music by some of the greatest composers of the Renaissance era.

The recording of “La Leggenda di Vittore e Corona” focuses on the musical-liturgical repertoire that the ancient Venetian medieval tradition named after the two proto-martyrs. The source (Antifonario Marciano, Archivio di Stato di Venezia, 14th century) sings in the form of the minor liturgy of the Vespers the different moments of the Passio involving Vittore until he joined Corona in the martyrdom, reaching eternal glory. Far from representing only a local cult, the legend of Vittore and Corona is fully part of the history of Christianity and, in particular, of the defenseless yet determined struggle for the freedom of faith, thought and conscience. The style between the Gregorian and the Aquileian rite of the Marcian vespers (first performance in modern times) is very well accompanied by that of the polyphonic pieces taken from European codes of the same period, underlining the salient moments of the legend; the original alternation of the voices and medieval instruments between concordant monody and polyphonic dialogue connotes the performance of the InUnum Ensemble enhancing the narrative.

The Baroque Ensemble “Carlo Antonio Marino,” directed by Natale Arnoldi, already protagonist of important Classical and late Baroque productions, within this album is faced with the concerts from the seventh opera by Pietro Antonio Locatelli, well known composer and violinist from Bergamo. When it appeared, this collection was not particularly successful; probably the mixture of different musical styles in the Concertos was not appreciated by the public, which by then was moving towards the new sensitivity of the galant style. Op. 7, in any case, is an excellent and occasionally brilliant work of Locatelli’s: a musician who, in spite of the fact that in 1741 he had already attained fame and glory, did not hesitate to run the risk of attempting to renew the waning Italian Concerto, by experimenting with approaches that might accommodate the new trends, without however denying his own origins.

Liliana Safikhanova, young harpist from Moscow and winner of the fifth edition of the International Competition “Suoni d’Arpa” in 2015, in this album performs a beautiful anthology of Italian music for harp that embraces the entire Twentieth Century history up to our days: from Luigi Maurizio Tedeschi to Barbara Giuranna, through Alfredo Casella, Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco and Nino Rota, in a miscellany that contains interesting world premiere recordings. This release is the result of the collaboration between Tactus and the Italian Harp Association and very well represents the double objective set within the “Suoni d’Arpa” competition by the two institutions: on one hand support, value and promote young talents, and, on the other, rediscover the Italian musical heritage dedicated to the harp.

The research work behind this album is based on music of Maria Luisa of Borbone found in Parma at the Biblioteca Palatina. Infanta of Spain, Queen of Etruria married to Ludovico di Borbone Parma, Maria Luisa di Borbone became the ruler of Tuscany with the title of King of Etruria. A woman with a troubled life, oppressed by the political system of her time, since childhood had been educated in music, which was a comfort and relief for the whole duration of her life. The collection does not show almost any authors contemporary to the queen, whose preferences were for the works and the edition of Louis xvi era. Many of these works, that were no longer printed, were sumptuously manuscripted and bound, showing some aesthetic nostalgia for the ancient régime. This release is the result of the study of the music for harp of that collection, that is unique for the quantity and variety of works. Considering all the periodics and the titles of chamber music there are over three hundred compositions for harp, including over one hundred manuscripts. To the present day this is the biggest harp collection in Italy, and it still holds quite a few surprises for the lovers of this historic catalogue. The voice of Tania Bussi, and the violin of Paolo Mora, accompanied by the historical harp of Lorenzo Montenz guide us to the discovery of these unpublished cameos.

Sandro Fuga was born in 1906 in Mogliano Veneto in the province of Treviso, but was Torinese by adoption. He studied piano under the guidance of Luigi Gallino; studied organ with Ulisse Matthey; and studied composition with Luigi Perrachio, Franco Alfano, and Giorgio Federico Ghedini. A cultured, elegant, and lovable artistic figure from a subalpine aristocratic background, Fuga was a refined and sensitive pianist, as well as a teacher of the highest caliber. He was a musician who made his own aesthetic belief and remained unscathed within the barrenness of the sterile shadows of a certain avantgarde, destined to grow old within l’espace d’un matin. Umberto Aleandri and Filippo Farinelli here are introducing us to the work including the three sonatas for cello and piano (two of which are world premiere recordings), clear emblem of the compositional ability of the author, teeming with pleasant and various writing solutions always elaborated with consummate skill and filtered by a great knowledge of the past tradition.

Seventy years of Italian repertoire (1888-1958) for violin and organ are summarized in this release which lines up a rather singular, but extremely interesting, series of composers of various geographic and stylistic origins who were active between the end of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. Roberto Noferini on violin and Andrea Toschi on organ and harmonium offering to us pages by fifteen Italian authors from various geographic origins (from Milan to Reggio Calabria) and culture. The suggestive titles refer to recognizable images and situations ranging from Christmas, to the liturgy, to the work, to pure forms. The use of historical instruments for the accompaniment of the violin gives the correct aesthetic rendering to these very rare and interesting works.

Diego Conti, violinist and contemporary composer, is certainly standing a tough challenge in creating these new string quartets, a genre that in the history of chamber music has seen the signatures of the most illustrious geniuses that produced hundreds of masterpieces. It takes courage, perhaps a bit of unconsciousness and, above all, an unshakable faith in a musical language that, after all, can still say something new in this uncertain and unstable age where the non-culture and the resulting confusion seem to be reigning. The Officina Musicale orchestral quartet, historical group specialized in repertoires ranging from classicism to contemporary music, is the interpreter of this first recording in which the quartet, considered amongst the most abstract musical forms - like the still life for the painter - becomes a kind of diagnosis of the loss of identity of our time, in which ''lyricism'' remains in distant worlds, between ruins, shadows and lunar landscapes.

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.

Francesco d’Avalos (Naples, 1930-2014), a musician-prince from one of the oldest aristocratic families of Spanish-Neapolitan origin, was a composer, conductor, teacher, essayist and philosopher. His interest in music as an art expression began when he was quite young, thanks to the musical collections of his father Carlo and to the long listening sessions shared by him with his guests. D’Avalos’s first compositions were patterned on Bruckner’s Symphonies, which were his constant model, together with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. In actual fact, the entire twentieth century was regarded by him as a real climax in the history of Western civilisation. The Quartetto Noûs, together with Francesco Caramiello at the piano (also on the Giovanni Sgambati, Opera Omnia for piano, Tactus TC841901/08) and the soprano Leslie Visco, interpreting the composer's quintets. A very interesting and unknown personality (he was Sergiu Celibidache student in composition), in his artistic experience he embraced and then abandoned the musical avant-garde, in search of a personal writing style that not only does not fear the passage of time, yet, is using it to obtain a deeper space full of images and symbols.

Uncertain and mysterious remain the origin and the musical education of Giuseppe Demachi, who after he was established was a composer rather well known in Europe for having published many works in Geneva, Lione, Paris and London. The works published by Demachi known so far number 17, four of which are violin concertos, but others appeared without indication of the opus number, and still others have been found that are hand-written, among which are two program symphonies entitled “Le Campane di Roma” and “Il corso del giorno alla Campagna”. The compositional skill that led him to fame was not second to that of performer: the intense concert activity forced him through the courts of all Europe, where he was highly requested and appreciated. On this release, the ensemble Trigono Armonico led by Maurizio Cadossi performs a vast anthology of his chamber music production on period instruments in full respect of the philological executive practice.