info@dynamic.it ARCHIVES 01 (2000)

NEWS 07/2000

Nicolò Paganini (1782 – 1840) - THE VIOLIN CONCERTOS played on Paganini's violin (Vol. 1) - Première recording with Paganini's own violin - Première recording from autoghraph manuscript. Concerto No. 1 in E flat Major - Concerto No. 2 in B minor "La Campanella". Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova - Massimo Quarta, soloist and conductor - (Massimo Quarta plays Paganini’s 1742 Guarneri "del Gesù") - The present CD is the first of three dedicated to the Violin Concertos by Nicolò Paganini. For the first time these works have been recorded using Paganini's own violin, the famous 1742 Guarneri del Gesù. This production, made with the orchestra of Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice, is even more intriguing for the fact that the six concertos have been performed in the original version of Paganini's manuscripts, differing in many important aspects from the 19th-century printed editions. The First Concerto, in particular, has been recorded for the first time in the original tonality of E flat Major, with the violin uptuned by half a tone, in accordance with Paganini's autograph. With this project, which offers the listener the six concertos exactly as the Genoese composer conceived and wrote them, Dynamic wants to pay a homage to one of the most significant figures in the history of 19th-century Italian violin music, providing music lovers with a series of recordings that are not only valuable for their high artistic quality but also for their documentary importance. - Our soloist, Massimo Quarta, was a pupil of Salvatore Accardo and the winner, in 1991, of the prestigious Paganini International Violin Competition, when he first revealed just how close to the composer's spirit his interpretation of Paganini is.

Bedrich Smetana (1824 – 1884) – DALIBOR - complete opera – 2CDs - Eva Urbanova, soprano - Valerji Popov, tenor - Valeri Alexejev, baritone - Dagmar Schellenberger, soprano - Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Lirico di Cagliari - Yoram David, conductor - Live recording - After the success of Wagner's Die Feen, Dynamic's collaboration with the Fondazione Teatro Lirico di Cagliari continues with this meaningful opera by Smetana. - First staged at Prague's National Theatre on 16th May 1868, Dalibor is Smetana's loveliest operatic score. The quality of invention throughout the opera is extraordinary, Smetana's melodic style crystallises to an even greater extent than in his other works for the stage; his personal voice is heard much more strongly and the originality of his rhetoric is apparent everywhere.

Nino Rota (1911 – 1979) - CHAMBER MUSIC - Nonetto (1959-1974-1977) - Quintetto (1935) - Canzona (1935) - Petite Offrande Musicale (1943). I Solisti Dauni - Domenico Losavio, conductor - The lesson of Casella, Pizzetti and Malipiero, the recovery of the grand tradition of Italian instrumental writing and the experiences of Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel and in general of historical avant-gardes, made a strong impression on the musical conscience of the young Rota. The Canzona, the Quintet and the Petite Offrande Musicale are exemplary evidence of this fact. But later on the composer seems implicitly to be separating himself from the many and varied innovative trends that emerged in the years after the second world war: his melodic instinctiveness was too vigorous and he was driven by the need to recount in music with a fresh, immediate manner. - These four interesting compositions for chamber ensemble, here recorded for the first time, show us just how refined and fascinating, in its diversity, Rota's music can be. This author is today enjoying a well-deserved revival.

Ernst Gottlieb Baron (1696 – 1760) - The Lute at the court of Frederich the Great - Duetto a liuto e traverso in G - Sonata a liuto solo in B flat - Sonata per oboe e Basso Continuo in D minor - Sonata a liuto solo in G - Concerto per flauto a becco e liuto in D minor - Concerto n° 1 a traverso, liuto obbligato e basso in C - Pier Luigi Polato, lute - Ensemble Barocco Sans Souci. - Before entering the court of Prince Frederick, Ernst Gottlieb Baron (1696-1760) had travelled from court to court as a wandering lute virtuoso. In Nuremberg in 1727 he published his important treatise, the only work of the time on the history and practice of the lute (Historisch-Theoretische und Practische Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten). The lute which Baron used was based on the French instrument with thirteen courses and a particular tuning "in D minor", different from the tuning of the theorbo and the Italian lute. Baron, one of the last great lutanists, is to be remembered for having contributed, together with the Berlin court musicians, to the birth of the musical style that was to lead to Classicism. The present CD features a wide anthology of his works, in world debut recording, allowing us to recapture the refined atmosphere of the court of Frederick the Great.

