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After its successful premiere, Rossini’s opera “Armida” was quickly forgotten, only to be triumphantly revived by Maria Callas in 1952, and ever since it is considered a masterpiece. This performance with primarily Italian forces, has all the wit, charm, beauty and sparkle that any Rossini opera can wish for. Some big names here: Cecilia Gasdia, Chris Merritt,William Matteuzzi and Ferruccio Furlanetto. Great addition to the Brilliant Classics Opera Collection.

Armida is today considered one of Rossini’s greatest operas, but following its premier in Naples in 1817 it quickly faded from the standard operatic repertoire. Its plot of knightly duties, love and supernatural worlds (foreshadowing Weber in places) inspired the composer to write some of his most original and inimitable music, with unusual combinations of instruments and some beautiful extended solos for cello and violin.The love music is undeniably heartfelt and sincere; Rossini’s inspiration may have been assisted by his romantic involvement with the soprano Isabella Colbran, a major star of the time and the first to perform the title role.

Armida was revived in 1952 with Maria Callas in the lead role, and this began a trajectory that saw the work rise back to its rightful place in the repertoire. It is now considered one of Rossini’s masterpieces.

Rossini’s opera overtures have always enjoyed a life away from the opera house and in the concert hall. For sheer sparkle and excitement they have few rivals, and for many people who have not heard the operas they were intended for, they nonetheless have become firm favourites. Who does not know the famous tune in the William Tell overture?

Rossini’s operas dominated the European stage in the early 19th century, and won him many admirers among fellow composers. Franz Schubert was among those who came under the Italian’s spell, writing overtures in the Italian style, and Rossini’s influence can be detected in the Austrian’s earlier symphonies.

On this CD are the overtures to La Gazza Ladra, La Scala di Seta, Il Signor Bruschino, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Il Turco in Italia, L’Italiana in Algeri, Semiramide and Guillaume Tell.

World premiere recording, and a major addition to the classical guitar discography.

Full booklet notes and synopsis of the operatic plot.

Izhar Elias was born in Amsterdam in 1977, and has been praised for his ‘fantastic musicality, highly developed sense of style, elegance and allure’ jury of the International Tromp Music Competition, The Netherlands.

‘A musician of outstanding ability, whose whole approach to his art displays a maturity beyond his years’ Classical Guitar

Rossini’s opera seria Semiramide of 1822 is one of his most famous works, and like many other hits of the period was subject to various arrangements for piano, barrel organ, and in this case guitar. Many such arrangements were not sanctioned by the composer or publisher (there being no effective copyright laws at the time), but some were approved as in the case of the Giuliani arrangements now receiving their premiere recording on Brilliant Classics.

Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829) was possibly the greatest guitar virtuoso of the period. Born in Italy, he studied cello and counterpoint, but took up the guitar as his main instrument and became the first guitarist/composer to compose seriously for the instrument. He produced three concertos, typical of the late classical and early romantic period – highly virtuosic, and in style similar to concertos by Hummel and Moscheles. He moved among and became friends with some of the greatest musicians of the day. He played cello in the premiere of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in Vienna in 1813, and was friends with Beethoven, Hummel, Moscheles and Spohr. Later he became ‘virtuoso onorario di camera’ to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife. He left a large body of work running to 230 works. In a time before cinema, recordings and such like, the nearest the public could get to having a souvenir of a great night out at the opera were arrangements for domestic instruments of the big tunes. Giuliani’s arrangement of Semiramide wasn’t published until after his death, but is a Rolls Royce of adaptations, following the plot and orchestral dynamics closely, capturing the drama of the original.

Rossini wrote these six sonatas for strings – two violins, cello and double-bass – at the precocious age of twelve. He was scathing about them in later life, even after transcribing them for string quartet – a form in which they have retained popularity and a place in the record catalogue – but they reveal in more than embryonic form his talent for virtuosic writing and his infallible ear for a fine tune, no less than Mendelssohn’s string symphonies do at a similar age: both composers show a sophisticated fertility of invention beyond that of Mozart at the same age. Now these sonatas take on new colours, transcribed for flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon, and dispatched with élan by the wind principals of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

A collection of everyone’s favourite sacred choral music, including Mozart’s Ave verum corpus, Faure’s Cantique de Jean Racine and Franck’s Panis angelicus.

In addition to these famous works is music by Bruckner, Stanford, Grieg, Byrd, Mendelssohn, Lotti, Rachmaninoff, Elgar and Brahms. This is music to soothe the soul!

The programme on this new recording spans nearly 400 years, and brilliantly showcases the many colours and moods that the bassoon is ideally suited to creating. The music ranges from the early Baroque sonata of Böddecker, dating from 1651, through to Saint-Saëns’s witty, elegant late sonata (1921) and Hagen’s remarkable Harlem Nocturne from 1939, featuring the innovative and brilliant combination of Hammond organ, drums, guitar and bassoon! Gubaidulina’s Duo Sonata of 1977, Piazolla’s Café 1930 and Dubois’s Sonatine Tango of 1984 provide dazzling and contrasting 20th century flavours, as does the splendid Trio for flute, bassoon and piano by Chick Corea, which appeared on his 1970s album Inner Space. This album is an audio kaleidoscope of sound, colour and moods, a tribute to the bassoon’s versatility.

5 CD + CD ROM of booklet notes and sung texts

CD 1: Lamentation

CD 2: Henry Purcell

CD 3: Evensong & Vespers at King's - Vespers for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Evenson for Advent

CD 4: Sacred Choral Favourites

CD 5: Works by Rutter, Bernstein & Poulenc

Concertos by Danzi, Benda, Hoffmeister, CPE Bach, A Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Telemann & Mozart.

Probably one of the most extensive surveys of classical guitar on record, this 25 CD collection is a must for lovers of the instrument.

Starting with the lutenist composers of the 16th century such as Alessandro Piccinini, the collection then moves to the Barock period with music by J.S. Bach and his sons, plus the great Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas. This survey then takes us through the early Romantic period with the three grand concertos for guitar and orchestra of Giuliani, a friend of Beethoven and Hummel, and the great Fernando Sor who was known as ‘the Beethoven of the guitar’. Giuliani’s rarely heard fantasias on themes by Rossini, and sinfonias on Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Bellini’s Il Pirata are also to be found here as well as his remarkable paraphrase of Rossini’s Semiramide which takes up CDs 16 and 17!

The world of transcriptions is also covered with examples of Chopin and Mendelssohn’s music for the guitar.

The 20th century CDs are dominated by the great Segovia whose influence on composers for the instrument cannot be underestimated. The most famous modern work, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez of 1939 as well as music by his brother Eduardo is to be found on CD19. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s famous concertos and the concerto of Ponce The present day is represented by Angelo Gilardino, Maximo Diego Pujol, and Leo Brouwer.