During the early 1990s Antonio Florio (together with Dinko Fabris) was making substantial discoveries in the field of Baroque repertory from Naples for performance and recording, and now that Florio and I Turchini are making new recordings for Glossa (Caresana’s Tenebrae and L’Adoratione de’ Maggi), we are delighted to be bringing back into circulation some of those earlier ground-breaking recordings, signed by Roberto Meo and Sigrid Lee, focusing here – with Il Canto della Sirena – on Neapolitan chamber cantatas from the 17th and early 18th centuries.

Ce Vinci-là est un maître de l'opera buffa napolitain et, pour le Carnaval de 1722, excelle à emmener ces «Fiancés en galère» sur les flots de la pétulance dialectale et macaronique la plus débridée. Musique de lumière et de bonne humeur, nouvelle réussite de la série «Tesori di Napoli» que mène Antonio Florio, avec la verve irrésistible de toute son équipe chantante et violinante.

The indefatigable Antonio Florio, along with his associates from Cappella Neapolitana, has succeeded, with a work by Donato Ricchezza, in unearthing another major rediscovery from the Neapolitan Baroque. The labours of Florio – coupled with the ability to turn dry notes on a dusty manuscript into a sumptuous audio feast – can be no better demonstrated than with this release on Glossa of Los Santos Niños: “Oratorio di San Giusto e San Pastore”, written by a composer who was a pupil of the great Francesco Provenzale.

Très jeune, Giovanni Paisiello connut un grand succès, aussi bien en Italie qu'à l'étranger. Il est surtout réputé pour son Barbier de Séville (1782) d'après Beaumarchais, déjà, qui influença bien évidemment Rossini et aussi Mozart pour ses Noces de Figaro. Ludwig van Beethoven lui-même utilisera une aria La Molinara "Nel cor piu non mi sento" pour composer une de ses oeuvres. Un autre opéra, créé en 1789, connut un renouveau récent grâce à la superbe interprétation du rôle-titre par Cecilia Bartoli : Nina, ossia la Pazza per Amore.

WORLD PREMIERE in modern times of an unknown comic opera which was recently rediscovered along with other three other Leo operas at the Abbey of Montecassino. L Alidoro (Golden Wings) is a lost-and-found story which explores the themes of love and jealousy from different perspectives in particular age and social status interweaving comedy with more serious reflections. Director Arturo Cirillo explains how in this opera, nothing is happening except a subtle and gorgeous relational game among the seven protagonists.

Even in these circumspect times‚ the ambitious ‘Tesori di Napoli’ series continues unearthing works whose merit is one thing‚ but whose significance for future generations is a fascinating sideshow. Niccolò Jommelli‚ if not exactly a household name‚ was an established Neopolitan mid18th century ‘master’ whose reputation was founded on operatic successes in several major centres – enough to secure him a fine eulogy from Dr Burney in 1770. For the uninitiated (and knowing only the odd cantata and vespers settings‚ I count myself such)‚ the fluid tonal progression of the recitatives in Jommelli’s comic ‘intermezzo’‚ Don Trastullo‚ has da PonteMozart resonating with illuminating prescience.

For more than two centuries Naples was a province of Spain, and after this ended in 1707 the remarkable cross-fertilisation of culture between them did not stop. Much of the Italian music featured here has been edited from sources in Spanish collections. The vast bulk of it is devoted to Leonardo Vinci (one of the most celebrated Italian opera composers of the 1720s). Only one short piece tacked onto the end is actually Spanish: a colourful fandango from José de Nebra's zarzuela Vendado es amor,no es ciego (1744) in which three singers mockingly compare the squabbling goddesses of classical antiquity to bickering mothers-in-law.

The Montecassino Monastery recently hosted the score of this comic opera by Leonardo Leo, one of the leading Neapolitan composers of the 18th century, who introduced new stylistic elements to the genre. Cirillo shows in a very exciting way in his direction how nothing actually happens in this opera - apart from a very subtle play of the relationships between the seven protagonists. As with Marivaux, this is about the social differences when the middle class turns to the servants and vice versa, and as in a Feydeauschen comedy, they wander on stage (and leave again) to spy, to portray themselves, or to court someone until everyone is eaten away by doubt.

With I Viaggi di Faustina Glossa is launching a new collection focusing on famous Italian singers from the 17th and 18th centuries, whose travels bear witness to the intense level of artistic activity then taking place in the major cities of Europe. Faustina Bordoni, the brilliant diva with whom we begin this series pursued her career mainly in Naples (the principal focus of this CD) and Venice, but also in cities such as Bologna, Parma, Dresden and London. These were cities hosting – with great success – operas by Johann Adolph Hasse (Bordoni’s husband), Nicola Popora, Leonardo Vinci, Francesco Mancini and Domenico Sarro; most of these composers are represented on this first selection of wonderful arias.

The priest Giuseppe Cavallo was Maestro di Canto of the Conservatorio de Santa Maria de Loreto from 1672 until his death in 1684. Otherwise, virtually nothing is known about the composer, and it is only due to the musical archive of the Oratorio di Napoli, a treasure trove of rare scores, that a handful of Cavallo's works survive, including Il Giudizio Universale. This sacred oratorio presents Christ and Saint Michael, a pair of angels, two mortals, and four souls–two damned, two blessed–and begins with Christ commanding the angels to bring on the Last Judgment. What follows is a finely crafted musical drama, except for the confusion caused when the otherwise immaculately presented album fails to reveal which of the seven singers (two sopranos, three tenors, and one bass) is singing which parts.

Everything is done with affection and great character as well as technical finesse. Such music demands innate timing, and these musicians, under Antonio Florio's direction, have it.

For approaching a remarkable quarter of a century Antonio Florio and his colleagues at the Centro di Musica Antica Pietà de’ Turchini in Naples have been successfully breathing new life into the forgotten repertory of the Neapolitan Baroque. Now Florio has made an agreement with Glossa for the San Lorenzo de El Escorial-based label to issue the recordings of the ensemble of singers and instrumentalists, now renamed as simply I Turchini.

World premiere recording featuring a superb performance presented by Antonio Florio and a cast of true Baroque specialists. This opera waited almost three centuries before its rediscovery by Antonio Florio and the Turchini orchestra. Founded in 1987 by Antonio Florio, the ensemble I Turchini consists of instrumentalists and singers living and working in Naples who specialize in the performance of Neapolitan music from the 17th and 18th centuries and in the rediscovery of music by highly-gifted composers who are now largely unknown.

Gaetano Latilla (1711-88) is pretty much a footnote, but after its premiere in 1738, this opera, La finta cameriera, was performed at one time or another throughout Europe for the next 20 years. It consists of 44 arias and acres of recitative (indeed, the Parisians objected to all the chatter in 1752). I normally hate these 18th century “intermezzo” operas about people disguised as either the lower classes or their own brothers, particularly because in between the acres of recitative there usually are simple-to-sing, “flavorful” arias. This work, however, is different: many of the arias are very showy and difficult, and require true virtuoso singing.

In this very appealing perfomance, Roberta Ivernizzi is in lovely form as Statira, shaping her music with with expressive detail and Dionisia di Vico brings a clarion mezzo with pungent low notes to Cloridaspe's music…Antonio Florio leads the able period-instrument ensemble Capella de'Turchini with style and verve.