info@dynamic.it ARCHIVES 03 (2001)

FEBBRAIO - MARZO 2001

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868): OTELLO (Complete opera - 3 Cds) 1st recording of the "Malibran" version, including both happy final and tragic final Irine Ratiani, Patrizia Ciofi, Simon Edwards, Gregory Bonfatti, Soon-Won Kang Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia Bratislava Chamber Choir Paolo Arrivabeni, conductor - The Festival of Martina Franca has by now become a welcome rendezvous for the lovers of opera who wish to rediscover some of the last century's most important theatrical works. Many of these have become rarities being very seldom performed internationally not on account of musical shortcomings but because of the progressive stiffening of the lyrical seasons' programs. This Otello by Rossini, for example, recorded live during the last summer's Festival, is a real masterpiece and represents a very important stage in the composer's creative career. The version here recorded is the one written in 1831 for the great soprano Maria Malibran (as Otello !) and includes, in addition to the tragic finale from Shakespeare's famous story of love and death, also an alternative happy conclusion.

Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894): The Sonatas for piano and cello - Sonata No. 1 Op. 18 in D Major for piano and cello - Sonata No. 2 Op. 39 in G Major for piano and cello - Gabriele Gorog, piano - Alain Meunier, cello - Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894) was, with Tchaikovsky, the most significant representative of the "westernising" trend in Russian music in the second half of the nineteenth century. A famous and highly acclaimed pianist, he was one of the founders of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, which he directed from 1862 to 1867. Rubinstein has left us numerous instrumental compositions and chamber works, including the two Sonatas (opus 18 and opus 19) for cello and piano here in the fine interpretation of Alain Meunier and Gabriele Gorog, who bring out these pieces’ intense lyricism - of inequivocal Russian matrix - and rich harmonic texture.

VIOLIN MUSIC IN BRASIL - Heitor Villa-lobos, Primeira Sonata Fantasia Désespérance (1912) - Heitor Villa-lobos, Segunda Sonata Fantasia (1914) Edino Krieger, Sonâncias (1975)* Ronaldo Miranda, Recitativo, variações e fuga (1980)* Henrique Oswald Sonata* Claudio Cruz, violin - Nahim Marun, piano * 1st RECORDINGS - In Europe Brazilian music is generally identified with the works by Villa-Lobos, the great 20th-century composer who unquestionably marked, with his strong personality, the music life of Brazil. Beside him, however, a number of other important composers, such as Edino Krieger, Ronaldo Miranda and Enrique Oswald, endeavoured to develop autonomous expressive languages which might be at the same time traditional and open to the new. In the present CD the most popular Brazilian violinist of the day, Claudio Cruz, and the pianist Nahim Marun offer a fascinating anthology of works for violin and piano written by the above-mentioned authors, all highly original as well as rarely recorded.

Alessandro Melani (1639-1703) - Cantatas for soprano, instruments and b.c. Quai bellici accenti ascolti, mio core? - Lungi dal sole amato - Colà dove rimbomba Orazio Coclite: "A ricalcare in Tebro" - Pompeo in Lesbo: "La libertà di Roma" - Qual mormorio giocondo - Rosita Frisani, soprano - Gabriele Cassone, natural trumpet - Fabrizio Cipriani, violin - Alessandro Stradella Consort, Estevan Velardi, conductor - 1st RECORDING - Alessandro Melani (Rome 1639-1703), was a prolific author of cantatas: we know of some thirty works, many of them written for solo soprano and concertante trumpet, some with the accompaniment of strings and basso continuo and others yet with the only support of basso continuo. Our CD presents six such cantatas some of which - for example Quai bellici accenti - are relatively well-known, while others are less popular although of equally high musical standard. The soprano Rosita Frisani gives of them a fine interpretation, full of virtuosity and beautiful nuances, well supported by the Alessandro Stradella Consort conducted by Estevan Velardi, who has long devoted himself to 17th- and 18th-century Italian music.

---- I.D.I. - Istituto Discografico Italiano Dynamic's Historical series ----

Beniamino Gigli - All the operatic recordings (Vol. 4) The electrical recordings (1941-1951) L’Arlesiana, Andrea Chénier, Isabeau, Turandot, Carmen, Pagliacci, Gasparone, La Juive, Le Roi d’Ys, Manon, Werther, Cavalleria rusticana, Naughty Marietta, Orontea, Arianna, L’amico Fritz, Griselda, etc. - This fourth and last volume of Beniamino Gigli's operatic recordings features those made by the famous Italian singer between 1941 and 1951, at the end of his career. They are of extraordinary musical value, not only for their intrinsic high quality but also as they are evidence of the incredible musical longevity of an interpreter who, after over thirty years of career, could still tackle with a nearly pristine voice and an impassable technique many of the most famous pièce de résistance of his repertoire.