Lou Harrison (1917) - INSTRUMENTAL WORKS (vol. 2) - First Concerto (1939) - The Clays’ Quintet (1987)* - A Majestic Fanfare (1963)* - Rhymes with Silver (1996)* - The Perilous Chapel (1948-49)* - Bomba (1939)* Ariadne (1987) - Támmittam Percussion Ensemble - Guido Facchin, conductor - * First recordings - It is not easy to define such a complex, eclectic and exuberant personality as that of Lou Harrison, composer from the West Coast and literary talent who, in the course of his artistic career, won numerous awards, among them the Pulitzer Prize and the Twentieth Century Masterpiece Award. His insatiable curiosity has defined his career: each artistic challenge has provided the opportunity for in-depth study, in all kinds of fields. In music he delights in combining disparate styles into untried synthesis: for instance, writing for Chinese instruments tuned in Just Intonation; composing concertos for Western instruments accompanied by Indonesian ensembles; or requiring home-made instruments to join the standard symphony orchestra. - This second Dynamic CD dedicated to the composer from Portland features many works never recorded before. Guido Facchin and his ensemble are high-level interpreters.

ISTITUTO DISCOGRAFICO ITALIANO - Historical series of Dynamic catalogue

Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901) – AIDA - Complete opera - 2 Cds - Maria Callas - Kurt Baum - Giulietta Simionato - Robert Weede - Nicola Moscona - Ignacio Ruffino - Carlos Sagarminaga - Orchestra and Chorus of the Palacio de las Bellas Artes, Mexico City - Guido Picco, conductor - Live Recording, Mexico City, May 30 1950 - In 1950, in Mexico City, Maria Callas tackled four milestones of Italian opera, among which Giuseppe Verdi's Aida. This opera - the present recording of which has undergone complete and accurate sound restoration - had been in Callas's repertoire since 1948. The Greek soprano would sing it in various theatres until the summer of 1953 (her last appearance in that role was at Verona's Arena with Tullio Serafin on 8th August). In 1955, again under Serafin's baton, she recorded the opera for EMI. After that she would only sing occasional arias and duets in concert. - The present CD, recorded live in Mexico City on 30th May 1950, is therefore a precious document of Callas's artistry in a role, that of Aida, which the great Greek soprano wanted to interpret only in the splendour of her vocal means.

ARCHIVES - 05/2000

Tommaso TRAETTA (1727 – 1779) - IPPOLITO E ARICIA - Complete opera in five acts - 4 CDs for the price of 3 - Angelo Manzotti, counter-tenor - Patrizia Ciofi, soprano - Simon Edwards, tenor - Stefania Donzelli, soprano - Elena López, soprano - Bratislava Chamber Choir - Orchestra Internazionale d.Italia - David Golub, conductor- -WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING - Following the success of Massenet's Roma, Dynamic now publishes the world première recording of Tommaso Traetta's Ippolito ed Aricia, also staged at last summer's Festival della Valle d'Itria. The libretto, by Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, is based on the French text of the same name by abbé Pellégrin, set to music by Rameau. The influence of Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie is clearly perceptible in the dances which conclude each of the five acts and have been transposed directly from the French opera with very simple changes. Ippolito ed Aricia is characterised by the search for psychological introspection in the individual characters, and by a fertile and inspired imagination. It is an opera which tests the vocal means of its interpreters. Singing the main roles are soprano Patrizia Ciofi (unanimously acclaimed by the international critics) and counter-tenor Angelo Manzotti.

Francesco Antonio BONPORTI (1672 – 1749) - COMPLETE EDITION (11 Cds) - Vol.1 available - The Motets Op. 3 (1CD). Motet No. 1 in F Major (Clarae stellae) Motet No. 2 in A minor (Mittite dulces) Motet No. 3 in F Major (Angelicae mentes) Motet No. 4 in A Major (Ite molles ite flores)Motet No. 5 in C Major (Vos cheles amenae) Motet No. 6 in G Major (Ad coelum volate) - Accademia I Filarmonici di Verona - Alberto Martini - Gemma Bertagnolli, soprano - WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING - This is the first of 11 CDs dedicated to the complete works by Francesco Antonio BONPORTI (1672-1749), a world première. Bonporti remained virtualy unknown until 1911, when a scholar of Bach, Werner Wolfheim, made an apparently marginal discovery: he found that four works considered to be by Johann Sebastian Bach were in fact transcriptions, indeed in Bach's handwriting, of four Invenzioni a violino solo e basso continuo by a contemporary Italian composer: Francesco Antonio Bonporti from Trento. The Mottetti a Canto solo, con Violini op.3 here recorded appeared in Venice in 1702. Even though characterised by less bizarre writing than Bonporti's instrumental works - perhaps on account of their liturgical destination - the Six Motets are very effective compositions, denoting a fertile imagination. They represent a far from negligible contribution to the complex chapter of Italian 18th-century sacred music.

