Egil Hovland - Fange Og Fri (Opera) - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Biagio Marini (Brescia, 1594 - Venice, 1663) now is remembered not only as one of the most famous violin virtuosos of his time and an innovator of instrumental music, but also as a masterly composer of vocal pieces, both sacred and profane. The Concertos op. 7 reveal the composer's mastery. Adopting some traditional forms of the profane music of the Renaissance, such as the canto a ballo and the romanesca, and using ritornellos and refrains interspersed with different formal systematisations (nos. 1 and 5), Marini created complex, dynamic pieces, achieving a splendid synthesis of all the composition elements. These stylistic features that were typical of Marini's work arose and developed on the basis of his everyday musical life, in which he was active not only as a composer, but also as an instrumentalist and singer. The Costanzo Porta ensemble from Cremona, directed by Antonio Greco supported by the instrumental ensemble Cremona Antiqua, performs here for the first time this previously unknown collection of madrigals including texts, by famous poets of the time, inspired by themes and subjects from the pastoral poetry from the early seventeenth century. These are superbly put on music using InchmadrigalismsInch that, a part for the voices, are extended to the accompanying instruments.

Wolf-Ferrari I Quattro Rusteghi - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's comic opera I Quattro Rusteghi is very clever and very Italian colorful, lively and rhythmic. The women are impertinent, cunning and seductive; the men are awful, dirty and mean. The confrontation between them is at the center of the plot and of course this clash is explosive. The European Opera Centre chooses it's repertoire with care to ensure it is suitable for young singers. This recording with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko features some of the best young singers from across Europe - with an average age below thirty - joined by one highly experienced singer - Mihnea Lamatic from the Romanian National Opera.

Aage Haugland - Boris Godunov [COMPACT DISCS] date 03/11/1993