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.

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 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.

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.

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.

In the early 1670s, soon after Venetian opera became established in Naples, a series of comic figures began to inhabit secular but also sacred operas. These stock characters included the Neapolitan, the Calabrian and the Boy, and all three plus a fourth, ‘The Spaniard’, appear in a comic intermezzo inserted in the 1673 opera Il disperato innocente by the little-known Francesco Antonio Boero. This is the oldest surviving Neapolitan comic intermezzo, and, along with its Prologue, seems to have been written by other authors. This video preserves a historically informed performance given by Antonio Florio with Pino De Vittorio that explores the tradition of the intermezzo in 17th century plots.

Antonio Florio et son équipe de la Cappella de'Turchini nous ont habitués à de passionnantes découvertes dans le répertoire de leur ville de Naples, au passé musical si riche et pourtant délaissé par la plupart des musiciens.

A new Antonio Florio-directed recording from Glossa, once more focusing on a famous Italian singer from the Baroque era, again features the gorgeous vocal qualities of the modern-day Italian interpreter of such music, Roberta Invernizzi. This new and glorious succession of virtuoso arias captivated audiences in Roman theatres through the vocal chords of one eminent singer from 1718 onwards…

One of the causes of the ‘crisis’ in the music industry is the fact that too many works are recorded over and over again. There are innumerable CDs with Vivaldi’s Four Seasons or Pergolesi’s Stabat mater. But once in a while someone has the imagination to perform and record a completely unknown piece by a composer hardly anybody has ever heard about. Antonio Florio is one of those creative minds who concentrates on little-known repertoire. In the last decade or so he has explored the musical past of his city, Naples. This time he presents a composition by an Italian who, for the largest part of his life, worked in Vienna. Badia was born in Verona and went to Innsbruck at a young age.

Starting with the `Passione', this is a meditation on Christ's Passion consisting mainly of a `Dialogo' between the Virgin Mary (soprano Emanuela Galli) and St John (Giuseppe Naviglio, bass), with contributions from a pair of angels and others. The music is vivid and demonstrative, with lovely vocal passages and some wonderful duetting, all very finely sung. The lively accompaniment from period instruments is superb, and it's all directed with spirit and inspiration by Antonio Florio.