APRILE 2001

CD-SAMPLER - LIVE OPERAS - (Opera catalogue included). - TRACKS FROM: Roma, J. Massenet (1st recording) Anna Bolena, G. Donizetti (1st complete rec.) Madame Sans-gêne, U. Giordano Simon Boccanegra (1857 version), G. Verdi (1st recording) Lucie de Lammermoor (1839 French version), G. Donizetti (1st recording) L’ultimo giorno di Pompei, G. Pacini (1st recording) La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein, J. Offenbach (1st complete rec.) Die Feen, R. Wagner Il Fortunato Inganno, G. Donizetti (1st recording) Robert Le Diable, G. Meyerbeer (1st recording) Parisina d’Este, G. Donizetti Cherevichki (The Slippers), P. I. Tchaikovsky (1st recording) - Thanks to its numerous collaborations with prestigious festivals and theatres Dynamic has recently become a reference label for lovers of opera. This CD features some of the most significant excerpts from the operas in our catalogue, most of which are world première recordings. Featured are, for example, Pacini's L'ultimo giorno di Pompei, Massenet's Roma and Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable, as well as a teaser track from the complete version of Anna Bolena by Donizetti, soon to be released, with an extraordinary interpretation of the emerging Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou. The CD includes a complete catalogue of Dynamic's opera.

Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) - 12 Concerti Grossi Op. 6 - Fabrizio Cipriani, violin, Alessandro Stradella Consort, Estevan Velardi, conductor - Published posthumously in 1714, the Concerti Grossi by Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) became, in a very short time, one of the 19th century's most popular instrumental collections, much admired and imitated both in and outside Italy. For a long time these works were considered a perfect example of noble and marmoreal classicism; this fiery and colourful interpretation given by the Alessandro Stradella Consort led by Esteban Velardi, however, restores them to their deserved position within the process of renovation which European music was then undergoing, a process that indeed started in Italy. It is a double CD.

Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) - The violin concertos (Vol. 8) - "Torna ritorna o bella mia speranza...", Concerto in D Major D 17, Concerto in A Major D 90, Concerto in E Major D 47, Concerto in B flat Major D 116, Allegro D 116a. L’Arte dell’Arco (on original instruments), Giovanni Guglilemo, conductor * 1st RECORDINGS - This eighth volume of Tartini's complete Violin Concertos with L'Arte dell'Arco led by Giovanni Guglielmo features four more concertos, all dating from the fertile and brilliant early period of the composer from Pirano d'Istria. They are works of great musical value, still virtually unknown (there exist neither printed editions nor other recordings of them) and showing quite idiomatic writing, much freer from the Vivaldian models to which even Tartini had paid, at the very early stages of his career, cautious tribute. A 24 bit /96 Kh recording.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) - SUITE AND CONCERTOS - Suite in A minor for recorder, strings and basso continuo, Concerto in F Major for recorder, bassoon and strings, Concerto in A minor for recorder, viola da gamba and strings - Collegium Pro Musica (on original instruments) Stefano Bagliano, recorder and conductor - If we could ask a late 19th-century German music lover who, in his opinion, was the greatest German composer of his day, the answer would undoubtedly be Georg Philipp Telemann. An extraordinary and versatile artist, admirer of French music though clearly not insensitive to the recent innovations of the Italian style, Telemann had virtually unlimited tone-colour and creative imagination. This recording of Collegium Pro Musica led by Stefano Bagliano features three remarkable instrumental works, including the wonderful Suite in A minor for recorder, strings and basso continuo, a work in no way inferior to Johann Sebastian Bach's Orchestral overtures.

