Leila Schayegh / Musica Fiorita / Daniela Dolci VIVALDI The Four Seasons

                                                           THE FOUR SEASONS

Musica Fiorita / Daniela Dolci JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Weihnachtsoratorium

After Handels’s Messiah and the Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, Daniela Dolci and Musica Fiorita present on Pan Classics their version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Based in Basel, Dolci has easy access to many of the best vocal soloists around, and this recording has been no exception: the role of the Evangelist is sung by Hans Jörg Mammel, and the other main roles are defended by Gunta Smirnova, Flavio Ferri-Benedetti and Raitis Grigalis. With such a setup, the question of “why a new recording of the Christmas Oratorio” is needed is easily answered. For more than 25 years the ensemble Musica Fiorita, conducted by Daniela Dolci, has been specializing in the performance of late Renaissance and Baroque music. The ensemble strives to promote the current standards of historically informed performance practice and is committed to being true to both the original scores and the liveliness of their performance. The varied use of period instruments as well as the presence of a substantial continuo group add to the flourishing of the finer nuances of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Musica Fiorita / Daniela Dolci JOHANN MELCHIOR GLETLE Motetten op. 5

The Swiss Baroque composer Johann Melchior Gletle's motets are among the most notable music to survive from that era. Although Gletle's musical background and much of his biography is obscured in the mists of passing centuries, it is known that Gletle produced an extensive collection of works. The ensemble Musica Fiorita has recorded selections of the motets of Gletle previously but with "Motets, Opus 4", they've amassed the entirety of Gletle's motet oeuvre in a 4 CD box set. With multiple hues coloring the instrumental spectrum and the virtuosity of the vocal and instrumental parts, Gletle's legacy is rediscovered in this spotlight collection from one of the finer Baroque ensembles today.

Musica Fiorita / Daniela Dolci ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI Rosinda ed Emireno

"In 2009, I came across an interesting catalogue entry in the Austrian National Library. It was the opera 'Rosinda ed Emiremo' by Giacomo Perti with obbligato cornett arias. Since this instrument has always played a major role on many of our programmes, I was immediately electrified by this finding. The music turned out to be highly interesting – sweet, sonorous melodies with dialogues between the voice and cornett, a wonderful musical rarity. I soon put together a Bolognese concert programme on which the most beautiful arias from the opera were combined with instrumental sonatas from Giovanni Legrenzi’s Op. 8. The music went together very well and could be so readily combined because Legrenzi had dedicated his Op. 8 to Perti’s uncle, Lorenzo Perti. In addition, we played an aria from Giacomo Perti’s opera 'Penelope la Casta' in which the cornett has a highly virtuoso part. After the concert and the CD recording, I was contacted by the musicologist Rodolfo Zitellini, who specialises in Perti. He drew my attention to an opera by Alessandro Scarlatti entitled 'L’Emiremo ovvero il consiglio dell’ombra', based on the same libretto as Perti’s 'Rosinda ed Emiremo'. It was quite a surprise when we realised that not only were the libretti the same, but that the two operas – each aria, each recitative – were absolutely identical! I asked Rodolfo Zitellini to take on this task and, thanks to his painstaking research, we know today that Scarlatti composed the opera, not Perti. We are most delighted over the solution to this almost criminological puzzle and grateful for this new knowledge. One way or the other, it is clear that the music is magnificent, and it has been a worthwhile endeavour to wrest it from the darkness of the archive." (Daniela Dolci)

Musica Fiorita / Daniela Dolci GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Ode for St Cecilia's Day

The harpsichordist and leader of the ensemble Musica Fiorita, Daniela Dolci (native of Sicily), studied early music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, specializing on historical keyboard instruments. Subsequently she went to Amsterdam for further training with Gustav Leonhardt. Her main focus – inspired by the work with Jesper B. Christensen—is the historical basso continuo practice, based on 17th and 18th century sources.

Well on time for St Cecilia's Day on 22 November, Pan classics presents a new recording of the impressive ode composed by Handel. The fine Basel-based orchestra Musica Fiorita, conducted by Daniela Dolci, performs this well-known work with their trademark historically informed knowledge and elegance, perfectly translating Handel's intentions in terms of underlining the text with very intentional use of musical affects. The Ode for St Cecilia's Day is joined on this CD by the Concerto grosso op. 6 no. 4, a further ocassion to appreciate the ensemble's fine playing. (Presto Classical)

Musica Fiorita / Daniela Dolci DOMENICO ZANATTA Venezia

Little is known about the life of Domenico Zanatta. He was most probably born in Venice as the title pages of his prints seem to attest. The very sparse notices on his early life indicate that he soon started a musical career, already printing his first collection of sonatas at the young age of 24. But he also had a second endeavor: His group of cantatas. Zanatta shows a great mastery of the genre and his melodic inventiveness freely flows between the structuring parts of his cantatas, continuing the tradition of his Venetian colleagues in a much worthy way. Flavio Ferri-Benedetti and Musica Fiorita, under Daniela Dolci, present some of his pieces in between works by Cavalli, Strozzi, who was a pupil of Cavalli, and Fontana, who was a pioneer of the, at the beginning of the 17th century, new stile recitativo. (Arkiv Music)

Musica Fiorita / Daniela Dolci GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN Klingende Geographie

It is difficult to believe that there are still works from Telemann’s pen that are completely new to today's musical world – indeed, the "Musical Geography" introduced here is a rarity hardly known even to experts. The 38 movements of this work are taken from Telemann’s orchestral suites; also in their original contexts, they bear geographical titles such as Les Suisses, Polonaise and Les Moscovites. The musicologist Adolf Hoffmann assembled them in 1959, modelled on Telemann’s "Singing Geography", as a series of contrasting, mostly dancelike movements, combining to create a new overall form. They have a special appeal because they lend expression to differences in national characters with musical means in a variety of ways.

Daniela Dolci and her ensemble Musica Fiorita interpret the "Musical Geography", as well as Telemann's Concerto in D minor for two violins, viola and basso continuo, with charm, verve and in an exceptionally colourful instrumentation; the contribution made by the recorder player Maurice Steger is especially worth listening to. This is a recording which expresses all the humour and the virtually limitless imagination of this composer. (Presto Classical)