Larte Della Vendita

The voice and violin duo Duo della Luna (Susan Botti and Airi Yoshioka, respectively) brings a remarkable versatility and integrated ensemble approach to a rarefied instrumental combination. Both musicians take advantage of their impressive range to broaden the scope of expressive possibilities within this duo formation. On Mangetsu, that range is in full bloom, from Botti’s fluid text delivery in different languages and vocal styles to both performers’ virtuosic navigation of extended techniques and gymnastic passagework. Throughout, the duo is engaged in a intertwined dialogue between the two players, always balanced elegantly, with each fulfilling an equal and essential role in the musical texture. Their sensitive performances are captured in a sensual recording by Grammy award winning engineer and recording industry luminary Todd Whitelock.

From Arturo Toscanini and Sir John Barbirolli to Riccardo Muti and Antonio Pappano in our own time, Italian-heritage performers have often brought special qualities of sympathy and understanding to Edward Elgar’s (1857-1934) music. Now comes a new recording made in the ‘boot’ of southern Italy, lending Mediterranean warmth and passion to a trio of Elgarian masterpieces.

After recordings of Beethoven’s complete symphonies, two Ravel albums, one Rautavaara album, and the award-winning album ‘Americascapes’, Robert Treviño now turns his focus on the symphonic poems by Ottorino Respighi (1879–1936). Together with the Orchestra Nazionale Sinfonica della RAI, Robert Treviño presents the composer’s famous Roman Trilogy, an exciting orchestral masterpiece culminating in the triumphant Pines of Rome.