A musician and teacher, Francesco Durante was so known at his time that his name was given to a compositional school (that of the “durantisti”). He composed mostly vocal music, especially sacred; his keyboard works make up a limited part of his production where virtuosity is extremely common; elements like very rapid scales, arpeggios or the crossing of the hands are also widely found in other contemporaries from Naples, but his writing preserves characteristic features which are absolutely personal. On this release, Maria Luisa Baldassari performs these virtuosic works with emotion and aplomb.

This memorable and beautiful recording in high stereophonic quality of Gurre Lieder has not lost its freshness after more than 50 years. The same applies to the recording of Janacek’s precious Glagoli C Mass, recorded in 1963 by Kubelik again with the same choral and instrumental staff. Gurre-Lieder is a large cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by Robert Franz Arnold). The title means "songs of Gurre", referring to Gurre Castle in Denmark, scene of the medieval love-tragedy (related in Jacobsen's poems) revolving around the Danish national legend of the love of the Danish king Valdemar Atterdag (Valdemar IV, 1320–1375, spelled Waldemar by Schoenberg) for his mistress Tove, and her subsequent murder by Valdemar's jealous Queen Helvig (a legend which is historically more likely connected with his ancestor Valdemar I).

To the Couperin dynasty we owe the success of music for harpsichord. The figure of Louis languished in obscurity over many years and only recently, through musicological research, it has been possible to recognize his genius. The story differs with François the Great, the leading member of the dynasty, whose compositional style revolves around his own sentence: “I confess that I far prefer what moves me to what surprises me.” Luigi Chiarizia is a harpsichordist, organist and composer. Born from generations of artists, he began studying music at the age of six, studying first with the masters Rendine, Nenna, Herrera, and Carnini, later with Mencoboni, Suzzani and Pappagallo. He graduated with honors in organ and organ composition in Pescara.

This new release features Pierre Fournier in his first recording of Beethoven's works for cello and piano in 1959 with Friedrich Gulda. Pierre Fournier (1906-1986) was born in Paris on June 24, and known in his lifetime as "the aristocrat of cellists," because of his lyrical playing, and for his impeccable artistic sensitivity. Fournier was the son of a French army general, and as a child was taught piano by his mother. At the age of nine he suffered a mild case of polio, and lost some of the dexterity in his legs and feet. No longer able to master the use of the piano pedals, he searched for another musical instrument, and turned to the cello. He quickly made good progress on his new instrument, and was able to win entrance to the Paris Conservatoire, where he became a pupil of Paul Bazelaire, and later Anton Hekking. He graduated at the age of seventeen, in the year 1923. Maurice Marechal called him "the cellist of the future." Even at such a young age, Fournier had tremendous virtuosity, and was famous for his bowing facility. He enjoyed modern music, as well as classical. Many modern composers wrote works for him, including Martinu, Martinon and Poulenc. As a teacher Fournier insisted that his students develop a smooth tone, and a high elbow for the right arm. He believed that the Sevcik violin exercises were valuable for cellists who wanted to perfect bowing technique.

Given Bartók’s expressive variety it would be not excessive to say that his tormented works represents the keystone of the entire XXth Century. A technical complexity joins a very varied musical language which often bear a strong influence from the popular music as well as from Liszt and Debussy and the ornamentation of Couperin. We could define Bartók as a man of a thousand faces and with this album we are trying to reveal some-ones. Francesco Pasqualotto (1982) lives in Gallarate, where he has graduated from Liceo Classico in 2001. He studied piano under the direction of Maestro Maria Grazia Bellocchio. In 2004 he graduated with honors at Conservatorio Verdi in Milano, where he was admitted as private student. He attended the experimental composition course given by Maestro Sandro Gorli at the same Conservatoire. He has graduated in Bergamo in second level degree with high votes. He has attended master classes that have allowed him to be exposed to teachers and concert artist of international fame like Maestro Franco Scala, Bruno Canino, Louis Lortie, Filippo Gamba, Paolo Bordoni, Konstantin Bogino, Pier Narciso Masi, Trio Altenberg, Emilia Fadini.

Gathering in a single album the artistic experience of a seldom performed repertoire is the aim of this anthology, featuring compositions for strings of Villa-Lobos. Especially daring, the string trio w460, only attempt of the author in this peculiar genre, followed by various pieces where an exotic style is mixing with a sophisticated tonal research, show the versatility of whom is considered to be the most prominent Brazilian composer. The Mark Rothko ensemble was created in 2011 from the encounter of some of north eastern Italy’s best string players. Its members share a wide array of professional experiences in the chamber music, solo, orchestra and education fields to promote a magnificent repertoire that audiences are not often given an occasion to listen to.

The Umbra Lucis Ensemble present an intriguing disc portraying the Anghiari Battle in works by Byrd, Dowland, Andreuccetti, Dufay, de Victoria, Hume and others. The relationship between music and war bears witness to the ethical dimension of music and its impact on the human. But warfare is also a metaphor and sign of the battles to which the existence is voted: amorous disputes, moral duels ... In a word: the dialectic between shadow and light that which incessantly beats life. Shadow and light that has marked, according to the contemporary chronicle, also one of the symbolic events of the Italian Renaissance: he Battle of Anghiari. The Battle of Anghiari was fought on 29th June 1440 between the forces of Milan and those of the Italian league led by Florence, during the Wars of Lombardy. It is said, in fact, that the Milanese troops remained as blinded by an invasive and omnipresent light that prevented them from seeing the enemy and therefore the Florentines won the day and in doing so secured dominion over central Italy. The battle is well known for its depiction in a now lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci, hence the title of this album. Rubens completed a copy of da Vinci's work which is now exhibited int the Louvre. In the musical journey portrayed on this album, the battle is interpreted both in its factual and metaphorical dimension: from the love battles (Dufay, Berchem, Conforti) to the battles tout court (Banchieri, Werrecore); from the theme of the return (Dowland) to the autobiographical story (Hume); to the end with a gratitude for the victory (De Victoria) which, after all, brings everyone together: winners and losers, light and shadow, now regained in peace.

