In the bicentenary of Donizetti's birth, Musikstrasse pays homage to the musician from Bergamo with a CD including the instrumental compositions by the author, whose faim is mainly due to operas. Thanks to the delicate, elegant performance of the chamber group Polimnia Ensemble, the recording allows to enjoy chamber pieces ranging from the Clarinet Study to the Oboe and Piano Sonata and the first issue of the Wind Quartet XVII°, that stands in witness of the so-called "Ottocento strumentale italiano" (the Italian Instrumental Tradition of the nineteenth century ), that is to say, of the existence of a musical tradition generally overshadowed by the fame of operas and that is finally being given adequate importance.

This cd includes four hands piano works by Gaetano Donizetti. The composers' piano music show evidence of a dovetailing of musical entertainment with piano virtuosity.

Recorded during the live TV concert show of summer 1991, when the famous eight sopranos performed together in the enchanting scenery of Venice's St. Mark's Square. A spectacular and unique event witnessed by this historical CD. Daniela Dessì, Mariella Devia,Cecilia Gasdia, Raina Kabaivanska, Katia Ricciarelli, Luciana Serra, Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Renata Scotto. Orchestra of the Theatre La Fenice di Venezia, director Daniel Oren.

This CDs is a tribute to the legendary Russian pianist and his magic touch and contain invaluable first issues that stand in witness of Sofrinitzskij?s talent, only aknowledged after his death (Moscow, 1961). We are confronted to an artist who makes us still appreciate his peculiar way of playng the piano, making it almost sing, and his quick-phrased style, especially detectable in the pieces where he plays his favourite Chopin and Skriabin, who was his father-in-law. Top-quality remastering makes it possible to enjoy such unforgettable recordings dating back to 1959 in Moscow.

The "Cameristi di Roma" (Rome's Chamber Orchestra) here by pay a tribute to cinema, playing the most famous tune from motion pictures with a wind orchestra. This disc stands out as an invaluable document which proposes a new and original version great melodies by Morricone, Rota, Trovajoli, Piccioni, Piovani, Ortolani, Umiliani and other famous italian composers. Besides a short tribute to Gershwin, the cd includes Suite and Fantasies dedicated to movies by Totò, Alberto Sordi, Fellini-Rota and Leone-Morricone.

Six Piano Quintet op. 56 belong to the period of Boccherini's intense creativity. Each piece was conceived to stand apart from the others , in terms of overall sound, rhythmic progression and harmonic arrangement, but also because the construction of their internal form is based on something unforseeable, on an elemnt of surprise or on a wilful teasing the imagination. The work are performed by Piero Barbareschi (piano) and by Elisa Quartet.

The songs on this record cover an entire century of Neapolitan melodies and two important historical periods in its evolution. The first, in the nineteenth century, saw the coming together of the folk tradition and the tipically melodramatic style of singing. This is the period in which composers such as Mercadante, Donizetti and Rossini all make use of Neapolitan style and forms. Another section of the Cd is dedicated to the repertoire drawn from the period between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. This was a golden age in the production of Neapolitan music. These are the years of Salvatore Di Giacomo and Francesco Paolo Tosti, two great scholars and interpreters of Neapolitan culture.

Performed by the young violinist Vincenzo Bolognese, this CD includes all famous transcriptions by Jascha Heifetz, one of the most renowned violinists in the history of music. A collection of well-known themes by various composers, from Mozart to Prokofiev, from Chopin to Godowsky, already recorded by Heifetz himself and by the greatest performers. An important album therefore, for the young Vincenzo Bolognese and also a recording full of interest in its own right.

Performed by the young violinist Vincenzo Bolognese, this CD includes all famous transcriptions by Jascha Heifetz, one of the most renowned violinists in the history of music. A collection of well-known themes by various composers, from Mozart to Prokofiev, from Chopin to Godowsky, already recorded by Heifetz himself and by the greatest performers. An important album therefore, for the young Vincenzo Bolognese and also a recording full of interest in its own right.

This CD dedicated to Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) is a must-have for the connoisseurs of eighteenth century music. A delicate, intense and charming performance by the wind ensemble Interpreti Veneziani (the Venetian Performers) which climaxes in the Violin Concertos, where an "Amati" is played, dating back to 1740, that belonged to Tartini and is currently kept in the house where the Venetian composer was born, in Pirano (Republic of Slovenia).

In this cd, guitarist Arturo Tallini and jazz singer Ada Montellanico perform songs by spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Tallini, in his trascription, stroves to add colours and images, altough, retaining their harmonic fabric which is the most significant relationship that Lorca had with the folk tradition.

Faith and spirituality in great musicians work. Music by Schubert, Rossini, Tchajkovskij, Schumann, Puccini and many more. The three cds in the series "Ave Maria" were distributed by the newspaper "L'unità".

This is a didactic cd including some compositions of Luigi Boccherini as instrumental bases that on one hand can contribute to the formation or extension of a chamber music repertoire and on the other hand create a stimulus to play real ensemble music. The pieces were recorded without the guitar. This was added later in order to show that gratifying results can be obtained by playing over a pre-recorded base. This CD is very easy to use: you need to tune your guitar to an A at 440 hz using a diapason.

collection of George Gershwin's piano works. Helped by his sense of rhythm and his virtuoso hand, Maestro Massimiliano Damerini follows the american musicianÕs complex and ever-changing path, performing pages in a perfect balance between jazz, popular music and serious music: a witness of a versatile talent.

Another outstanding Italian pianist, Antonio Bacchelli prematurely died in 1986; in this double CD, he faces Igor Stravinsky's piano complete work. Musikstrasse reissues this beautiful collection, recorded by Maestro Bacchelli back in 1980 at the Auditorium of Radio Montebeni, that has been universally praised since then.

The piano works included in this CD show Carl Maria von Weber's talent as a virtuoso and communicative musician. Although this author has long remained unknown to the general public and was often excluded from the repertoire of the most famous pianists, its production is interesting because it contains the seeds of a number of important elements which the great Romantics are certainly indebted to. Carl Maria von Weber's works are performed by the Sicilian pianist Stefania Cafaro.

A collection unmatched up to now, featuring the unusual proposal of three guitars. A most diverse repertoire ranging from classical to popular, including even contemporary compositions by one of the three performers and a clever transcription of Mozart's Fantasia by Luciano Chailly, who has dedicated it to the Trio Chitarristico di Roma (the Rome Guitar Trio), Fabio D'Ettorre, Fernando Lepri and Arturo Tallini. .