Saâda Saâda Bonaire

Although the madrigals of Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa constitute the best-known part of his oeuvre, his religious music is no less important, revealing a completely different facet of the composer. Aside from the Responsoria (1611), of which Philippe Herreweghe recently made a magnificent recording (LPH 010), most of Gesulado’s religious music was published in 1603 under the title Sacrarum cantionum . Unlike the Responsoria , intended for Holy Week services, the motets of 1603 are settings of texts for all circumstances of the liturgical year. For this recording, made in the Santa Trinità abbey church in Venosa, ODHECATON has enriched the sound palette of its men’s voices with a few instruments, including an ensemble of violas da gamba. Liuwe Tamminga counterpoints this programme with selected pieces by Giovanni Maria Trabaci and Giovanni de Macque on an historical organ of the Venosa region.

New recordings of unfamiliar, imposing concertos by an Italian contemporary of Prokofiev.

Early in 1870, a codex containing early Spanish vocal music had been discovered in the library of the Palacio Real in Madrid.

Telemann’s viola da gamba fantasies are significant works in the player’s repertoire, elegantly complementing the German repertoire, of which the most famous pieces are Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba and obbligato harpsichord. According to the most current information, it appears that these Bach sonatas were composed in the late 1730s or early in the following decade, just a few years after Telemann’s fantasies.

This CD presents three of the most well known and most performed concertos for oboe in the instrument’s repertoire. It is often said that the classical era is full of intrigue and mystery, and the history of music is no exception. However, time hides as much as it enlightens, and the ancient adage “Veritas filia Temporis” (Truth is the daughter of Time) often solves these riddles.

The CD, unreleased as always, is dedicated to three rare masterpieces by the Taranto composer, of the "Neapolitan school", Giovanni Paisiello and his Concerti n. 6, 7 and 8 for piano and orchestra. They are interpreted by the great Catania pianist Francesco Nicolosi (2nd prize in Geneva, 1980, first not awarded) and the refined Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Sofia.

The CD, as always unreleased, is dedicated to the Campanian composer Giuseppe Martucci and his rare and refined Trios n. 1 and no. 2 for violin, cello and piano. They are interpreted by three extraordinary musicians from the Da Vinci Ensemble, Marcello Miramonti, violin; Enrico Graziani, cello and Francesco Granata, piano.

Fifteen years on from his earlier recording of Bach’s three Sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord (on Harmonia Mundi, alongside Rinaldo Alessandrini), Paolo Pandolfo is now returning to this repertory with a thoroughly-rethought approach, the fruit of active and concentrated years of consideration, study and research into the inherent possibilities of his instrument. Given the basic differing natures of these two instruments, the performance of these works very often turns – in Pandolfo’s words – into a “musical argument”, rather than what is demanded by the music’s essential nature: a “musical conversation” in which the score achieves “transparency and eloquence”.

Kapellmeister at Magdeburg Cathedral for 43 years, all of Ruhe's compositions are lost except for these five gamba works. Probably written in the 1730s, they are lively, forward-looking pieces in three and four movements (the suite has eight) which anticipate early Classical style.

It is perhaps a truism that virtually all so-called great composers had a special preference for the viola as da braccio (on the arm, i.e. the modern instrument) or da gamba , a versatile instrument of the viol family that was a particular focus of Baroque composers. Indeed, the Sixth Brandenburg features pairs of both instruments, da braccio and da gamba, and what would the passions be without the solo work Bach includes for each? This may have been due to the fact that one of his employers, Duke Leopold of Saxony-Anhalt-Cöthen, liked to play it, but more likely Bach liked the instrument’s versatility and distinctive timbre.