Joachim RAFF (1822 – 1882) - Dame Kobold: Overture Op. 154, Symphony No. 5 Op. 177 "Lenore" - Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana - Nicholas Carthy, conductor - In the wake of the fruitful collaboration between Dynamic and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, we present a CD dedicated to Joachim Raff (1822-1882), one of the most prolific symphonic composers of the German-speaking world of his day, a friend of Mendelssohn's and Liszt's assistant in Weimar. From Liszt, Raff derived his interest in a type of symphonic composition largely inspired by literary or descriptive sources. Symphony No.5 in E Major Op.177 "Lenore" was composed in 1872 and is inspired by a poem that was extremely popular in Germany, the ballad Lenore (1773) by German poet Gottfried August Bürger. Structured in the traditional four movements, this work culminates in the Andante quasi Larghetto, a sort of transfigured rêverie of considerable musical value. The CD also features the short Overture from the comic opera Dame Kobold, which witnesses to the eclecticism of Raff's inspiration.

Antonio BAZZINI (1818 – 1897) - Works for violin and piano (Vol. 2) 3 Morceaux en forme de Sonate Op. 44 (1864) - 3 Morceaux caractéristiques Op. 45 (1864) First recording - 3 Morceaux lyriques Op. 41 (1863) First recording - Première suite Op. 47 (1865) First recording - Rêverie, Opus posth. First recording - Luigi Alberto Bianchi, violin - Aldo Orvieto, piano - In 1843, when Bazzini appeared for the first time in Germany, he received the enthusiastic praise of such a rigorous critic as Robert Schumann. His works, long neglected, reveal a high-quality musician, sensitive to the German Romantic movement and able to reconcile his Italian training and passionate nature with modern German instrumental music. Following the success of the first CD of the series (Dynamic CDS 258), this second volume features some interesting compositions for violin and piano, interpreted by Luigi Alberto Bianchi and Aldo Orvieto; they reveal, beyond their salon-like appearance, a fertile imagination and a remarkable musical knowledge.

Germaine TAILLEFERRE (1892 – 1983) - Works for violin and piano - Sonata No. 1 (dedicated to Jacques Thilbaud) - Sonata No. 2 (dedicated to Yvonne Astruc) - Sonatina (dedicated to Ginette de Chambure)* (first recording) - Berceuse ("a mon Maître et Ami Monsieur H. Dallier") - Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) - Sonata for violin and piano (dedicated to Hélène Jourdan-Morhange) - Franco Mezzena, violin - Bruno Mezzena, piano - In the famous group of Les Six, which had such an important influence on early 20th-century music, was also a woman, Marcelle-Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983). Endowed with extraordinary talent, she entered the Paris Conservatory against her parents' wish and soon revealed just how gifted she was as a pianist and a composer. The present CD features two Sonatas, a Sonatina (at its world debut recording) and a Berceuse, works that are different in commitment but all equally convincing. The first Sonata, in particular, structured in four movements, is far from formal or academic and unravels lightly and elegantly through changing and unconventional harmonies and forms. The CD ends with the Sonata composed in 1927 by Maurice Ravel, whose presence here completes the picture of a portion of early 20th-century French music.

ISTITUTO DISCOGRAFICO ITALIANO - Historical series of Dynamic catalogue

Dinu LIPATTI plays BACH - Concerto n.1 in D minor BWV 1052 - Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam - Eduard van Beinum, conductor - Live Recording, Amsterdam, October 2, 1947 - Partita n.1 in B flat major BWV 825 - Studio Recording, July 9, 1950 - Siciliana from Sonata BWV 1031 - Chorale "Jesus bleibet meine Freunde" - Chorale "Ich ruf. zu dir" BWV 639 - Chorale "Nun komm., der Heiden Heiland" BWV 599 - Studio Recordings, July 6, 1950 - Chorale in C major "Jesus bleibet meine Freunde" - Studio Recording, Bucharest, April 1941 - Nadia Boulanger once called Lipatti "an angle on earth", a definition that seems to hold the meaning of that musician.s extraordinary and unhappy life, cut short at the untimely age of 33. In his short life Lipatti became famous above all as a pianist, but he was also endowed with rare sensitivity as a composer. Lipatti was a very refined interpreter of Bach and the present CD features some of his most memorable performances of Bach.s music, such as the rare Concerto in D minor BWV 1052 recorded live in Amsterdam in 1947 under the baton of Eduard van Beinum. The CD programme also includes the Partita BWV 825, four works recorded in 1950, a few months before Lipatti.s death, and another rarity, the Chorale Jesus bleibet meine Freunde, recorded in Bucharest in 1941, at the age of 24. Highly recommended.

