Reinaldo Hahn

Born in Genoa in 1819, Carlo Andrea Gambini began his career as a piano teacher to local aristocracy thanks to his familys privileged connections. Showing equal energy and invention in both words and music, however, he soon pursued parallel activities as a composer and a critic. He was friends with both Rossini and Mercadante but held Verdis music in little esteem. His own music looks to the north of the Alps for its inspiration: to Chopin and Schumann, Thalberg and Liszt. Though he engaged in operatic composition writing a Christopher Columbus drama, for example Gambini focused his compositional energies on piano music and vocal chamber works such as the Romanzas recorded for the first time on this album.

First recordings of songs and scenas by a neglected Romantic-era Italian composer.
Born in Genoa in 1819, Carlo Andrea Gambini began his career as a piano teacher to local aristocracy thanks to his family’s privileged connections. Showing equal energy and invention in both words and music, however, he soon pursued parallel activities as a composer and a critic. He was friends with both Rossini and Mercadante but held Verdi’s music in little esteem.