Dario g

On the occasion of his 80th birthday, Die Schachtel is proud to present "Punctum Contra Punctum", a deluxe compact disc box dedicated to Aldo Clementi, one of the most important figures of Italian music of the 20th Century. Born in Sicily in 1925, he studied piano and later composition under the guidance of teachers such as Goffredo Petrassi and Bruno Maderna, who also introduced him to electronic music at the RAI Studio of Phonology in Milan.

For fans of Il Giardino Armonico's flamboyant flourishes and exuberant expressiveness, it's like having all your birthdays at once, being presented with this great Warner Classics 11 CD set. My own feeling is that this "free" approach to Baroque music is at its best when applied to the theatrical music of disc 8 or the seventeenth century Italian music on disc 1. The showmanship and playfulness is an absolute joy in many of those pieces. I'm less satisfied with the interpretations of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, (on discs 10 and 11), which require a different approach, I feel. I like my Bach to be a little more measured and subtle, I suppose. It has no need of the Il Giardino Armonico treatment. On the whole, though, I do love this set and wouldn't be without it.

Stefano di Battista (born February 14, 1969) is an Italian jazz musician who plays soprano and alto saxophone. Di Battista began playing at thirteen with friends and became interested in jazz after hearing Art Pepper. In Italy he received guidance from Massimo Urbani and by his twenties di Battista was performing in Paris. He put out his debut as a leader in 1997 and has toured with the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine.