Julien Martineau / Concerto Italiano / Rinaldo Alessandrini COME UNA VOLTA

A luminous, easily recognizable instrument, and a symbol of Italy's learned and popular musical tradition, the mandolin has been the subject of several major compositions throughout the history of music. First of all, the famous concertos by Vivaldi: two of them appear here on this intensely romantic album (‘Come une volta’) that Julien Martineau - one of today’s greatest figureheads of the instrument - has recorded for Naïve. We also finally get to hear, thanks to the world premiere recording by Julien Martineau, the legendary, virtuosic and poetic second concerto (of which the manuscript was lost) by Raffaele Calace (1863-1934), who was often described as "the Paganini of the mandolin". The instrument is in fact so close, in many ways, to the violin. The Caudioso concerto completes an album which, steeped in authenticity and musical excellence, honors and lends prestige not only to the art of mandolin, but also to Italian and musical culture as a whole.

ArteMandoline CONCERTI NAPOLETANI PER MANDOLINO

For their first album "Sospiri d'amanti" with Spanish soprano Nuria Rial the Early Music ensemble Artemandoline was highly praised: "Here the mandolins sing that it is a pleasure" (Opernwelt). With their second album they take their listeners on a musical journey to 18th century Naples. Whether in the opera house, in the theaters or conservatories - music was omnipresent in Naples. It played an important role in the numerous salons and palaces where the clergy, music lovers and patrons of the arts met. So it is not surprising that not only the famous opera style of the Neapolitan School, but also a "Neapolitan Mandolin School" with its own sound and specific techniques was developed. For the first time, the ensemble Artemandoline has recorded five Neapolitan concertos on original instruments as world premiere recording, showing unusual but highly interesting aspects of Italian instrumental music. These Baroque concertos by composers such as Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816), Giuseppe Giuliano (18th century), Domenico Caudioso (18th century) and Carlo Cecere (1706-1761) fascinate with their harmonic twists, ornate details and their own great melodic ingenuity.