Comim, Flavio

The opera is starring countertenor Valer Sabadus - one of opera's most exciting newcomers - now exclusively signed to Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, a division of Sony Classical. Christoph Willibald Gluck, widely known for fundamentally reforming the 'opera seria' wrote some of the greatest and exemplary masterpieces of this great genre before he started his famous reform of the opera. This makes this work a fascinating and enlightening piece in the puzzle for the evolution of opera and the eminent character Gluck. Gluck's setting of La Clemenza was first performed in Naples in 1752, ten years before his first reform opera.

A major new, native recording of a sparkling operatic double-bill. After Amelia goes to the ball was staged in 1937 at the Metropolitan Opera with acclaim, Gian Carlo Menotti became hot property. Two further radio operas were comparative failures but it was with The Medium that Menotti really hit his stride. A tragedy in two acts for five singers, a dance-mime role and a chamber orchestra of 14 players, Menotti’s opera is both dramatically astute in the Puccini tradition and composed with an acute ear for mood and mystery: the score, often quite dissonant, conveys an eerie, morbid atmosphere. According to the composer, ‘The Medium is actually a play of ideas. It describes the tragedy of a woman caught between two worlds, a world of reality which she cannot wholly comprehend, and a supernatural world in which she cannot believe.’

This CD will be best appreciated by those who admire the 'authentic performance movement' in baroque music. Christofellis's voice isn't what I call beautiful, but their is no denying that his ability is extraordinary, if not bizarre. The highlight for me is the sublime 'Lieto cosi tal volta' from Pergolesi's little-known opera Adriano in Siria and I recommend buying the CD for this aria alone. Christofellis is also a musicologist and it is interesting to hear an informed take on musical issues such as ornamentation. Anyone wondering what the castrati may have sounded like can get a pretty good idea from this recording.

The jazz legend Chick Corea and world-renowned Italian guitarist Flavio Cucchi have known each other since the late 1980s. This recording features Corea’s only work written expressly for the guitar, ‘Six Ruminations,’ heard in a new version by Cucchi, as well as Cucchi’s arrangement for two guitars of the magical, haiku-like ’12 Children’s Songs.’ The album continues with Alfonso Borghese’s charming ‘Habanera d’Autunno,’ the famous Egberto Gismonti piece, ‘Agua e vinho,’ Giulio Clementi’s evocation of bygone dance hall days and the folk-infused ‘English Suite’ by John Duarte. Flavio Cucchi has given hundreds of recitals all over the world and participated in radio and TV broadcasts for the BBC, RAI, ZDF, Bayerischer Rundfunk, and Radio Prague, among others. Many composers have dedicated works to him, and he has held masterclasses all over the globe.