Click on the links in the "Track title" column, you can listen the compositions incipit.

Buy now "The pleasure of playing" on iTunes

*Bassoon: Benedetta Targa - Sound engineer: Giorgio Ravazzolo

Coriolan Overture by Beethoven

Overture Coriolan, op. 62, is a composition written by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1807 to Heinrich Joseph von Collin's 1804 tragedy.
The structure and themes of the overture follow the play very generally. The main C minor theme represents Coriolan's resolve and war-like tendencies (he is about to invade Rome), and the tender E-flat major theme represents the pleadings of his mother to desist. Coriolan eventually gives in to tenderness, but since he cannot turn back having led an army of his former enemies to Rome's gates, he kills himself. [Wikipedia]

The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky

The Nutcracker  Op. 71, is a fairy tale-ballet in two acts, three scenes, by P. I. Tchaikovsky, composed in 1891–92. Alexandre Dumas père's adaptation of the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E.T.A. Hoffmann was set to music by Tchaikovsky (written by Marius Petipa and commissioned by the director of the Imperial Theatres Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1891). In Western countries, this ballet has become perhaps the most popular ballet, performed primarily around Christmas time.
The composer made a selection of eight of the more popular numbers from the ballet before the ballet's December 1892 premiere, forming The Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a, intended for concert performance. The suite was first performed, under the composer's direction, on 19 March 1892 at an assembly of the St. Petersburg branch of the Musical Society. The suite became instantly popular; the complete ballet did not achieve its great popularity until around the mid-1960s.
Among other things, the score of The Nutcracker is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda (premiered 1891).  Although well-known in The Nutcracker as the featured solo instrument in the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from Act II, it is employed elsewhere in the same act. [Wikipedia]

The magic flute by Mozart

The opera was the culmination of a period of increasing involvement by Mozart with Schikaneder's theatrical troupe, which since 1789 had been the resident company at the Theater auf der Wieden. Mozart was a close friend of one of the singer-composers of the troupe, tenor Benedikt Schack (the first Tamino), and had contributed to the compositions of the troupe, which were often collaboratively written. Mozart's participation increased with his contributions to the 1790 collaborative opera Der Stein der Weisen ("The Philosopher's Stone"), including the duet ("Nun liebes Weibchen," K. 625/592a) and perhaps other passages. Like The Magic Flute, Der Stein der Weisen was a fairy-tale opera and can be considered a kind of precursor; it employed much the same cast in similar roles.
The Magic Flute is noted for its prominent Masonic elements; both Schikaneder and Mozart were Masons and lodge brothers. The opera is also influenced by Enlightenment philosophy, and can be regarded as an allegory advocating enlightened absolutism. The Queen of the Night represents a dangerous form of obscurantism, whereas her antagonist Sarastro symbolises the reasonable sovereign who rules with paternalistic wisdom and enlightened insight.
Mozart evidently wrote keeping in mind the skills of the singers intended for the premiere, which included both virtuosi and ordinary comic actors, asked to sing for the occasion. Thus, the vocal lines for Papageno and Monostatos are often stated first in the strings so the singer can find his pitch, and are frequently doubled by instruments. In contrast, Mozart's sister-in-law Josepha Hofer, who premiered the role of the Queen of the Night, evidently needed little such help: this role is famous for its difficulty. In ensembles, Mozart skillfully combined voices of different ability levels.
A particularly demanding aria is the Queen of the Night's "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's vengeance boileth in mine heart"), which reaches a high F6, rare in opera. At the low end, the part of Sarastro includes a conspicuous F in a few locations.
While the female roles in the opera are assigned to different voice types, the playbill for the premiere performance referred to all of the female singers as "sopranos". The casting of the roles relies on the actual pitch range of the part. [Wikipedia]

The marriage of Figaro by Mozart

The opera was the first of three celebrated collaborations between Mozart and da Ponte; their later collaborations were Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte. It was Mozart who originally selected Beaumarchais' play and brought it to da Ponte, who turned it into a libretto in six weeks, rewriting it in poetic Italian and removing all of the original's political references. Contrary to the popular myth, the libretto was approved by the Emperor, Joseph II, before any music was written by Mozart.
The Imperial Italian opera company paid Mozart 450 florins for the work; this was three times his (low) salary when he had worked as a court musician in Salzburg (Solomon 1995). Da Ponte was paid 200 florins.
Emperor Joseph II was indirectly responsible for preserving this magnificent opera score for posterity. Joseph II was looking for an opera to be produced at the imperial court. Mozart's work was one of the works under consideration, along with several others by contemporary composers. With the scant success Mozart had received to that point, he reportedly swore that if his work was passed over, he would toss the entire score into the fire. [Wikipedia]

Buy now "The pleasure of playing" on iTunes