During Albinoni’s lifetime (1671-1751) four separate collections of sonatas with violin were published under his name, though only the Trattenimenti armonici Op.6 were prepared by their composer. The works in Op.6 have accordingly dominated the record catalogues and obscured the virtues of the others, which Federico Guglielmo presents here with his customary flair and feeling for the Italian Baroque which has previously yielded the much-praised Brilliant Classics collection of Vivaldi’s Opp 1-12 (95200) as well as the Op.1 Trio Sonatas (94789) by Albinoni himself.

This recording of La Daunia Felice ideally concludes a project of study and research that began in 1997 with the Study Seminar organised on the occasion of the bicentenary of the wedding of the heirs to the throne of Naples. In 2002 the Umberto Giordano Conservatory and the Foggia City Authorities promoted the first modern-day scenic performance in the restored Teatro Giordano. Paisiello’s La Daunia Felice was staged in Foggia on 25th June 1797 for the wedding of Prince Francesco, heir apparent to the throne of Naples, to the Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria.

Born in 1681, Georg Philip Telemann would inevitably suffer from comparisons with one of the towering figures of western Classical music, born just four years later: Johann Sebastian Bach. Although after his death Telemann may have been constantly cast into the Leipzig composers shadow, during his lifetime he was exalted as Bachs equal and was considered one of the greatest German composers of the early 18th century. Certainly, the size of his output compares very favourably with Bachs; Telemann was also a highly productive composer, writing over 3,000 works during his lifetime (although not all have survived). Despite his popularity falling away in the 19th century, today Telemann is almost as highly regarded as he was in his own lifetime ¬ the large number of new recordings on this edition pays tribute to the flurry of interest that has grown around the composer Telemann over the past 30 years.

Among various instrumental works composed by Vivaldi, there are twenty-seven trio sonatas, most of them written for two violins - either with or without continuo. Twelve of these sonatas were published in 1705 by the Venetian music publisher, Giuseppe Sala in a collection entitled Suonate da Camera a Tre, due Violini, e Violone o Cembalo. This Opus 1 collection contains the earliest known sonatas by Vivaldi. As indicated on the title-page of the collection, they could be played by two violins and violoncello (originally a violone) or by two violins and harpsichord.

The so-called "Anna Maria Partbook" consists of an elegantly bound volume in red leather containing the violin parts of 31 violin concertos, of which 26 are by Antonio Vivaldi. It was the personal repertoire of Vivaldi's most gifted pupil, the famous "Anna Maria della Pieta", who played also the viola d'amore, the mandolin, the theorbo, and the harpsichord. Anna Maria's partbook represents an extraordinary collection of violin concerts of high virtuosity. 20 of the 26 Vivaldi concerts are also known from other manuscript sources. The remaining 6 are known only from the source of Anna Maria, and therefore incomplete: they are divided into 3 concerts for violin and 3 concerts for violin and organ, a pair of instruments widely used by Vivaldi and the Pieta.

Federico Guglielmo and his historical instruments ensemble Larte dellarco turn to sinfonias and sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti and to the same composers short intermezzo farce La Dirindina. The intermezzo was a type of entracte music inserted as comic relief between the acts of court dramas and operas during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This particular farsetta involves the personal relations between a budding opera diva and her teacher; she is vain and reluctant to practice, and he is extremely jealous of her lover.

A beautifully-packaged 50-disc box set, released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, one of the most important and adventurous early music labels. The set contains 50 classic recordings of baroque and ancient music, chosen to represent the breadth of this huge and varied catalogue and each disc is slip-cased with artwork replicating the original CD or LP artwork.

A beautifully-packaged 50-disc box set, released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, one of the most important and adventurous early music labels. The set contains 50 classic recordings of baroque and ancient music, chosen to represent the breadth of this huge and varied catalogue and each disc is slip-cased with artwork replicating the original CD or LP artwork.

To publish this complete edition of Giuseppe Tartini’s Violin Concertos is not only a source of pride for a record label like Dynamic, which in its 36 years of activity has built a considerable catalogue of violin music. This edition is an artistic and historical document of indisputable musicological importance for anyone wishing to have a philologically reliable testimony of this aspect of 18th-century Italian instrumental music, valuable, therefore, for more than the mere dimension of listening.

Antonio Vivaldi’s fame as an opera composer is due in now small part to his incredible industry. He composed around 50 operas, and of these around 16 have survived complete – several substantial fragments of others have also survived. It is for his instrumental music that he remains one of the major baroque composers – on a par with Handel and J.S. Bach, however, in the world of opera at the time, only one other composer rivalled Vivaldi in the use of orchestral colour and the way in which the human voice was blended with the accompaniment. The writing for voice generally is on a very high level. The rival was of course Handel, and Vivaldi also was a considerable impressario as was his German/British colleague.