Lou Harrison (1917) - Complete Works for percussion Vol.3 - Támmittam Percussion Ensemble, Guido Facchin, conductor - Music for Violin with Various Instruments (1967-69) - Jahla (1972) - Avalokiteshvara (1964) - Music for Bill & Me (1967) - Beverly’s Troubadour piece (1967) - Labyrinth #3 (1941), - Songs in the Forest (1951, rev. 1992) - Serenade (1978) - Praises for the Beauty of Hummingbirds (1952) - In Praise of Johnny Appleseed (1942) - It is not easy to define such a complex, eclectic and exuberant personality as that of Lou Harrison, composer from the American 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. Listening to this third CD dedicated by Guido Facchin's ensemble to the eighty-four-year-old Californian composer, we are impressed once again by the stylistic variety and remarkable imagination of his works, spanning from the exotic avant-gardism of Song in the forest (1992) to the unexpected Baroque suggestions of Serenade (1978). Many of the pieces featured are world première recordings.

----- I.D.I. - Istituto Discografico Italiano - Dynamic's Historical series ----

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) - IL TROVATORE - Maria Callas, Giacomo Lauri Volpi, Cloe Elmo, Paolo Silveri, Italo Tajo Orchestra e Coro del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli Tullio Serafin, conductor. Live recording, Naples, 1951 - On 27th January 1951, to commemorate Giuseppe Verdi's 50th death anniversary, the Teatro San Carlo of Naples staged a memorable performance of Il Trovatore, with two exceptional singers, Maria Callas and Giacomo Lauri Volpi, and a great conductor, Tullio Serafin. Our double CD is a faithful document of that remarkable evening, one of the magical moments of Italian opera in the second half of the 20th century. A must for lovers of opera.

MAGGIO 2001 www.dynamic.it – info@dynamic.it

Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) OVERTURES Overtures from: Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Scuffiara, Il Duello Comico, L’Osteria di Marechiaro, Il Re Teodoro, Nina, ossia la pazza per amore, Le Due Contesse, L’Idolo Cinese, La Molinara, Le Zingare in Fiera, Sinfonia funebre; Sinfonia in tre movimenti Orchestra della Svizzera italiana Enrique Mazzola, conductor - The collaboration between Dynamic and the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, which has produced such successful CDs as those dedicated to the symphonies of Hérold (CDS 282) and Raff (CDS 283), and to Donizetti's Parisina (CDS 277/1-2), continues with the present recording. Paisiello's overtures and symphonies reveal that this very popular opera composer was also a fine writer of instrumental music. Some of the works featured are world première recordings.

Antonio Bazzini (1818-1897): Works for violin and piano (Vol. 3). La Ronde des Lutins, Scherzo fantastique, Op. 25 Six Morceaux Lyriques Op. 35*, Deux Morceaux fantastiques, Op. 43* Menus propos! Causieres Musicales, Deuxième suite, Op. 48* * 1st recordings Luigi Alberto Bianchi, violin - Aldo Orvieto, piano - Robert Schumann wrote about Antonio Bazzini: " I believe that he is still little known, and even here has not been given the degree of appreciation that he deserves… He is wholly Italian, in the best sense of the word: he seems to come not from a land on this earth but from a land of song, from an unknown, eternally serene land: this was the impression I had at times listening to his music." In this third CD dedicated to Bazzini's works for violin and piano, Luigi Alberto Bianchi and Aldo Orvieto play a fine anthology of pieces, including the famous Ronde des Lutins Op.25 (complete version).

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1818-1897): Piano Works (Vol. 3) Sonata Op. 92a * Capriccio * Sonata Op. 81. * 1st recordings. Giuliana Corni, piano - The originality and quality of this series of CDs dedicated to Hummel's piano works has been recognised by the public and the international critics. In this third volume Giuliana Corni interprets three remarkable works. One of them is the Sonata in F sharp minor Op.81, the sixth of Hummel's seven piano sonatas, justly considered one of the composer's greatest masterpieces.

Salvatore Sciarrino (1947): Piano works (1969-1992). Prima Sonata (1976), Sonata II (1983), III Sonata (1987), IV Sonata (1992), Prélude (1969), De la nuit (1971), Esercizio (1972), Etude de concert (1976), Variazione su uno spazio ricurvo (1990), Perduto in una città d’acque (1991) , Anamorfosi (1980). Massimiliano Damerini, piano - This could be defined a "reprint by popular acclaim". Indeed, the decision to re-publish our old CDS 82 in mid-price series has been dictated by the many requests that we have received for this title, which proves that even the most avant-gardist music, like that of Sciarrino, has many followers around the world. Interpreter of these works, in world première recording, is Massimiliano Damerini, to whom some of these pieces are dedicated.

