Armi Roma

This is the third in a series of "Discovery" discs dedicated to unknown or rare works by three famous Italian composers, Rossini, Verdi and now Puccini. Chailly had already recorded some Puccini rarities in the early 80's but this new issue contains quite a few works that never seem to have seen the light of day.

Alessandro Melani (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.

In età moderna gli europei conquistarono, e persero poi, l'intero pianeta, non prima di averlo trasformato irreversibilmente, e avergli trasmesso alcuni dei loro valori fondamentali, che furono anche le armi di quella conquista, e cioè il capitalismo, lo Stato complesso e il pluralismo. Armi e caratteri che definiscono le società europee come generalmente più flessibili di altre. Partendo da questa constatazione Paolo Viola sviluppa alcune considerazioni. …

This production presents Händel’s masterpiece for which a lot of excellent recordings have already been released, however Concerto here offers the true “original” opera version. This means that the roles played by Cesare, Tolomeo and Nireno which were written at that time specifically for the castrati who could best could perform those roles, are in fact beautifully performed by our well-known sopranos: Angelo Manzotti who plays the main character; Angelo Galeano, the youngest one, who plays the role of Tolomeo outstandingly and last but not least Angelo Bonazzoli, playing Nireno.