VIDEO PODCAST: John Dante Prevedini leads a discussion about Youth Involvement in Classical Music - this specially extended illustrated feature includes contributions from Christopher Morley, Gerald Fenech, Halida Dinova, Patricia Spencer and Roderic Dunnett.
SPONSORED: Ensemble. Unjustly Neglected - In this specially extended feature, Armstrong Gibbs' re-discovered 'Passion according to St Luke' impresses Roderic Dunnett.
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FROM ROME: From December 2009 until March 2023, the late Giuseppe Pennisi sent us regular reports from the Italian opera and classical music scene.
Venetian composer and performer Baldassare Galuppi ('Il Buranello') was born on the island of Burano (hence the nickname) on 18 October 1706. He studied with Lotti and became Maestro di musica at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti. He wrote opere serie for the King's Theatre in London, ran the music at St Mark's in Venice, turned to opera buffa - teaming up with playwright Carlo Goldoni and earning another nickname, 'The father of comic opera' - and worked in the chapel of Catherine the Great in Russia. He played keyboard instruments and also wrote much sacred music.
Galuppi died in Venice on 3 January 1785, aged seventy-eight. His works were, variously, forgotten, destroyed and lost at the end of the eighteenth century, until being redescovered at the end of the twentieth century.
CD Spotlight. Most Remarkable - Jamaican pianist Orrett Rhoden, heard by Bill Newman
DVD Spotlight. Seldom Equalled - Michelangeli plays Beethoven, Galuppi and Scarlatti, and impresses Howard Smith. 'His relentless perfectionism allows him spellbinding precision ...'