IDIS - Istituto Discografico Italiano Historical recordings

Italian Singers of Wagner (Vol. 2). Maria Callas, Mario Del Monaco, Aureliano Pertile, Rosetta Pampanini, Luigi Rossi Morelli, Ettore Parmeggiani, Enrico Molinari, Riccardo Stracciari, Carlo Tagliabue, Maria Caniglia Recordings from 1925 to 1950 - Here at last is the second volume dedicated to the Italian singers of Wagner, featuring wonderful recordings made by some of the most famous Italian interpreters, such as Aureliano Pertile and Mario Del Monaco, between 1925 and 1950. It is evidence of the success that the works by the German composer had in Italy in a period when, all over the world, the trend of staging operas in their original language had not asserted itself yet. This series, moreover, contributes to tracing the history of the interpretation of Wagner.

Dimitri Mitropoulos conducts: DVORAK: Violin Concerto Op. 53, CHAUSSON: Poème Op. 25. Isaac Stern, violin (Dvorák) Albert Spalding, violin (Chausson) New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Live recording, New York, 1950 and 1951. - The extraordinary talent of Dimitri Mitropoulos emerged more clearly during his live performances than in the recording hall. On the podium the Greek conductor was able to electrify his audiences with enthralling interpretations. The present CD features two memorable live recordings, made in New York in 1951 and 1950 respectively: a superb Violin Concerto by Dvorak with Isaac Stern, and a vibrant Poème by Chausson with an excellent Albert Spalding; two gems that deserve a place in the record collection of all the estimators of one the last century's most brilliant conductors.

www.dynamic.it - OTTOBRE 2001 - info@dynamic.it

Richard Strauss: Die Ägyptische Helena, Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Live recording-2CDs. Vitalija Blinstrubyte Stephen O’Mara Yelda Kodalli Johannes von Duisburg Regina Mauel Ulfried Haselsteiner Giulia Mattana Helen Field. Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Conductor: Gérard Korsten - In the history of European music the collaboration between Richard Strauss /1864-1949) and Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929) was perhaps the most perfect encounter between a musician and a man of letters. A very interesting fruit of this co-operatioon was the opera Die Aegyptische Helena, of which two versions exist (the 1928 one here recorded and another one dating from 1933). The January 2001 production of Teatro di Cagliari, recorded live in the present CDs, was, incidentally, the Italian première of this opera. Under the baton of Gérard Korsten, conductor of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, sings a cast of accomplished performers.

Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816): DON CHISCIOTTE, Live recording. Don Chisciotte Sergio Rocchi, Sancio Panza Maurizio Leoni, La Contessa Paola Quagliata, La Duchessa Patrizia Macrelli, Don Calafrone Giacomo Gandaglia, Don Platone Davide Paltretti, Carmosina Elena Bertocchi, Cardolella Ilaria Italia, Ricciardetta Angela Albanesi. Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana di Piacenza, Conductor: Valentino Metti - This comedy in three acts was performed for the 1st time at the Teatro dei Fiorentini of Naples in the summer of 1769. Although it was less successful than other operas by Paisiello, and for this reason generally considered a minor work, it shows all the delightful stylistic features of the composer, then only twenty-nine years old yet already on the rise. Cervantes’s text was treated quite freely by the famous librettist Lorenzi: the nine characters that share the stage are the fruit of a funny blend between the typical characters of the opera buffa tradition and the protagonists of Cervantes’s work. The opera was recorded live at the Teatro Comunale dei Filodrammatici in Piacenza, with Valentino Metti on the podium.

Victor De Sabata conducts Beethoven: Symphony No.3 in E flat op.55 "Eroica", London Philarmonic Orchestra, Studio recording (London, May 1946), Symphony No.8 in F op.93, New York Philarmonic, Live recording (New York, March 1951) - The present CD contains two famous Beethoven recordings of De Sabata: a beautiful studio recording of the Eroica made in London in 1946 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and an equally intense and meaningful live recording of the Eighth made in New York in November 1951. In both it is easy to perceive the pulsing vitality and contagious enthusiasm which pervaded De Sabata’s interpretations. Even when his inspiration was waning, he never fell into the repetitive routine that nowadays often plagues the world of the so-called “classical music”; which, only fifty years ago, people simply called music.

