Pescetti / Bottini - Giovanni Battista Pescetti: Complete Keyboard Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

A composer who led a dissolute life and ended up stabbed to death in Genoa, Stradella nevertheless left a distinctive stamp on the history of music. He is situated at the intersection of several stylistic paths and periods, at the crossroads between opera and sacred drama, since his output, and especially San Giovanni Battista (St John the Baptist), marks the encounter of the great Roman oratorio inherited from Carissimi with the Venetian opera of Cavalli. Stradella is also close to the next generation, that of Scarlatti and Handel. His music is characterized by liveliness, expressiveness and profound humanity. Although San Giovanni Battista enjoyed genuine success when it was premiered in 1675, it was only in 1949 that the work was exhumed from the libraries where it's score lay slumbering. That event took place in Perugia, and the role of Salome was sung by Maria Callas.

Aurelio Bonelli's life is shrouded in mystery and today little remains of his creative output. The set features works from the collection Il primo libro de ricercari et canzoni a quattro voci of which only two copies remain. An artist by day it's thought he learnt painting from Agostino Carracci, a key figure of the Bologna School. They worked together on the frescos of Bologna's Olivetan monastery of San Michele in Bosco and in approximately 1611 Bonelli was appointed monastery organist. The set opens with eight four-part Ricercari. This gives a fascinating insight into how the Italian ricercar evolved from simply a vessel for compositional experimentation with few formal structures, to a defined style governed by rules, eventually making it the keyboard equivalent of the liturgical vocal motet. Bonelli's ricercari can be placed in the middle of this transition period. Ricercar del Secondo Tuono and Ricercar del Quinto Tuono for example have identifiable forms but irregularities occur with the introduction of new stylistic and formal elements at the end of the second section which contradict received ideas about the tripartite form. Classical themes are reflected in the eight four-part canzoni where names are drawn from mythology and epics 'Licori', 'Arete', 'Urania', 'Istrina', 'Nisa', 'Irene', 'Artemisia' and 'Erina'. Again, we hear the conflict between experimentation and modern rules, and the pieces all feature four or five different themes and regularly change metres. This gives the impression there are as many as four or five different parts while only 'Urania' strictly follows the ternary structure. Federico Del Sordo plays the organ of the Abbey of San Magno. Dating from the 1600s, it is the oldest organ with surviving double pedals, allowing works written for two organs to be performed. The artist also plays a harpsichord strung with iron wire rather than b

Myron Silberstein's career as a concert pianist, accompanist, teacher, and composer has spanned nearly twenty years. First coming to prominence in 1991 upon winning the Giornate Musicali International Piano Competition in Sperlonga, Italy, Mr. Silberstein's full-length European debut followed in 1992. His 1993 recital at Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall attracted the attention of Connoisseur Society Records, for which he recorded works by Franck, Bloch, and Giannini in 1994. This recording was named to Fanfare Magazine's InchWant ListInch of 1996 and was cited by critic Peter J. Rabinowitz as the best debut recording of the year. On his new , Myron Silberstein has chosen to record the works of one of the most important composers of the twentieth century- Vincent Persichetti.