Tortora'

This eponymous album from Italian band Ibis was released in 1975, it's not their debut (as you would expect from the title) but their third after the records Canti D'Innozenza, Canti D'Esperienza (1973) and Sun Supreme (1974). The prime mover is singer/guitarplayer Nico Di Palo, known as a member from the legendary Italian formation The New Trolls. The music on Ibis is varied: the two long tracks Narratio and Ritrovarci deliver sumptuous keyboards (a bit similar to my favorite Hungarian band Omega) and fiery guitar duels, the song Passa Il Tempo contains wonderful acoustic guitar and Keep On Movin' features straight rock and roll! My highlight on this CD is the composition Strada, a beautiful blend of electric piano, sensitive electric guitar, flute and a swinging rhythm-section. To me this sounds as a pleasant and varied album, no less or more…

'Orlando' is an operatic masterpiece by the Neapolitan Composer Nicola Porpora (1686-1768) who left an indelible mark on the 18th century and the careers of its greatest masters, from Hasse, Jommelli and Handel to Joseph Haydn, who was his pupil in Vienna. Against the background of the old Carolingian epic, the valiant knight Roland is transformed here into a lover before becoming 'Orlando furioso' in this encounter of three mythical figures: Ariosto, Metastasio and Porpora. The gamut runs from epic to tragedy in this vibrant, crackling performance under the inspired direction of Juan Bautista Otero.

Here is the earliest operatic masterpiece of Nicola Porpora (1686-1768), Neapolitan composer, who left an indelible mark on the 18th century and the careers of its greatest masters, from Hasse, Jommelli and Handel to Joseph Haydn, who was his pupil in Vienna. Against the backcloth of the old Carolingian epic, the valiant knight Roland is transformed into a lover before becoming 'Orlando furioso' in this encounter of three mythical figures: Ariosto, Metastasio and Porpora. We run the gamut from epic to tragedy in this vibrant, crackling performance under the inspired direction of Juan Bautista Otero. A major discovery!