Niccolò Piccinni (1728-1800): "ROLAND". Complete opera - 3 Cds. Live recording - sung in French. Luca Grassi (baritone), Alla Simoni (soprano), Stefania Donzelli (soprano), Sara Allegretta (soprano), Bratislava Chamber Choir, Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, Conductor: David Golub. 1st RECORDING. - After proving his worth as an opera composer in Italy with the resounding success of Cecchina (1760), in 1776 Niccolò Piccinni (Bari 1728 - Paris 1800) was called to Paris to challenge Gluck’s mounting fame. In the French capital, where he remained until 1791, Piccinni composed some of his most famous operas, such as Didon (1783) and this Roland (1778), which was staged for the 1st time in modern times at last year’s Festival of Martina Franca, with the late David Golub on the podium and a cast of singers specialised in 18th-century repertoire. This opera, of great historical and musical relevance, merges the stylistic features of the French tragédie-lyrique with the rich Neapolitan melodic tradition, with great originality. The CD booklet offers liner notes in four languages as well as the original French libretto and its English translation.

Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841): 3 Duetti Concertanti for flute and violin, 3 Capricci for viola, 3 Duetti for flute and violin. Mario Carbotta, flute, Luigi Alberto Bianchi, violin and viola. 1st RECORDING. -Alessandro Rolla (Pavia 1757 - Milan 1841) was one of the finest exponents of Italian instrumental music between the 18th and the 19th centuries. Born in a then Austrian Lombardy, he was a great admirer of Haydn and Mozart, and an outstanding virtuoso on both the violin and the viola, which created the long-maintained belief that he taught Paganini. The classic “proportions” of Rolla’s style are clearly evident in the six elegant Duets for flute and violin here recorded by Mario Carbotta and Luigi Alberto Bianchi; the three Caprices for viola, instead, reveal the virtuosity of Rolla’s compositions for this instrument, which are unquestionably on a par with the more famous Paganinian ones.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): "AROLDO", Studio Recording, Torino, 1951, Maria Vitale (soprano), Vasco Campagnano (tenor), Rolando Panerai (baritone). Orchestra e Coro della RAI di Torino, Arturo Basile, conductor. - Aroldo, which was premièred at the Teatro Nuovo of Rimini on the 16th of August 1857, is the re-working of a previous Verdian opera, Stiffelio, dating from 1850. Although a fine work, Aroldo was quickly abandoned and never again included in the repertoire. It was only in 1951 that, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Verdi’s death, the Italian Radio and Television Broadcasting Corporation (RAI) organised a performance of this opera in concert form - the one here recorded - with a vocal cast including Maria Vitale, Vasco Campagnano and Rolando Panerai. Istituto Discografico Italiano is pleased to offer opera lovers this double-CD set, which should be a precious complement to the Stiffelio recently published by Dynamic.

Gaetano Donizetti: ANNA BOLENA, Complete opera - 3 Cds. Live at Teatro Comunale di Bergamo, 1st complete recording. Dimitra Theodossiou, soprano, Sonia Ganassi, mezzo - Fabio Sartori, tenor, Andrea Papi, bass - Sonia Prina, alto. Coro del Circuito Lirico Regionale, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, Tiziano Severini, conductor. - Recorded live at the Teatro Comunale of Bergamo, this version of Donizetti's Anna Bolena is noteworthy for at least two reasons: in addition to being the complete version of this opera, this 3CD-set features, in the main roles, the Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou - a splendid and passionate Anne Boleyn - and the fine Sonia Ganassi - giving a very expressive interpretation of Jane Seymour. As customary, Dynamic's booklet includes liner notes in four languages and the English translation of the libretto.

ANDREA GABRIELI (c 1533-1585): Missa Apostolorum (Apostles' Mass). Francesco Cera, organ, Modo Antiquo Ensemble, Giovanni Conti, conductor. 1st RECORDING. The figure of Andrea Gabrieli has been reappraised as of the last twenty years of the twentieth century. Less famous, less studied and less performed than Palestrina and Lasso, Andrea Gabrieli has a smaller production of vocal music than his celebrated sixteenth-century "peers", but the catalogue of his works is more diversified, with compositions in different genres (vocal sacred and profane, compositions for numbers of instruments, keyboard). In the Masses Andrea Gabrieli confirms his skill in counterpoint writing, masters the technique of composition and expounds the cantus firmus in the four voices, not limiting himself to the application of a technique but varying it time after time. A world première recording.

