Paola Terrile

Giacomo Gotifredo Ferrari studied in Naples before finding esteem in the Parisian musical world of the late 1780s. Fleeing the Revolution he settled in London. His compositions divide equally between vocal and chamber music, but also include two piano concertos. His Four Duets for Piano and Harp reveal clearly the main features of his art: easy melodic grace founded on his studies with Paisiello, high musical quality, formal balance, and a veneration of Haydn and Mozart. Intended for professionals and amateurs alike, slow movements are expressive and rondos full of vigor. In this recording original instruments are used to do full justice to the period timbre of Ferrari’s dialogues between fortepiano and harp.

Belonging to the generation of Respighi but dying several decades later, Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973) is a far more varied composer than listeners to his post-Romantic chamber and orchestral music would guess. This album is both the most comprehensive publication ever issued of his song output on record, and a valuable opportunity to reappraise an often under-rated 20th-century composer.

A native of Italy, Paola Baron received her Master’s Degree with highest honors from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Sarah O’Brien. She has also studied at the Conservatoire National Supérior de Musique in Lyon with Fabrice Pierre. She has been Principal Harpist of Teatro Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana (Slovenia), Orchestra Fondazione Arturo Toscanini (Italy), Orchester der Tiroler Festspiele (Austria), and the Birmingham Royal Ballet (USA), among others. In 2002, she won the Second Prize at the Victor Salvi Competiton, the most prestigious harp competition in Italy, and in 2007, she won the International Competition of the Slovene Harp Association.