Nicola Dinan

Napoleon was intensely enthusiastic about opera. The conquering music lover called for the young Italian star, the contralto Giuseppina Grassini, and the most magnificent castrato: Girolamo Crescentini to perform for him. He was the only singer to move the Emperor to tears. Crescentini was invited to France from 1806 to 1812. He sang at glorious evening performances at the Tuileries Imperial Chapel with Grassini, named First Cantatrice to His Majesty the Emperor – and his mistress. Napoleon had an incredible passion for Italian opera, as shown by the 143 Italian soloist concerts given at the Court between 1810 and 1815! Zingarelli’s Giulietta e Romeo opera was a major performance given by Grassini and Crescentini.

Bellini suits June Anderson surprisingly well: 'surprisingly' because her voice is bright and her manner somewhat impersonal and unyielding very much the opposite of sopranos like Selma Kurz and Galli-Curci, or in later days Montserrat Caballe, who could make the cantilena of ''Qui la voce'' and ''Ah, non credea mirarti'' a thing of ethereal tenderness and limpid purity. Yet the Sonnambula aria and a similarly sad and lovely solo from I Capuleti e i Montecchi are among the most satisfying items here. In both of them a prime virtue is that of the well-drawn line, closer to (say) dal Monte and Pagliughi than to Sutherland. She is also, if not exactly imaginative, at least sensitive in her handling of the phrases, and there is no hardening of the sort that with many Italians (dal Monte among them) makes one flinch at the approach of high notes.

Three of the world’s greatest classical stars join forces to record Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. All alumni of the BBC Young Musician competition, they are great friends but this is the first time they have appeared on record together. They have a joint reach of over 1 million and are all touring regularly internationally. The first recording of the work on Decca Classics, Nicky, Sheku and Benjamin toured the concerto around the UK in 2023, after which they recorded it with the Philharmonia and their Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. The works are accompanied by a selection of Beethoven’s rarely performed Folk Songs, along with celebrated baritone Gerald Finley. Reflecting the Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English roots of the musicians, the album concludes with the trio alone: Kreisler’s arrangement of ‘Londonderry Air’, often known as ‘Danny Boy’.

The five-part writing for strings has its period of greatest development in the 16th and 17th centuries, only to fall into a progressive obsolescence. The most commonly used instrumental ensemble included two violins, alto and tenor viola da braccio, cello and basso continuo. Of this quintet, the instrument that undergoes a progressive dismissal is the viola tenore, which in this recording we propose in its original late seventeenth century mounting.

Three of the world’s greatest classical stars join forces to record Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. All alumni of the BBC Young Musician competition, they are great friends but this is the first time they have appeared on record together. They have a joint reach of over 1 million and are all touring regularly internationally. The first recording of the work on Decca Classics, Nicky, Sheku and Benjamin toured the concerto around the UK in 2023, after which they recorded it with the Philharmonia and their Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali. The works are accompanied by a selection of Beethoven’s rarely performed Folk Songs, along with celebrated baritone Gerald Finley. Reflecting the Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English roots of the musicians, the album concludes with the trio alone: Kreisler’s arrangement of ‘Londonderry Air’, often known as ‘Danny Boy’.