Italia

Madonna's Ciao Italia: Live From Italy captures a performance from her 1988 world tour and features hits like "Lucky Star," "True Blue," "La Isla Bonita," "Like a Virgin," and "Material Girl." A much simpler, less choreographed performance than her later extravaganzas like The Girlie Show, Ciao Italia is still entertaining in its own right, and will definitely please fans nostalgic for some old-school Madonna hits.

The Festival della Valle d'Itria mounted this lavish production of Gioachino Rossini's 1813 opera Aureliano in Palmira, in July 2011. Aureliano in Palmira movie It was staged and performed at the Palazzo Ducale, in Martina Franca, Italy. Aureliano in Palmira video The cast includes Bogdan Mihai as Aureliano, Franco Fagioli as Arsace, Maria Aleida as Zenobia and Asude Karayavuz as Publia, with the special participation of Louise Frank as Vecchia Zenobia. Aureliano in Palmira film The Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia and the Coro Slovacco di Bratislava provide additional musical accompaniment, with Pavol Prochazka serving as chorus master and Giacomo Sagripanti conducting.

Written almost two centuries ago by Saverio Mercadante, coveted by many theatres of the day, Francesca da Rimini was, in fact, never staged. Every time it was scheduled for performance, something happened and it got canceled. A long series of incidents prevented it from reaching the stage for as many as 185 years. Its forgotten manuscript, which was only known for its ill-starred fate, suddenly re-emerged five years ago in Madrid, teh city where it was to have been premiered in 1831. The soprano Leonor Bonilla is quite impressive in the part of the protagonist: she portrays the character's psychological frailty as well as her determination wtih a steely vocal technique, spinning out incredible modulations, displaying strong and dazzling vocalizations, easily soaring into the high register and flaunting such an attractive, casual and poignant stage presence that she even dares moving some dance steps with the corps de ballet. Aya Wakizono is an admirable Paolo: endowed with a superb mezzo voice, she seeks and achieves consistency throughout the range, is virtuosic in the coloratura, and fluent. No less demanding is the part of the tenor Lanciotto, with its fearful leaps and ornamentation worth of the Neapolitan Rossini: Mert Sungu might in time get rid of a touch of harshness here and there, but already now he can tackle all the difficulties of the part with a timbric quality and an expressively worth of note…

Filmed live in 2007 at the prestigious Rossini Opera Festival in the composer’s birthplace, Pesaro, Il Turco in Italia is a madcap ensemble opera with an inspired score that boasts music of both comic genius and extraordinary beauty. Set in Naples, it spins a crazy tale around a poet who uses the romantic entanglements of the inhabitants with a Turkish prince as inspiration for the plot of his next play. Ultimately, life imitates art as all ends happily, but not before a planned abduction leads to a chaotic situation of mistaken identity.

2 CDs, 40 tracks including hits from Eros Ramazzotti, Umberto Tozzi, Lucio Dalla, Jovanotti and many others.

Ensemble Ars Italica - Musica del XV secolo in Italia - Music From 15th Century Italy (1991) {Tactus TC 40012201 rec 1988}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 286 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 136 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 48 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1988, 1991 Tactus | TC 40012201
Classical / Renaissance / Early Music / Ars Nova

This CD, although its not recommended for a first approach to Ars Nova music, is a fine example of the sound clarity of the compositions of this era. The excellent performance of the works is adding to the general result which is of a very high level. Strongly recommended for the admirers of this kind of music!!