Mio Takai

"O Mio Babbino Caro" (“Oh, My Dear Daddy”) is the only true aria in Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi. Performed by almost all famous sopranos throughout history from Maria Callas to Anna Netrebko it is probably ranked within the top ten soprano arias. "O Mio Babbino Caro" has crossed-over into pop music, cinema and television advertising.

Danish soprano Ditte Andersen and Swedish mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg were heard to stunning effect in Spedidam's splendid 2006 recording of Gluck's Aristeo and Bauci e Filemone with the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset. Here they tackle another obscure corner of the Baroque: cantatas and operatic arias discovered in the libraries of the palaces at Meinungen and Sonderhausen, many of which were previously unknown. The Italian composers represented include a few who are well known, but they are predominantly obscure – Antonio Caldara, Giovanni Battista Bononcini, as well as his brother Antonio, Francesco Gasparini, Giovanni Battista Alveri, Giuseppe Maria Andrea di Orlandini, Attilio Ariosti, Giovanni Porta, and Tommaso Bernardo Gaffi.