Giulio Aristide Sartorio

In campo operistico, il periodo storico tra Cavalli e Handel - quello, per capirci, che comprende giganti come Stradella, A. Scarlatti, Legrenzi… - è il più trascurato dalla discografia. Ed è un peccato, perché è il periodo nel quale si sviluppano le forme e gli stili che saranno tipici del Barocco maturo, come l'aria con il da-capo ed il virtuosismo belcantistico. Benvenuta quindi questa produzione dell'austriaca ORF, che documenta dal vivo l'esecuzione di questo rarissimo "Giulio Cesare in Egitto" del veneziano Antonio Sartorio, uno dei maggiori eredi di Cavalli nel florido operismo lagunare.

Born in Venice, Sartorio composed 14 operas. He often made the long journey from Hanover, where he held the post of Maestro di Capella to the Duke of Brunswick, to compose and present new operas in his native city and recruit musicians for the German court. He is credited with introducing Italian opera to the Hanover court in 1672. Sartorio finally returned to Venice to be Maestro at St Mark’s where he composed sacred music, albeit not as much as the renowned Coffi might have been expected of him in that position.

Born in Venice, Antonio Sartorio (1630-1680) composed 14 operas. He often made the long journey from Hanover, where he held the post of Maestro di Capella to the Duke of Brunswick, to compose and present new operas in his native city and recruit musicians for the German court. He is credited with introducing Italian opera to the Hanover court in 1672. Sartorio finally returned to Venice to be Maestro at St Mark’s where he composed sacred music, albeit not as much as the renowned Coffi might have been expected of him in that position.

Editions of Domenico Scarlatti’s almost 600 keyboard sonatas were for a long time based on uncertain sources. The resulting editorial confusion gave rise to different readings at different times and in different places. A prime example is Hans von Bülow’s selection of eighteen of the sonatas (published in 1864), viewed through the prism of Romanticism. On this double album the pianist Giulio Biddau compares that version with a recent critical edition. Each sonata is played twice, thus alternating the perspectives and shedding light on two different approaches to Scarlatti’s work.

High-ceilinged rooms with elaborate chandeliers and exquisite furniture, lavish meals and delicate wines, civilized conversation with the most interesting people of the day, and of course, music. These were the late 19th and early 20th centuries’ pleasures the Salons had to offer, and music was not a minor component of this most sophisticated social tradition which thrived in western societies up until 1914.

Melody Louledjian and Giulio Zappa met ten years ago at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, during a production of a Rossini opera. It was love at first sight, both friendly and musical. Both of them have had careers that have taken them to some of the most beautiful international stages, but they meet regularly both in the city and on stage. For their first recording collaboration, they have chosen a program that embodies the history of their encounter, that of two linguistic, stylistic and musical cultures: Rossini's Romances for voice and piano on French poems.