With Mitropoulos, Walter and Kempler, Hermann Scherchen was among the most constant promoters of Mahler’s music in the years in which the Bohemian musician was little considered. These interpretations of the First (1954) and Second (1958) Symphony, which we already proposed 15 years ago, deserve to be reprinted and known above all for the beauty of the sound and for the fact that every critical edition relating to Mahler refers to the art of Hermann Scherchen.

A pupil of the Martin Berteau, founder of the French cello school, and older brother of Jean-Louis, the cellist who is credited with initiating the modern cello school, Jean-Pierre Duport is a figure of great importance on the European musical scene of his time. Exceptional virtuoso, after a successful concert career, he lands in Berlin, where he becomes superintendent of royal music, thus meeting the most important musicians of the time, including Mozart, who composed the famous Prussian Quartets for his cello, and Beethoven, who offered his virtuosity the two Sonatas op.5. This recording brings together two sonatas from each of the four books for cello and bass, which are the entire musical production of his life.

From the legendary Albani’s library in Urbino, a collection of recordings, many of which unpublished, of anonymous manuscripts alternated to compositions by the two most famous lutenists of Rome at the time: Vincenzo Pinti and Lorenzo Tracetti. The repertoire of this Album captures an almost magical moment in which two different musical tendencies meet briefly, only to separate with the establishment of the Baroque style. On the one hand the tradition of Roman polyphony, on the other the revolution in Baroque music. However, these two aspects are hardly presented separately, rather they are combined in the same piece, where strict meditation and sudden changes of atmosphere and sound alternate.

A symbol of Italianism and bel canto singing, Enrico Caruso moved from provincial Neapolitan stages to the world’s most prestigious opera houses, and as naturally as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, he could return to being the scugnizzo or street urchin of popular songs. But what is less known is that the great tenor himself composed a small number of these songs, and this album brings them together for the first time, along with a wide selection of pieces that were written especially for him by his contemporaries. A little-known repertoire that deserves today, 150 years after Carusiell’s birth, to be rediscovered by a new audience.

Among the countless studio recordings of Lucia di Lammermoor, this Westminster recording from the early seventies is particularly noteworthy. First of all for the conductor, Thomas Schippers, one of the most sensitive interpreters of Italian opera, especially in Verdi. The role of the protagonist is played by the American soprano Beverly Sills, who in this edition restores Lucia’s original voice, altered by the dramatic interpretation of Maria Callas twenty years earlier. Carlo Bergonzi, on the other hand, was one of the reference Edgardo of the second half of the twentieth century, and, in addition to this, he recorded another famous Lucia with Anno Moffo, released for RCA in 1966. Finally, the great Italian baritone Piero Cappuccilli, himself to his second incision of the character of Enrico. An edition of constant reference.

Wilhelm Furtwängler had a unique philosophy of music. He saw symphonic music as creations of nature that could only be realized subjectively into sound. Neville Cardus wrote in the Manchester Guardian in 1954 of Furtwängler's conducting style: "He did not regard the printed notes of the score as a final statement, but rather as so many symbols of an imaginative conception, ever changing and always to be felt and realized subjectively..." This precious edition by Furtwängler was made available following a performance at the Salzburg Festival in 1954, the last year of the director’s life and fortunately this was not an amateur tape! The performance was instead recorded by Austrian radio technicians, and still today it can be counted among those that enjoy excellent sound quality.

Saving the imagination. This was one of the secrets of good composition (“sparing the imagination and conducting a piece with a few ideas”) according to Donizetti. Indeed, this economy of invention proved especially effective in chamber music, particularly in its noblest formation: the string quartet. This second box marks a further step towards the recording of the complete opera released by the strings of the Mitja Quartet.

The Mitja Quartet was founded in 2008 by four musicians from Naples, Cosenza, Potenza and La Serena (Chile). The ensemble was formed in the most prestigious academies in Europe (the Fiesole Music School, the European Academy of the Quartet of Florence, the W. Stauffer Academy of Cremona, the Pro Quartet Academy of Paris, the Jeunesse Musicale Deutschland of Weikersheim, the International Piano Academy Incontri col Maestro di Imola), studying with internationally renowned musicians and ensembles, such as the Artemis Quartet, the Alban Berg Quartet, the Casals Quartet, the Kuss Quartet, the Cremona Quartet, Antonello Farulli , Andrea Nannoni and Alfred Brendel.