Giuseppe Sarti (1729 - 1802) - MIserere in f minor, for solos, chor and orchestra - Okada Tamiko, soprano - Irene Olavide, alto - Victor Micaleff, tenor - Alberto Bianchi, bass - Chorus "Lauda Sion" - Chorus and Orchestra of the Ferrara Conservatory - Gianfranco Placci, conductor - First recording - Sarti played a decisive role in the history of late 18th-century Italian opera and held posts of great prestige in many European capitals. This magnificent Miserere, here in its world debut recording, is a deeply meditative and solemn work, with an introspective character which only rarely takes on a more dramatic hue. Highly recommended for the lovers of sacred 18th-century music.

.round mid... jazz (saxophone quartet) - Paquito D.Rivera The New York Suite (1980) - Phil Woods Three Improvisations for saxophone quartet (1971) - Martial Solal Une Pièce Pour Quatre (1987) - Thelonious Monk .Round Midnight (1939) - Aldemaro Romero Preludio y Quirpa (1997)/ Fuga con Pajarillo (1997) - Quartetto di Sassofoni Accademia - Following the success of their first CD for Dynamic (CDS 188), the Accademia Saxophone Quartet have put together an interesting new programme, choosing, this time, to record works by musicians dedicated to jazz. These compositions are original works, not arrangements, with the only exception of the well-known 'Round Midnight theme by Theolonius Monk. The voicing of parts, the smooth sound of the four saxophones and the absence of improvisation make of this masterpiece a delightful piece of contemporary music, yet still permeated with the aroma of jazz.

Muzio Clementi - Sonatas for piano and violin - Sonatas Nos. 4-5-6 Op. 3 - Sonatas Nos. 1-2-3 Op. 15 - Manuel De Col, piano - Stefano Grossi, violin - First recording - Clementi conceived these sonatas specifically for the piano, to which the composer entrusted all of his melodic and rhythmic invention, leaving the violinist the minor task of underlining the more relevant passages. This is especially true for the Sonatas Op.13, which are rather simple works. Op.15, composed in 1786, consists of more elaborate and mature compositions, where the two instruments dialogue au pair and the violin is no longer an expendable element but an integral part of the composition.

Italian Air Force band - Ponchielli (1834-1886): Concerto for trumpet in F and band - Shaw (1910): Concerto for clarinet - Rimskij-Korsakov (1844-1908): Concerto for trombone and band - Esposito (1960): Concertino for trumpet - Persichetti (1915-1987): Symphony for band Op. 69 - Gabriele Cassone, solo trumpet - Patrizio Esposito, conductor - The feature common to the works of the present CD is the choice of original repertoire for solo instrument and band, where works by famous composers such as Ponchielli and Rimskij-Korsakov appear side by side with some by less renowned contemporary authors. All are greatly effective pieces. The Italian Air Force Band is internationally renowned for the quality of its performances. Among the interpreters are famous soloists such as the extraordinary trumpet player Gabriele Cassone, who has already recorded two CDs for Dynamic.

Jules Massenet - WERTHER (2CD) - Giuseppe di Stefano - Giulietta Simionato - Eugenia Roccabruna - Fausto del Prado - Francesco Tortolero - Gilberto Cerda - Orchestra and Chorus of the Palacio de las Bellas Artes, Mexico City. Renato Cellini, conductor - Live Recording, Mexico City, July 26, 1949 - Sung in Italian - The present 2-CD box-set documents one of the most memorable evenings in the history of 20th-century Opera: young Giuseppe di Stefano.s legendary interpretation of a work that seemed to have been written just for him, Massenet.s Werther. The then twenty-eight-year-old Sicilian tenor, in the splendour of his wonderful voice and in a particularly inspired performance, is stirring, enthusing on every note. He does not interpret Werther: he is Werther. He is joined by a Giulietta Simionato in great form , an excellent Fausto del Prado in the role of Alberto and a fine Eugenia Roccabruna as Sofia; all under the inspired and fiery conducting of Renato Cellini, a conductor who would have much to teach to some of today.s transient stars.

PAGANINI'S REDISCOVERED MANUSCRIPT ! - Nicolò Paganini (1782 - 1840) - Lucca Sonatas Vol.2 - 6 Sonate di Lucca op. 3 (world premiere) - 6 Sonate di Lucca op. 8 (world premiere) - Duetto amoroso - Luigi Alberto Bianchi, violin - Maurizio Preda, guitar - First recording - Always in the front line for the recovery and divulgation of Paganini's music, Dynamic has the pleasure to announce the rediscovery and world première recording of 12 new Sonatas for violin and guitar by the Genoese composer. Recently acquired by the Italian Ministry of Culture, they were composed during Paganini's stay in Lucca and add to the long list of chamber works written by Paganini for his two favourite instruments. The two collections show some notable differences: Op.8, in particular, has more demanding violin writing. The twelve works are performed by two of the greatest interpreters of Paganini, Luigi Alberto Bianchi and Maurizio Preda, who thus follow up their previous numerous recordings, on Dynamic, of Paganinian sonatas.

