Compendio Delle Parabole

Another great entry from Italy. Intricate and complex, melodic and enjoyable. The style is a symphonic rock with arrangements and developments that make the most out of a rich and varied instrumentation. The delicate melodic work, shared by vocals, keyboards, guitars and flute, is supported by dynamic rhythms to create a sound that alternates from acoustic to electric. As good as the best Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso. Fans of lush, complex symphonic progressive rock will adore "Forse Le Lucciole Non Si Amano Più".

Within this new album the Armonia delle Sfere ensemble is delivering to us the complete Produzioni Armoniche by Antonia Bembo, a collection of fourty one motets dedicated in 1701 to Louis XIV, the Roi Soleil, to whose court she landed after a series of vicissitudes occurred in Venice, her hometown, including the failure of a marriage and important family disputes, for which she was deprived of his paternal inheritance.

Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) must have been an extraordinary woman. At a time when women were largely excluded from the public music scene, her musical talent was particularly encouraged. She was able to present both her wonderful voice and her extraordinarily artistic compositions in so-called "academies" of the highest Venetian society; she was even able to publish a total of eight operas with her music. The ensemble Il Segreto delle Muse presents here twelve selected arias and duets by Strozzi.

Astor Piazzolla’s tangos, beloved around the world for their pathos, passion, longing and sensibility, are here given fresh interpretations in arrangements for piano by the Argentinean-born, Brussels-based pianist Aquiles Delle-Vigne. A disciple of Claudio Arrau and winner of the Grand Prix ‘Alberto Williams’, the most prestigious competition in South America, he has been hailed by Le Figaro as a ‘fantastic, incomparable pianist and artist’, while The New York Times characterized his playing as ‘aristocratic, sophisticated and charming’. Piazzolla’s earthy yet highly developed music gains a new dimension of intimacy but also of power in the hands of this master of the keyboard.