Giulio D'onofrio

This exceptional recording was made using three original instruments that belonged to Paganini himself: the powerful 1743 Guarneri del Gesù violin; a six-string guitar by Ory, Paris, dated 1797; and a magnificent 1736 Stradivari cello, property of the Nippon Music Foundation and entrusted to Clemens Hagen, cellist of the Hagen Quartet. The three instruments are played together for the first time on this release. It was Giulio Plotino who conceived this project and took upon himself the difficult task of reuniting the three instruments. Indeed, this unique recording would not have been possible without him.

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.

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.

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.