A fashinating Viennese String Quintet - Johann Strauss II (1825 - 1899) - Waltzes and Polkas for string quintet Wiener Gemütswalzer, Sperl-Polka, Tivoli-Rutsch-Walzer, Annen-Polka, - Heimath-Klänge-Walzer, Neue Pizzicato-Polka, Die guten alten Zeiten, - Stadt und Land, Polka mazur Op. 322, Gabrielen-Walzer, Seufzer-Galopp - WIENER STREICHQUINTETTE: Thomas Christian, first violin - Magdalena Kupf, second violin - Ferdinand Erblich, viola - Michael Hell, cello - Wolfgang Gürtler, double bass - The present CD features a series of pieces performed by the "Viennese quintet", an ensemble consisting of two violins, viola, cello and double bass. Among them, only a few (such as the Annen-Polka and the Neue Pizzicato-Polka) are well-known compositions by the "Waltz King": and yet one is immediately aware of the fine quality of all these pieces, the fruit of a musical culture that was able to transform into an art form what, for centuries, had been a simple background to dance. The Wiener Streichquintett interprets them a beautifully, recreating the atmosphere of late 19th-century Vienna.

Ferdinand Herold (1791 - 1833) - Overtures and Symphonies - Zampa (Overture, 1831) - Le Pré au Clercs (Overture, 1832) - Symphony No. 1 in C Major (1813)* - Symphony No. 2 in D major (1814)* - Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana - Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, conductor - First recording - Here are two rare works: the two Symphonies composed by Louis-Ferdinand Hérold (1791-1833) during his first stay in Italy, in 1813-14. They are very classical compositions, where the dominating models of Haydn are re-processed in a more modern and idiomatic way by the young emerging composer. Later, back in his native France, Hérold gained great renown as an opera composer; his works for the theatre are nowadays very rarely performed, but the wonderful overtures from Zampa and Le pré aux clercs, here in the enthusing performance of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, are enough to remind us that Hérold was indeed one of the most popular composers in early 19th-century Paris.

Dinu Lipatti (1917 - 1950) - Concertino in classical style for piano and chamber orchestra Op. 3 (1936) - Nocturne in A minor (1937) - Nocturne in F sharp minor (1939) - Sonatina for the left hand (1941) - Three transcriptions from Bach - Marco Vincenzi, piano - Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto - Gert Meditz, conductor - The feature common to the works of the present CD is the choice of original repertoire for solo instrument and band, where works by famous composers such as Ponchielli and Rimskij-Korsakov appear side by side with some by less renowned contemporary authors. All are greatly effective pieces. The Italian Air Force Band is internationally renowned for the quality of its performances. Among the interpreters are famous soloists such as the extraordinary trumpet player Gabriele Cassone, who has already recorded two CDs for Dynamic.

Walter Gieseking plays Debussy - Preludes from Book I: - Danseuses de Delphes, Voiles, Les collines d'Anacapri, La cathédrale engloutie, Le fille aux cheveux de lin, Des pas sur la neige, La danse de Puck, Minstrels - Preludes from Book II:

Brouillards, Feuilles mortes, La Puerta del Vino, Bruyères, "General Lavine", Ondine, Feux d'artifice - (Live Recording, Berlin, 23 May 1950) - Images, I -Reflets dans l'eau, Hommage à Rameau Mouvement - Images, II -Cloches à travers les feuilles, Et la lune descend Poissons d'or - Studio Recordings, London, 1948 - Walter Gieseking, the great German pianist, was an enthusiastic advocate of the music by Debussy and Ravel, whose popularity with audiences throughout the world is partly owed to his persevering work of interpreter in the years between the two World Wars. The present CD, entirely dedicated to Debussy, opens with a selection of 15 Préludes, performed with unique lyricism in a concert given in Berlin on 23 May 1950. For a man endowed with the memory and personality of the German pianist, there was not much difference between a live and a studio recording: evidence of this is the superb 1948 studio recording of Images I and II. Once again we have the perfect blend of Neo-classical purity and mastery of sound, sense of structure and poetic vision of the whole, which lead to a unique result, a real milestone in the history of the interpretation of Debussy.s piano music.

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