Music And Song in Persia

One of the leading experts in early music, Christopher Hogwood, leads the way as you hear the beautiful 17th-century theatre music of British composer Henry Purcell. The Academy of Ancient Music and the Taverner Choir perform Abdelazer; The Married Beau; Bonduca; Circe; Don Quixote; The Double Dealer; The Rival Sisters , and much more!

About SAYAT NOVA - The great Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova was born in 1712 in the village of Sanahin, not far from Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Named Haroutiun Sayatian at birth, the great musician and lyric poet is remembered by Armenians as Sayat Nova or King of Songs, an homage to his stature and prestige. In his early teens, the Sayatian family moved to Tbilisi, which was an important center of Armenian culture, music, and literature. During this period Sayat Nova started to compose, play, and sing…

With the 10 arias on Tormento d'amore, Ian Bostridge demonstrates the important place that the tenor voice held in Italian opera from the mid-17th to the mid-18th century - often thought of as the era of the castrato. At this time, there were two main centres of opera in Italy: Venice, where such composers as Cavalli, Vivaldi, Cesti, Stradella, Sartorio and Legrenzi were active, and Naples, home to Provenzale, Caresana, Vinci and Fago. In addition to arias - two of them in world premiere recordings - the album offers five instrumental sinfonie and a traditional Neapolitan song, 'Lu cardillo', or 'The Goldfinch', a songbird closely associated with Naples. Bostridge is partnered by conductor Antonio Florio and his ensemble Cappella Neapolitana.

This disc introduces Yo-Yo Ma's latest and most ambitious adventure, the Silk Road Project. It explores the cultures that flourished along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that for centuries connected Europe and the East. Founded by Ma in 1998, the project aims to create connections, mutual trust, and cultural interchange between people from different parts of the world through their only shared language: music. This recording includes music from Mongolia, China, Persia, Japan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and an improvisation on an Italian Renaissance street song, performed by musicians from all those countries, as well as America, on both Eastern and Western instruments. Ma, who participates in every piece either as soloist or part of the ensemble, plays cello and a Mongolian "horse-head fiddle." There is also a Mongolian soprano, who sings a traditional song native to her region.