Thanks to this tenth recording by Accademia Bizantina in the central core of the Vivaldi Edition, Il Tamerlano can now take its justly earned place in the Vivaldi catalogue, helping to renew the name and reputation of Timur, the Tartar emperor whose memory was later overshadowed by the Ottoman sultan. Vivaldi's opera was first performed during the Venice Carnival of 1735, and resurrected in 2005 under the title Bajazet. Here, under the musical direction of Ottavio Dantone, we have a sextet of dramatically engaged virtuoso soloists, and an orchestra that is perfectly aware of Vivaldi's musical dialectic. All the soloists are superbly well equipped to deal with the Red Priest's acrobatic and inventive writing here seen in the context of several of his contemporaries.

This live recording brings a new and fresh light on Rossini's most famous works after Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The concert took place in Paris - Basilique de Saint-Denis, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the work, first performed in March 1864, in Paris. The amazing quality of the solo voices (Julia Lezhneva, Delphine Galou, Michael Spyres, Alexander Vinogradov) meets the dynamic and delicate direction of Ottavio Dantone and is supported by the unique atmosphere of accentus chamber choir.

Ottavio Dantone leads Accademia Bizantina and a top-level cast in the new production of one of Händel's most important works, the composer's operatic debut in the UK and the first Italian opera ever written for London: Rinaldo.
The plots, magic and charm of 18th century theatre come alive today, bringing us back to the fervour of the London of the time. A real gateway to the golden age of Baroque theatre, with attention to the rules and conventions that underpin the drama for music.

In 2019 the music world commemorated the 350th anniversary of the death of MarcAntonio Cesti, the greatest composer of opera comedies and the most gifted melodist of the seventeenth century. Since Cesti lived and worked in Innsbruck for many years, La Dori, his brilliant comedy of disguises and hidden identities, was the perfect choice for posthumous honors »on location.« Ottavio Dantone, who is active from the Milan Scala to the Salzburg Festival with his specialists support in the field of Baroque and Classical opera, conducted his exquisite original sound ensemble, the Accademia Bizantina on the Innsbruck opera stage and set in motion the Dori renaissance. This comedy of loves errors set by the banks of the Euphrates and at the court of Babylon is now available for audio enjoyment on cpo.

In 2019 the music world commemorated the 350th anniversary of the death of MarcAntonio Cesti, the greatest composer of opera comedies and the most gifted melodist of the seventeenth century. Since Cesti lived and worked in Innsbruck for many years, La Dori, his brilliant comedy of disguises and hidden identities, was the perfect choice for posthumous honors »on location.« Ottavio Dantone, who is active from the Milan Scala to the Salzburg Festival with his specialists support in the field of Baroque and Classical opera, conducted his exquisite original sound ensemble, the Accademia Bizantina on the Innsbruck opera stage and set in motion the Dori renaissance. This comedy of loves errors set by the banks of the Euphrates and at the court of Babylon is now available for audio enjoyment on cpo.

Senesino, the voice that inspired Handel's greatest operas showpiece arias by Handel, Lotti, Albinoni, Porpora and Scarlatti. One of the truly outstanding voices of today, star countertenor Andreas Scholl celebrates one of the 18th Century's greatest vocal superstars, the remarkable male alto known as Senesino. Senesino's place in history was secured by his extraordinary association with Handel, who after travelling to Dresden to hear him, brought him to London to join his Italian Opera Company, where he was greatly celebrated by the public, and much admired by the ladies.

This sixty-second volume of the epic Vivaldi Edition is also the seventh volume of the flamboyant Red Priests violin concertos. Here we see the ageing composer more full of life than ever, adapting to the demands of the galant style in vogue since 1725, while losing nothing of his verve and imagination. These are the sole surviving concertos of the fifteen that, during his fateful last year in Viennese exile, Vivaldi sold for a pitifully small sum to Count Vinciguerra Tommaso Collalto, a Venetian nobleman then residing in his castle at Brtnice, Moravia (the castello of this volumes title). With solo writing of extreme refinement, these works fully exploit the whole range of violinistic expression and phrasing, displaying a wealth of ornamentation and a lavishly inventive sense of lyrical cantabile virtuosity.

This disc is a sampler of Vivaldi discs released by France's Naïve label, and it's highly recommended to listeners who haven't yet given these recordings a try. The group of performers is pan-European, with French singers and Italian instrumentalists especially strongly represented, but a compilation like this brings home how well this label has done at forging a unified artistic vision. Its Vivaldi indeed tends toward "furious," as the title proclaims; it is also garish, energetic, dynamically extreme, and in every way devoted to making Vivaldi out as a rebel in his time.

This box set gathers the finest vocal recordings (opera, sacred music) from the Vivaldi Edition by some of the most reputed artists of today. Also it features the main vocal ranges: soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto, tenor, bass.

Harmonia Mundi's release features four secular cantatas and a trio sonata Handel wrote during his sojourn in Italy during his early twenties. The cantatas range from the mini-opera Il duello amoroso or Amarilli vezzosa, which depicts a shepherd's vain courting of a resisting nymph, to solo works in which a narrator describes similar pastoral stories, most of which also end in rejection. In Il duello amoroso, soprano Hélène Guilmette joins countertenor Andreas Scholl, and their charming banter leaves the listener saddened that the shepherd's suit was so dismally unsuccessful.

A Naïve boxed set that gathers the finest sacred works composed by Antonio Vivaldi and performed by some of the most recognized artists in this wonderful repertoire, including Sandrine Piau, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Philippe Jaroussky, Sara Mingardo, and Rinaldo Alessandrini.

Since 2001, beginning with Juditha Triumphans, eight operas by Vivaldi have been released in the Vivaldi Edition, each one an event, either the first complete recording (or the first recording!) by first-rate conductors, soloists and orchestras specializing in Baroque. Acclaimed by the press (numerous awards), and by the public (more than 150,000 copies sold since 2001), these recordings have succeeded at last in rehabilitating Antonio Vivaldi, known always for his brilliant concertos, as one of the greatest operatic composers of all time.

For the festivities marking the Pergolesi’s tercentenary in his native Jesi, Ignacio García created a new staging of the imperial drama Adriano in Siria. His staging in Jesi’s exquisite 18th-century Teatro Comunale Pergolesi includes the delightful comic intermezzo Livietta e Tracollo, thus following the precedent set at the premiere in 1734. A fine Italian cast and the distinguished Accademia Bizantina are led by the Accademia’s director, Ottavio Dantone.

Countertenor Andreas Scholl's new CD is devoted to little-known, late-17th- and early-18th-century cantatas whose subject matter is Arcadia, a real region in Greece, but more frequently evoked as an idyllic place filled with innocent, simple shepherds and shepherdesses. Scholl employs a more operatic tone and attitude than we're accustomed to from countertenors. Not only does he use vibrato and "lean" on the voice, but he dips down, as in the final moments of a cantata by Marcello, into a deep, dark baritone range. The effect is dramatic and apt. Elsewhere his tone is just gorgeous and always expressive, he pays attention to the text of these works and captures the theatrical moment in each. The last movement of a work by Francesco Gasparini is excitingly acrobatic. The Accademia Byzantina is a remarkable "backup" group and they get to play some purely orchestral works as well. This disc is a knockout; enjoy it.

–Robert Levine