Licinio Refice & Giovanni Panella

Giovanni Maria Trabaci was born in Monte Pelusio (Irsina) around 1575, and died in Naples on 31 December 1647. This close contemporary of Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) spent his entire career at Naples. He was engaged as a tenor at SS Annunziata at the age of nineteen, and in 1597 was invited to examine the organ of the Oratorio dei Filippini, whose organist he subsequently became. On 30 October 1601 he was appointed to the prestigious post of organist of the chapel of the Spanish Viceroys of Naples, where he was joined in 1602 by his contemporary Ascanio Mayone, who played the second organ…

These sonatas for violin and continuo, dating from the court of the Holy Roman Empire in Innsbruck in 1660, are little known; perhaps the only other recording of them is a later one by their champion, Andrew Manze. If you like the woolly world of seventeenth century violin music, this composer belongs in your library. The later recording, which includes all the sonatas, lacks the theorbo heard in this 1992 performance, presumably reissued by Channel Classics in order to compete with Harmonia Mundi's release, but both are superb. The music's neglect is largely due to Pandolfi Mealli's obscurity; nothing is known of him beyond this group of works – not even whether a Sicilian composer named Pandolfi working around the same time was the same person or not.

"Antonini succeeds in nothing less than building a bridge between the historical, musical performance practice and the intellectual-historical tradition of this work … Strong singers are at his side." (Stereo) "One of the most exciting Beethoven recordings of our days" (Rondo) "Fresh as the first day: Giovanni Antonini knows how to make Beethoven's dramaturgy vivid." (Concerti) These are only a few of the many great reviews for the recordings of Beethoven's symphonies by Kammerorchester Basel (Basel Chamber Orchestra) under Giovanni Antonini. For Beethovens 250. anniversary year 2020, a 6-CD-Set of these "sensational recordings" (NDR) of Kammerorchester Basel is being released.

The HAYDN2032 edition celebrates the release of the tenth volume in the complete recording of Haydn’s 107 symphonies. Entitled ‘The Times of Day’, this programme is devoted to Symphonies nos. 6, 7 and 8, whose individual names translate as ‘Morning’, ‘Noon’ and ‘Evening’. Prince Paul Anton Esterházy, who commissioned the work, is said to have wanted to show his guests that his orchestra was of excellent quality and that ‘his’ Haydn was highly inventive. Giovanni Antonini’s orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, once again rises to the challenge! This triptych following the sun’s course is prolonged into the night by the work of another composer: Mozart’s Serenade in D major, nicknamed Serenata notturna, probably written for a masked ball at Salzburg Town Hall in February 1776. Jérôme Sessini of the Magnum agency, who has won awards for his work on the cartel wars in Mexico and the opioid crisis in the United States, took the photographs featured in this volume.

The harpsichord by Thomas Culliford (Longman & Broderip) from 1785 is one of the very few remaining English harpsichords in Italy. It is the only harpsichord by Culliford with a single manual, with its original registers and jacks and especially with its unchanged Machine stop. The restoration included a thorough cleaning and consolidation of unglued components, especially the cleaning of the soundboard and the consolidation of the inlay work on the front board. Some of the strings which were identified as being original were carefully documented and examined.

Giovanni Mazzocchin was born in Bassano del Grappa (VI) in 1994. He was admitted at the 'Pedrollo' Conservatory in Vicenza in 2007, where he studied with Marco Tezza. He graduated in five years with the highest marks, praise and special mention, playing a program which included the J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations and the Beethoven' most difficult sonata, the "Hammerklavier". In the meantime he also attended masterclasses with Carlo Grante, Filippo Gamba, Massimiliano Ferrati, Alexander Madzar and Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy, who particularly appreciated the his performance of Chopin and Liszt. Starting 2015 he recorded: Beethoven's Late Piano Sonatas, Opus 101 & 106 + Opus 109, 110, 111 (OnClassical OC145CSET), Diabelli Variations Op. 120 + Bagatelles Op. 126 (OnClassical OC17072c); J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (OnClassical OC17042b). Giovanni is currently attending the faculty of Computer Science at the University of Padova, where he completed his three-year degree.

Giovanni Antonini has been recording the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn with the Alpha label for more than five years. Now the series is enriched by another monument by the Austrian composer: Die Schöpfung (The Creation), recorded in 2019 with the Bavarian Radio Chorus and his own orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico. This great oratorio was inspired by those of Handel, which Haydn heard performed by very large forces during his visits to England. The Creation, composed between September 1796 and April 1798, demanded such a colossal effort of him that he even fell ill just after its first performance; but the work enjoyed immense success. The marriage between the Bavarian chorus, so familiar with this masterpiece, and the period-instrument musicians of Il Giardino Armonico works perfectly, with a vocal trio composed of leading soloists: Anna Lucia Richter, Maximilian Schmitt and Florian Boesch.