Frescobaldi: Toccata

Mara Galassi is active as a soloist (on a variety of instruments, from the Gothic harp, to Renaissance harps with brays to double and triple row instruments) and has worked with many of the best ensembles in the European early music field.

As musicologist Mara Galassi has carried out extensive research in the field of historical harps: Her first solo recording on Glossa was 'Il viaggio di Lucrezia', a historical fantasy based on the travels of harpist Lucretia Urbana between 1584 and 1615 and featuring the music from Galassi’s beloved Italian 17th century with composers active in Italy at the time and played on an arpa doppia.

Claudio Monteverdi and Girolamo Frescobaldi were two of the most influential musical figures in 17th-century Italy; while the former's boundary-pushing madrigals, operas and sacred works changed the course of Baroque vocal music irrevocably, the latter was one of the first – and most prominent – composers to devote serious attention to composing for the keyboard.

This new recording celebrates the influence that these two composers continue to exert over performers and audiences today -- and the fascination that their music inspires -- through a selection of motets and instrumental pieces, performed with precision and authority by Il Pegaso and Maurizio Croci. Of particular interest are a handful of new discoveries: three Marian antiphons by Monteverdi, preserved in a music print held at the Biblioteka Uniwersytecka in Wroclaw, Poland, and pieces drawn from a recently-unearthed notebook of Frescobaldi's, including early stages of extant works.

With the addition of several better known compositions, this intriguing collection illuminates some less familiar aspects of both composers' oeuvres, and places recent musicological discoveries within reach of listeners. In their debut recording, the new ensemble Il Pegaso, led by Maurizio Croci, deliver performances invested with passion and expertise.

Other information:

- A rare and exciting opportunity to hear recently-discovered pieces by Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, performed by experts in 17th-century Italian music.

- The debut recording by new ensemble Il Pegaso.

- Recorded in February 2012.

In the far corner of every concert stage, there is an area reserved for the back row of the orchestra. This zone – between the timpani and the double basses – is home to the low-brass section, comprised normally of two tenor trombones, a bass trombone and tuba. Although integral to the symphony orchestra, the low-brass section is seldom featured, and this recording is an opportunity for the listener to discover the special sounds and characteristics of this group. This album consists primarily of chamber music, some of which was composed specifically for this instrumental combination. Also featured are innovative arrangements of piano and non-brass chamber music, and short excerpts from the orchestral repertoire. This is the music the PSO members perform on a weekly basis, and which forms the foundation of their approach to sound and ensemble.