Claudio Mutti

After a series of critically acclaimed projects, sold out headline tours, and billions of streams, Sabrina Claudio confidently projects sensuality, spirit, and soul beyond barriers in her music. Taking the reins as the sole writer, she presents the clearest picture of herself as an artist and as a woman on her 2022 project, Based On A Feeling.

The plot concerns the feisty eponymous heroine Isabella. She has been sailing in the Mediterranean, accompanied by an elderly admirer Taddeo, in search of her lover Lindoro. After her ship is wrecked Mustafa, the Bey of Algiers, believes her the ideal replacement for his neglected wife who he intends to marry off to a captured slave, who happens to be Lindoro. Complicated situations ensue involving Taddeo being awarded the honour of Kaimakan and Mustafa in turn becoming a Pappataci, a spoof award invented by Isabella to keep him obeying her strict instructions. All ends well in a rousing finale with the Italians escaping from the clutches of the Bey.

As a genre, the concerto grosso is virtually unique in its ability to capture the verve and elegance of baroque music. Its most outstanding exponent was Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), whose principal concerti grossi are brought together in the present release. Recorded in the magnificent antique Basilica di San Marco in Rome, whose Baroque style dates back to the restorations of the 17th and 18th centuries, this DVD recreates a wonderful historical atmosphere. Played by I Solisti Veneti under their founder and director Claudio Scimone, this DVD also provides for an unforgettable musical experience thanks to the performers’ eminence in this repertory.

This is one of those great Rossinian singing competitions in which everyone–and, in particular, the listeners–wins. Composed as a piece of occasional entertainment for the coronation of Charles X in Paris, Rossini borrowed liberally from his recent comic success Le Comte Ory and fashioned a musical necklace chock filled with one shiny bauble after another. Each character has a showpiece aria, from the highs of soprano Cecilia Gasdia as a melodramatic poetess all the way down to the basso realms of Samuel Ramey and Ruggero Raimondi. The ensembles are as delicious as the solos, and Claudio Abbado, in a very theatrical mood (this was recorded live) keeps everything going wittily and with great elan. The plot is practically nonexistent, but with singing like this, it's hard to complain.

Auf der vorliegenden CD werden die Flöte, die Violine und die menschliche Stimme zur "Beute" dieses Mannes: Der Solo-Oboist der Berliner Philharmoniker, Albrecht Mayer, wagt sich nach dem Erfolg seiner Bach-Platte nun an Werke von W. A. Mozart und dessen Zeitgenossen Ludwig August Lebrun.

It was customary for Rossini to modify his scores and develop second and third versions for theatres that wanted to stage his operas. The Maometto II here recorded corresponds only in part to the original score (Naples, 1820), which is the version generally performed nowadays; it is, instead, the revision made for Venice’s Teatro La Fenice staged on 26th December 1822 as opening title of the 1823 Carnival season, the same season which, on February 3rd, would also see the debut of Semiramide. For Venice Rossini tried to soften the monolithic character of his Neapolitan score, introducing an opening symphony, making changes - some of them quite substantial - to the score and, especially, giving the plot a happy ending. The title role is sung by the young Italian bass Lorenzo Regazzo, internationally renowned; Claudio Scimone, on the podium, is responsible for the revision of the score.

In his final performances with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in August 2013, Claudio Abbado conducted Anton Bruckner's unfinished Symphony No. 9 in D minor, and this recording is drawn from the best takes from those concerts. Considering that this rendition came near the end of Abbado's life and stands as a worthy testament to his achievements, it's easy to read too much into the interpretation, and to view it as a mystical or transcendent reading because of the circumstances. On the one hand, Abbado's understanding of this symphony was as thorough as any conductor's, and the Lucerne musicians played with seriousness and dedication, offering a version that has impressive power and expressive depth. On the other hand, there are many competitive recordings that either match Abbado's for strength and feeling, or surpass it in purely technical terms of sound quality and reproduction. Certainly the sound is exceptional, according to Deutsche Grammophon's high standards, and this stereo recording is exceptionally clean and noise-free.

Pianist with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) since 1999, Olga Kopylova was born in Uzbekistan and studied at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Her solo album Estrela da Manhã (2006) features works by Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Medtner and Scriabin. As a soloist, she has performed with the OSESP, the Campinas Symphony Orchestra and the Curitiba Chamber Orchestra, among others. She performs chamber music at the OSESP’s series of chamber concerts and with her own ensembles, such as the Sexteto São Paulo and Duo Virtuose. She also teaches at the Osesp Music Academy.

A studio recording made in association with staged performances in Vienna in 1989 features the very beefy Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Abbado with Agnes Baltsa’s tangy mezzo giving a very characterful portrayal as Isabella. …[E]xpert Rossinians Corbelli and Enzo Dara sing Haly and Taddeo and are joined by a very characterful Ruggero Raimondi as Mustafa. Despite the size of the band, the performance goes along with zip with the finale of act one particularly invigorating.