Johann Nepomuk HUMMEL (1778-1837): Complete works for cello and piano. Variazioni alla Monferrina Op. 54, Grande Sonata Op. 104, Oberons Zauberhorn Grande Fantasia Op. 116. Arturo Bonucci, cello, Aldo Orvieto, piano. 1st RECORDING. With the present release Dynamic confirms its growing interest in the works of Hummel, a composer who is enjoying a just revival with the record industry. The works in the present CD reveal a composer gifted with a remarkable music talent. The Grande Sonata Op. 104, published in 1827, features as its central movement a very effective Romanza with theatrical, even somewhat operatic, traits, showing a composer who has a feeling for the stage. The CD also features the Variations alla Monferrina and the Fantasia Op.116 (which was originally composed for piano and orchestra and later transcribed for cello and piano by Czerny), both première recordings.

BENIAMINO GIGLI: Live in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro (1951 LIVE recordings). Verdi, Puccini, Thomas, Donaudy, Donizetti, Bizet, Handel, Gounod. - This double CD offers a selection of Beniamino Gigli's performances in South America in 1951. The 1st CD opens with some excerpts from the moving concert that Gigli held at the Gran Rex theatre of Buenos Aires in July 1951. Then comes a series of recordings made during the tour of Brazil that he took in the months that followed, beginning with La Forza del Destino at Rio de Janeiro, Antonino Votto conducting. A fortnight later, still at Rio's Teatro Municipal, Gigli sang in Puccini's Manon Lescaut, again under the baton of Votto: excerps from that performance follow. Our CD-set then features the concert held at the Joao Caetano theatre of Rio de Janeiro on 24th September 1951, with piano accompaniment. The last three pieces document the concert of 23rd October 1951, held in the same theatre, with Enrico Sivieri at the piano.

NOVEMBRE 2001

THE LEGACY OF CREMONA Ruggiero Ricci plays 18 contemporary violins Preface by Roger Hargrave Full text: English - Italian - French - German. Ruggiero Ricci, violin, Noriko Shiozaki, piano CD plus full-color book in DIGIBOX format, cm.15x21 - With this CD we wish to celebrate Ruggiero Ricci, who at the age of 83 years chose to pay tribute to the 18 violin makers he has known in his long career by playing a different piece on each of their violins. This CD is not to be seen as a recital but as Ruggiero Ricci’s act of gratitude towards the men who provided the instruments for his great art. As well as pieces by Schubert, Sarasate, Sibelius, Granados, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski and others, Ruggiero Ricci also plays eighteen times (once on each violin) a fragment of the cadenza which Hubert Leonard wrote for Beethoven’s concerto. The book comes in digibox format, with detailed color photographs of all the instruments and the curricula of all their makers.

Giuseppe Verdi ATTILA Ferruccio Furlanetto (bas)-Dimitra Theodossiou (sop) Alberto Gazale (bar)– Carlo Ventre (ten) Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Verdi of Trieste - Donato Renzetti, conductor. Live recording - This edition of Attila is based on the successful performances of the opera given at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste last year. The towering figure of the barbarian king ATTILA, masterfully crafted by Verdi in one of his most efficacious bass roles, finds in Ferruccio Furlanetto a performer of matchless vocal bravura and expressive sensitivity. The Italian bass is partnered by the noble voice of the soprano Dimitra Theodossiou, who has already appeared in leading roles in Anna Bolena and Stiffelio, and the orchestra is conducted by Donato Renzetti, one of the most prestigious Italian conductors and a well-known specialist of nineteenth-century Italian opera.

Alessandro Rolla The String Quartets Op.5 Rolla Quartet: Enzo Ligresti, violin I-Nicola Fregonese, violin II-Carlo Barato, viola-Sara Airoldi, cello 1st recording - Defined as a “restorer of instrumental music” in Italy between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841) spent much of his active life in Milan, where he was first violinist and conductor of the orchestra at La Scala. In his three Quartets Opus 5, published in Vienna in 1807, Rolla, who was an admirer of Mozart and Beethoven, skilfully blends the Italian eighteenth-century tradition with the recent acquisitions of the Parisian Quatuor brillant whilst still maintaining a model of construction that clearly denotes full assimilation of the grand Viennese models. A fascinating CD which will come as a pleasant surprise to many listeners.

