Daniela Barbiani

The soprano Daniela Dessì died suddenly on 20th August 2016, aged 59. She was hailed by critics and colleagues as one of the finest voices the world of opera has ever known. Dynamic pays tribute to the great soprano with this recording, filmed just one year before her untimely death. Her performance of Giordano’s Fedora was one of the pinnacles of her stunning artistic career. In the famous aria O grandi occhi lucenti from Act One, she delivers a technically perfect and emotionally passionate performance worthy of a great star. The story takes place at the end of the 19th century, in St. Petersburg (Act One), Paris (Act Two) and Switzerland (Act Three).

It was when Delphine Constantin-Reznik took up the post as harpist in the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra that she first came across the name Anton Pratté, well-known in his lifetime as a harpist and composer. Her research into the music and activities of this forgotten master has now resulted in the very first recording of any of his numerous compositions for the harp. Anton Edvard Pratté was born in Bohemia into a family that ran a touring puppet theatre. He came to Sweden as an adolescent, and soon made a name for himself, performing music of his own as well as by others. Pratté gave concerts across Sweden, as well as in Norway and Finland, and in the 1840s even went on an extensive tour of Europe, performing in Berlin (where members of the Prussian royal family were in the audience), Vienna and Prague.

Handels Messiah is already very well-represented on the market with dozens of existing recordings and new productions appearing at regular intervals. Yet this is a very special version, carefully crafted, Halle Handel Edition in hand, by a Basel-based selection of fine vocal soloists and instrumentalists who have all graduated from the world-famous Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Under the fine direction of Daniela Dolci, singers Miriam Feuersinger, Flavio Ferri-Benedeti, Dino Luthy and Raitis Grigalis join the ensemble Musica Fiorita for a moving studio recording made in October 2015.

Johann Melchior Molter is a composer well-known among enthusiasts of music for winds, but generally his output is performed on modern instruments. Extensive research in the field of historically informed performance practice theoretically allows for the faithful reconstruction of the original sound of this music, but there exist only very few trumpetists today who are able to play on the required natural, valveless instruments. Jean-François Madeuf is one of these, extracting a warm, noble sound which make these concertos a very pleasurable listening experience.