15 (6)513 Francesca Fagnani Mala. Roma Criminale Sem

On her second PENTATONE album Maria & Maddalena, star soprano Francesca Aspromonte explores the Two Marys in oratorios by Lulier, Bononcini, Leopoldo I d’Asburgo, Caldara, Perti, Handel and Scarlatti, partly in new editions, documenting the extremely bloom of the genre in the years around 1700. She performs these works together with violinist Boris Begelman as well as the seasoned players of I Barocchisti under the baton of the eminent Diego Fasolis. Traditionally seen as two feminine opposites, with far-reaching moral implications, Aspromonte brings the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene together as two beautiful and strong women who turned their lives upside down by making the choice to dedicate themselves completely to an ideal. Her interpretation of these exceptional pieces explores all the emotions of the Two Marys, constituting a fascinating and profoundly moving portrait of what it means to be a woman.

Don’t forget Early Music Day on March 21st! We will celebrate this year with digital premieres of two beautiful albums. Pedro Memelsdorff is a renowned musicologist who founded the ensemble Mala Punica. With them he intensively explored the music of the Italian Trecento during his partnership with Erato, leading to three albums we’ve gathered under the title Gothic Italy. These recordings include the complete motets of Ciconia, a Flemish composer who settled in Padua and was one of the most important figures of the ars subtilior. Then, the complete songs - mostly in French - by the very innovative Matteo da Perugia, one of the first ever composers to put instrumental recommendations in his scores. These are coupled with a Missa cantilena, a parody mass made up by Memelsdorff after sacred or adapted profane pieces from various Italian 15th-century codices, which is an absolute splendor!

In the same way that the genre "techno" is applied to both the tasteful Derrick May and the garish Scooter, the term "dubstep" had been divided into two camps once the "mall kids" and "punters" got hip. Love it or loathe it, that glitzy "wub wub wub" sound championed by Skrillex and such is a far cry from the texture-rich music of Burial, Benga, and Digital Mystikz, that last name being the South London duo with whom producer Mala broke through. Purists will argue that the Skrillex crowd is so far from the spirit of the original dub reggae that they should abandon that part of the term, and as such, Mala in Cuba was announced as "an intention of realigning dubstep with soundsystem culture,” which it does, splendidly. This glorious album was also constructed from a set of raw tracks recorded in Cuba while on a beat-finding trip with DJ Gilles Peterson…

Dimenticate le guide che raccontano Roma come colosseo-forimonetina-a-fontana-di-trevi-cacio-e-pepe a-trastevere. Qui non leggerete della storia dei gladiatori né troverete gli indirizzi di catene di ristoranti, ma scoprirete dove trovare i supplì migliori della città a meno di 2 €, borse in pelle sotto i 30, storiche enoteche per aperitivi low cost tra i vicoli, deliziosi teatri nascosti nelle cripte, monumenti poco noti e… gratis! Il tutto in compagnia di tre insider metropolitane, blogger del nuovo fenomeno web Nuok.it, che da anni setacciano la città con indomabile spirito low cost e infallibile fiuto da trendsetter.

As with his 2012 debut full-length Mala in Cuba, Mirrors finds the dubstep originator taking up residence in a different land (namely Peru) and integrating its musical traditions with his own style. As ever, his productions are vast and spacious, letting the bass flow out over the carefully paced beats. These tracks incorporate native instruments created from animal bones and dried pumpkins. They also incorporate pan flutes and acoustic guitars, and they manage to completely sidestep any resemblance to the unforgivably corny fad known as "tropical house." His excursions seem like the product of a genuine quest to return to his roots, not an attempt to be trendy. Therefore, his old-and-new blends seem natural and fluid, and the songs are spirited and graceful…