Giovanni

Recorded at the Edinburgh Festival in 1995, Sir Charles Mackerras led the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Chorus and an outstanding cast, including Bo Skovhus, Alessandro Corbelli, Christine Brewer, Jerry Hadley and Felicity Lott, in an insightful and scholarly performance of Don Giovanni. Renowned Mozart scholar Sir Charles Mackerras masterfully interprets one of the world's most treasured operatic masterpieces. The superb cast beautifully renders the alluring charms and heavy dramatic turns of this celebrated piece.
Stanley Sadie, Gramophone.

Giovanni Sollima is an internationally renowned cellist and one of the most frequently performed Italian composers in the world today. His original BaRock Cello project gave new readings to Rock pieces in the intimate setting of a solo performance, matching these to little-known 17th- and 18th-century Italian composers. These improbable contrasts and surprising connections are now extended further back to their musical roots in Folk & Ba-Rock Cello. In this Sollima takes up the tonal colours and rhythmic grooves of archaic songs from a diversity of countries and blends the common features shared by all music, whether it is globally iconic, nationally popular, or long lost amidst the dusty manuscripts of time.

Renowned for portraying the music of the baroque like no one else, Cecilia Bartoli presents her new recording of arias famously performed by legendary castrato, Farinelli. Exploring the complex gender roles of the world of baroque opera, and highlighting the phenomenon of the castrati, a horrifying practice which led to some of the most celebrated work of the period. Featuring works by Farinelli’s brother, Riccardo Broschi, and his mentor, Nicola Porpora, as well as Hasse, Caldara and Giacomelli. Including two new world premiere recordings, from Porpora’s Polifemo and Broschi’s La Merope.

Stradella was murdered in Genoa when he was forty-two years old. Until then he enjoyed a dazzling career as a freelance composer, writing on commission, collaborating with distinguished poets, producing over three hundred works in a variety of genres. His musical style is distinctive, characterized by fluid lines, great skill in counterpoint, and harmony which was tonal but which occasionally offers chords that were unusual then and striking even today.