Zanzu

Following the success of his solo recordings, Paolo Zanzu returns at the head of his ensemble Le Stagioni with ‘Officina Romana’, featuring the countertenor Carlo Vistoli. In the early eighteenth century, Rome was one of the great music capitals of Europe. In the space of a few years, Corelli, Handel, Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Caldara, Cesarini and many others crossed paths there, surrounded by painters, sculptors, poets and philosophers who were among the great names of the age. The fruit of long reflection and research, ‘Officina Romana’ crystallises this unique moment in the history of music by recreating an idealised musical evening, a conversazione, a sort of liberal meeting of lofty minds in the palace of a Roman cardinal, with a programme mingling vocal and instrumental music in both orchestral and chamber formation.

After the success ofOfficina Romana(awarded 5 Diapasons, 5 stars inMusica, and selected amongst the best albums inLe Mondein 2021), Le Stagioni, under the direction of Paolo Zanzu, invites the listeneron a journey through 17th-century Venice in the company of outstanding singers:Emmanuelle de Negri, Blandine Staskiewicz, Paul-Antoine Benos-Djian, Zachary Wilder and Salvo Vitale.From 1637 to 1645, between the opening of the firstpublicopera houses and the start ofthe Cretan War, Venicewitnessed a musical blossoming of international significance.

After the success of Officina Romana (awarded 5 Diapasons, 5 stars in Musica , and selected amongst the best albums in Le Monde in 2021), Le Stagioni, under the direction of Paolo Zanzu, invites the listener on a journey through 17th-century Venice in the company of outstanding singers: Emmanuelle de Negri, Blandine Staskiewicz, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Zachary Wilder and Salvo Vitale. From 1637 to 1645, between the opening of the first public opera houses and the start of the Cretan War, Venice witnessed a musical blossoming of international significance. Numerous operas were premiered on Venetian stages, with travellers from all over Europe in attendance. Alongside famous extracts of L'incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria , Un secolo cantante allows us to hear little-known works by Cavalli, Sacrati and Strozzi, as well as previously unrecorded, forgotten pieces, making use of sources from the period and the most recent scholarship to offer a fresh listening experience of this fascinating music.

Marin Marais (1656–1728) besides being Louis XIV’s court musician, was a prolific composer. He composed both operas, certain of which were very successful, instrumental music and some (lost) religious vocal music. As a viol player he published five books which include some of the most interesting and beautiful music for the viol. These five books also are chock full of performance instructions both for the left hand as well as the bow hand. They are a gold mine for viol players and are as relevant to teaching a musician good technique on the viol nowadays as they were when originally printed in the late seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century.