Andrea Sadia Sunday Stroll

In the eighteenth century, the sonata model established by the published works of Arcangelo Corelli conquered all of musical Europe. Throughout the century, transcriptions of his music were published for every instrument, and the viola da gamba was no exception. The most interesting collection is that held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris (MS Vm7 6308), which presents the twelve sonatas of Corelli’s op.5 in transcription for viola da gamba. Although it is preserved in Paris, certain stylistic elements suggest that this transcription originated in the German-speaking region of Europe, with particular reference to composers such as Johannes Schenck, Konrad Höffler or Gottfried Finger, whose works were deeply influenced by Corelli’s style. It is to this repertory that Teodoro Bau, winner of the 2021 Ma Festival Bruges competition, devotes his recording.

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica calls him almost the “most talented Bach pianist” in Italy, and Andrea Bacchetti has given concerts internationally on the world’s largest classical music stages. When Bacchetti talks about Bach, he calls his music “his life, his day and his night”. Hardly any other pianist manages to read Bach’s music in such a modern and precise way as the interpreter from Genoa does. On his latest release, he has now devoted himself to the second part of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well-Tempered Piano Book, one of the key works of the Baroque era, on whose music Bacchetti has specialized for years.

Andrea Zani (1696-1757) was active in his native northern Italy but his career included an extended period in Vienna in the 1730s, where he enjoyed the patronage of Count von Schönborn. These 12 cello concertos survive in manuscript parts in the Schönborn archive and have been rediscovered by Zani’s biographer, the New Zealand musicologist Jill Ward. They make a notable addition to the 18th-century cello repertoire; the idiom is quite Vivaldian but tending towards the decorative elegance characteristic of the middle of the 1700s and demonstrating a distinctive, pleasing melodic quality.

Giuseppe Maria Boschi was undoubtably one of the most famous and virtuosic baritones of the 18th century. He had a brilliant and intense career on a par with those of renowned contemporary castrati and sopranos, including Farinelli, Senesino, Faustina Bordoni, Margherita Durastanti, Francesca Cuzzoni and Nicolini. He was one of the leading baritones throughout London from 1720 to 1728, sought after by Georg Frederich Händel, Giovanni Bononcini, and Attilio Ariosti. Warrior, father, lover, tyrant: many were the roles to show the nuances of his vocality which, judging by the music written for him, was of exceptional range and well-suited for dramatic roles.

Amore is the eleventh studio album by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, released on 31 January 2006, for the Valentine's Day season. This album features a remake of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love"; "Because We Believe", the closing song of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, which Bocelli wrote and performed; "Somos Novios (It's Impossible), a duet with American pop singer Christina Aguilera; and his first recording of Bésame Mucho, which eventually became one of his signature songs. Amore debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, which at the time was Bocelli's highest chart position in America yet. It went on to sell 1.66 million copies in the United States and was certified Platinum. Bocelli was the seventh best-selling artist of 2006, in the United States, and was also certified Gold and Platinum in several other counties.

This 1996 disc compiles music from the beginning of Andrea Bocelli's career, with tracks going back as far as 1992. At this point the blind Italian tenor, although trained in opera, was unabashedly a pop singer, just like the many other pop singers who have benefited from classical vocal training at one time or another. There is no controversy about whether Bocelli was a competent opera singer here, for there are no operatic arias, and not even any of the Neapolitan songs that he later essayed in American appearances - all the music is contemporary, heavily string-enveloped (mostly) Italian pop.