Of the birth and studies of Emanuel Siprutini we know nothing, except that the Italianization of his Hebrew name, Shiprut, would seem to indicate, if anything, the be-longing to an Italian school and style, if only for convenience (Italian cellists were the most appreciated). Around 1750 there are records of his concerts in Holland, where he was also active as a wine merchant, and few years later he settled in London as a concert performer and cello teacher. Leopold Mozart met him in 1764 while visiting England, and struck by his talent tried to convince him to convert to Christianity. Emanuel refused and remained serenely Jewish, cellist and wine trader. He left seven books of sonatas for the cello, which the Mozarts certainly possessed, as is to be believed, finding traces and shreds of ideas in the works of Wolfgang.

172 pieces, 400 movements, 3, or more, compositional decades: those are the main features at the basis of the corpus of the keyboard Sonatas of Baldassare Galuppi, known as “il Buranello”. The indeterminacy of a specific instrument and the cultural influence of several European countries give to his music a heterogeneous character both in formal and stylistic terms, following that movement of ideas so typical among the best composers of the time. The Sonatas included in this Album come from different manuscripts and their musical language seems almost a sampler of Buranello’s different compositional modes.

The personality of an “anonymous” album lies in the centrality of the instrument performing and in its connection with the type of writing that relates all the pieces; light and refined melodic lines, delicate phrasing and a series of dynamic contrasts not only identify what one might refer to as a kind of “Venetian classicism”, but also make the hammer instrument one of the most suitable for their performance. Marius Bartoccini graduated from the “J. Tomadini "of Udine the Bachelor's Degree in piano with full marks in the class of Prof. Maria Grazia Cabai and the Specialized Biennium with full marks with honors and the notification of the publication of the thesis “The Evolution of keyboard cordophones , from the Pythagorean monochord to the modern piano”, also graduating in Instrumentation and composition for wind orchestra.

Solti's "Falstaff" still shines brilliantly as a masterpiece! Solti's overwhelming interpretation is vividly revived here with the beauty of the Decca sound of the time. Although Verdi’s "Falstaff" has an important place as the last opera of the 1950s, there are not many recordings of it compared to the popular work "La Traviata". Among them, the 1963 recording board by Solti who still shines brightly (released under the name of "RCA Italian Opera Orchestra & Chorus" at that time). Solti, a great conductor born in Hungary, recorded "Falstaff" in the 1990s, but the singers of the 1963 recording remain unmatched and their overwhelming interpretation is the original version. Also, the wonderful sound by Decca at that time vividly conveys Solti's accurate interpretation.

Trained under the guidance of Scorpione, Giordani and Urio, Francesco M. Benedetti was Chapel Master in Assisi, friend of Giuseppe Tartini and confrere of Father Martini. The complex counterpoint of his music closely recalls Bachian characteristics which, however, give way to galant elements that in some points result in a pre-classical language. Dense and virtuosic ornamentations typical of the performance practice of the time support the theories on the ornamentation practice of the time.

The young Berlin baroque ensemble Musica Colorata consists of seven musicians and is particularly dedicated to the baroque music of the 17th and 18th centuries. With a lot of passion they search for unknown Italian and German compositions and present them with all their wonderful timbres on historical instruments.

The three sonatas by Bach of this album are likely to rank among the most famous and most performed compositions for viola da gamba, and they represent one of the tops of the literature for this instrument. Nevertheless for this recording was used the viola da braccio, according to the practice of the Baroque era which precedes and accompanies the decline of the viola da gamba. These pieces are composed as a trio sonata, a favorite genre by the Maestro. They are mainly based on polyphonic writing, in which no instrument prevails over the other. In some pieces the organ was used in place of the harpsichord, a choice of the performers to explore new varieties of timbre and offer different instrumental colors.

British conductor Sir John Barbirolli is remembered most for his relationship with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, having saved the ensemble from dissolution in 1943. He spent the rest of his life with this ensemble. This two disc set features Barbirolli conducting the Halle Orchestra, as well as the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Sinfonia of London. The works on this release are all by English composer Ralph Vaughn Williams, and were recorded between 1957 and 1962.

The two discs in this new release contain authentic rare recordings, including two world premiere performances. Featuring works by Debussy, Poulenc, Vaughan Williams, Honegger, and Barber, this is truly a diverse programme of live performances. All of the recordings were recorded live between the years 1942 and 1961. These recordings of the Poulenc works were made under the guidance of the composer.