Michele Nuzzi

The CD, unreleased as always, is dedicated to a romantic masterpiece, the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 2 in B minor by Antonín Dvořák, played by the Italian virtuoso Miriam Prandi with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under the orders of Michele Spotti. The CD is completed by a rarely heard work, the overture Le Roi d'Ys by Édouard Lalo. Unparalleled live recording of the concert in Katowice, December 8, 2023.

In this recording entitled Enigma Fortuna, the ensemble La Fonte Musica, directed by Michele Pasotti, aims to shed light on the mysterious and eccentric personality of Antonio Zacara da Teramo (1355-1416). A contemporary of Boccaccio, Donatello and Brunelleschi, this composer from the Abruzzi region could almost be likened to a sort of musical Hieronymus Bosch, for the texts he set to music conjure up a ‘topsy-turvy universe’ where the obscene, the imaginary and the grotesque go hand in hand. In his ballata Amor ne tossa he writes ‘Let him understand me who can, for I understand myself’, foreshadowing the proud egotism of the Romantic artists who were to come 400 years after him. With this four-CD set presenting the world premiere of Zacara’s complete works, La Fonte Musica offers us an initial approach to understanding his music. And thereby, through the timeless character of art, to understanding a so-called ‘renascent’ era that seems as ‘topsy-turvy’ as our own.

As stringent a critic of his fellow composers as he was of himself, Mendelssohn wrote in unusually effusive terms about the Etudes Op.70 when Moscheles sent them to him in 1829. 'Your splendid Etudes are the best pieces of music that I have heard for a long time, as instructive and useful for the musician as they are gratifying for the listener. Might you be prepared to publish a third volume? You would be rendering a service to all music lovers.'

After the success of Vision Divine, singer / songwriter Michele Luppi got the chance to record his solo album, and the Italian baptized the release as MICHELE LUPPI's HEAVEN, with the album's title “Strive“. This is a collection of songs where Luppi puts his heart out: this is the music he loves, and while musically is obviously influenced by '80s AOR what Luppi delivers in “Strive” is quite different, personal. This is the type of AOR albums which avoids common places: you have the catchy choruses, the keys, sure, but there's something 'extra', something 'special' about this album.