Edward Grieg The three Sonatas for violin and piano Natalia Lomeiko, violin (winner of the Paganini Violin Competition 2000) Olga Sitkovetski, piano - With her victory in the latest edition of the Paganini Competition in Genoa, Natalia Lomeiko has been confirmed as one of the most brilliant young promises of her generation. The mastery of technique and the sensitivity of this 21-year-old Russian violinist are absolutely extraordinary. She proves that she is absolutely at her ease in this Nordic repertoire and, accompanied by the pianist Olga Sitkovetski, succeeds in communicating all the shades of Grieg’s complex fantasy as a composer. These are extremely interesting works of sincere inspiration and are rich in thematic ideas, in which the dialogue between the two instruments highlights the ability of both performers.

Hans Knappertsbusch conducts Brahms and Haydn BRAHMS Symphony No.3 in F Op. 90 HAYDN Symphony No.94 in G "Surprise” Berliner Philharmoniker Live recording 1950 This CD proposes a genuine recording rarity, the splendid version of Brahms’s Third Symphony recorded by Hans Knappertsbusch at Berlin Radio, with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1950. In this movingly beautiful recording, of remarkable sound quality for its time, Knappertsbusch is seen to be a first-class interpreter of Brahms, one who avoids the rhetoric that so many other German conductors were wont to infuse, without any plausible reason, into a work which of its nature is the most intimist and meditative of Brahms’s symphonies. The CD is completed by an extremely modern version of Haydn’s Symphony No. 94, again recorded live with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1950.

DICEMBRE 2001

Marcos Portugal (Lisbon 1762 - Brasil 1830) LO SPAZZACAMINO (The chimney sweeper), Complete opera - 2 Cds. First recording. Ilaria Torciani, soprano - Silvia Lorenzi, soprano, Sergio Spina tenor - Andrea Porta, bass, Claudio Zancopé, bass - Daniele Cusari, bass. Orchestra da Camera Milano Classica, Álvaro Cassuto, conductor. - Marcos Antonio da Fonseca Portugal was born in 1762 in Lisbon. In 1792 fame and honour summoned him to Naples, where he would remain for eight years. After returning to Portugal, in 1810, when the Portuguese court transferred to Brazil on account of the French invasion, he set off for Rio de Janeiro. He died in Brazil in 1830. Lo Spazzacamino (The Chimney sweep), one of the operas he composed during his stay in Italy, was first performed in Venice in 1794 and then staged in numerous other theatres. The whole plot and its structure are among the most tried and tested in comic opera and belong to the most common typology of the second half of the eighteenth century (disguise and role-swapping, the mingling of events and destinies of couples belonging to different social classes, the aspiration to wealth. etc.). The music is sparkling and delightful, and brilliantly interpreted by the musicians of the Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra under the baton of the Portuguese conductor Alvaro Cassuto.

Simone Balsamino (approx. 1590) Novellette e madrigali (on texts by Torquato Tasso) (*). Claudio Monteverdi Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. Ensemble Vanitas, Madrigalisti of Swiss Radio, Diego Fasolis, conductor. (*) First recording. Very little is known of the life and work of Simone Balsamino from Urbino; his activity, as far as we can tell, lasted but four years: from 1590 to 1596. His first publication was the volume of Novellette, a collection of six-voice madrigals dedicated to Francesco Maria II Della Rovere, which includes a spiritual madrigal and seventeen madrigals derived from Tasso’s Aminta. Balsamino’s style appears at the same time in keeping with the music of his day and experimental in his use of both monody and polyphony, which are employed in such a way as to give emphasis to declamation. The program is completed by the articulated and complex Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda by Claudio Monteverdi, first staged in Venice’s Palazzo Mocenigo in 1624 and included in the 8th volume of Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi con alcuni opuscoli di genere rappresentativo, published in 1638. The works are interpreted by the Madrigalists of Radio Svizzera Italiana conducted by Diego Fasolis, who are specialists of this type of repertoire.

IDIS - Istituto Discografico Italiano (Historical recordings)

Giuseppe Verdi: GIOVANNA D'ARCO. Carlo Bergonzi, tenor, Renata Tebaldi,soprano, Rolando Panerai, baritone, Orchestra e Coro di Milano della RAI, Alfredo Simonetto, conductor. Studio recording 1950 An extraordinary cast for one of Verdi’s less frequently performed operas: Renata Tebaldi, Carlo Bergonzi and Rolando Panerai, at the height of their vocal means, give us a remarkable performance of Giovanna D’Arco, which Verdi wrote in 1845 for the Teatro alla Scala, winning the approval of the Milanese audience. The recording is of excellent technical quality and will be a thrilling discovery for those who still do not know this unjustly disregarded early masterpiece by the composer from Busseto.

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