Giorgia

Vallotti and the composition of the Marian Antiphons for soprano, strings and continuo. The idea of exploring Francesco Antonio Vallotti’s works, more than three centuries after his birth, comes from the desire of returning to today’s world a small page of Music History which had hitherto remained unexplored. This will facilitate the rediscovery of a very fecund composer of sacred music, who was for a long time the Chapel Master in the Basilica del Santo in Padua. Vallotti is best known for his theoretical writings, but he was in fact a very productive composer of religious music. His works elicited the interest, admiration and enthusiasm of his contemporaries (and not only of them). However, the short-sighted Caecilian Reform of the late nineteenth century inopportunely stigmatized his music as “Baroque”, and thus worth despising.

Rachmaninov’s two Suites for two pianos are among the most original works for the medium, no less inspired or tuneful than the better known concertos. The early Suite No. 1 ‘Fantaisie-tableaux’ shows the influence of Chopin, Liszt and Tchaikovsky, but is no mere bloodless imitation of their music. Written while Rachmaninov was working on his Second Piano Concerto, the Suite No. 2 represents a maturer idiom.