This box contains one of the most famous complete recording of Aida as well as one of the few testimony of Franco Corelli performing a complete Verdian opera, in the modern interpretation by Zubin Mehta. Zubin Mehta received his first musical education under his father’s guidance, who was a noted concert violinist and the founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. After a short period of pre-medical studies in Bombay, he left for Vienna in 1954 where he eventually entered the conducting program under Hans Swarowsky at the Akademie für Musik. Zubin Mehta won the Liverpool International Conducting Competition in 1958 and was also a prize-winner of the summer academy at Tanglewood. By 1961 he had already conducted the Vienna, Berlin and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras and has recently celebrated 50 years of musical collaboration with all three ensembles. The present recording was made in 1966.

The Fantasies pour le Basse de Violle - discovered in 2015 - are part of those bundles titled “Fantasie” and written for different solo instruments. Starting from the original score for the viola da gamba, the same interpreter, Dietmar Berger, created this version for the cello. The transposition from the viola da gamba to the cello should not be surprising: although they do not belong to the same family, the bounds between them are strong and they marked an entire epoch. In a surprising fact, Telemann dedicated a bundle for an instrument that was no longer in fashion in 1735. The audience and the instrumentalists turned to cello, whereas the viola da gamba belonged to a past time. Yet, J.S. Bach composed the famous Partitas for cello solo and it seemed that his first thought was to dedicate them to the Viola da Gamba! Thus, this recording provides a further stimulus to research the analogies and differences between Bach and Telemann.

Tchaikovsky's Symphonies are strangely not included in Kubelik's discography. This Album proposes a rare live recording with the same quality as that of a studio. Kubelík was the sixth of the eight sons of the distinguished Czech violinist Jan Kubelík and the Hungarian-born Countess Marianne Csaky-Szell. Between 1921 and 1929 he studied the orchestral repertoire daily by playing four-hand piano arrangements with his uncle František Kubelík, prompting this comment from his father in 1926: ‘He could realise great things. He is eleven, plays splendidly violin, piano, sight-reading scores and has a good knowledge of the orchestra. Some time ago he had a look to one of my orchestral works and asked me to add a horn to a particular part: he was right!’ He entered the Prague Conservatory in 1929 where for the next four years he studied piano, violin and composition. The present release showcases Kubelik with the Weiner Philharmonic, as they perform Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, and 6, as well as Romeo and Juliet. The original recordings were made in 1960 and 1955.

The Sinfonie milanesi, unique among Zingarelli’s symphonies as they are in three movements, took their name by the American musicologist Rey Longyear, due to the place in which they are conserved (Conservatory of Milan). Composed around 1780 in a Mitteleuropean style, they reflect the stylistic changes of the epoch through the dramatic use of the minor mode, reaching new and powerful expressive meanings, after decades in which the use of the major mode was predominant. Atalanta Fugiens Orchestra is a group made up of people who share a passion for Music as a means of knowledge, in the awareness that the knowledge that Music offers us is absolutely not reducible to language (on pain of its disintegration). The knowledge that the study of treatises, of counterpoint, of the musical text offers us are certainly precious gifts, but which must be "dropped" (like the fruits that Aphrodite gave to Hippomenes) to enjoy the true and ineffable Knowledge of Music.

Mirko Guadagnini writes: "The present release is a tribute to Alessandro Scarlatti, excellent exponent of the Italian Baroque, thanks to a new rendition of his Magnificat a 5, with solos alternating with chorus. Alongside this masterpiece, the intense Salve Regina and a tribute to his son Domenico with his Te Deum. Throughout Howells's Requiem we then wanted to put a seal on the pairing between Renaissance music and XXth century polyphony, thus underlining the always inspiring and fascinating dialogue between ancient and modern."

This new release showcases the romantic heart, keen mind, and original style of a composer walking Lungo il viale, towards the twentieth century. While his namesake and grandson is more remembered today for his impact on music (Nino Rota), the senior Giovanni Rinaldi was also a formidable composer. He composed exclusively for piano, and strayed from the normal writing styles for the instrument. He never wrote any sonatas, themes and variations, or large-scale concert works. Rather, he focused on short, strongly characterized compositions. He believed in music as a direct expression of emotion rather than a display of abstract principles. Here, his piano works are performed by pianist David Simonacci.

Dietmar Berger was born in Cologne. He studied cello at the music colleges in Aachen with Klaus Heitz, in Dusseldorf with Claus Reichardt and in Leipzig where he was a student of Roland Baldini and the gamba player Siegfried Pank. After having finished his studies, he was a member of the orchestra of the Landesbuhnen Sachsen in Dresden from 1993-2000. He now lives in Cologne and plays cello as well as viola da gamba in renowned ensembles such as the Delos Trio Koln (with Gudrun Hobold, violin and Hubert Kappel, guitar) both in Germany and abroad; he appears as a soloist on numerous television productions and recordings. His compositions and arrangements have been published by Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag, Leipzig and by Verlag Dohr, Cologne. On this release, he takes the listener on a journey to Medieval Europe as he performs music for the Medieval and Renaissance fiddle. Works by Vincenzo Galilei, John Dowland, Thoinot Arbeau, and others are included.