Matteo Malagoli, Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: A Tenor Cellist (2023) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Matteo Malagoli, Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: A Tenor Cellist (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:31:47 minutes | 1,58 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Brilliant Classics

Romantic miniatures by a forgotten Italian cellist and composer: the first album ever dedicated to the music of Domenico Laboccetta.Born to a poor family in the Sicilian town of Messina, Domenico Laboccetta (1823-1896) was entrusted to the care of an orphanage where his musical talents rapidly revealed themselves as a child. At the age of seven he made an appearance in concert at the Teatro Nuovo in Messina, and soon won a scholarship to study gratis at the conservatoire in Naples. At just 18, he became principal cellist of the Teatro San Carlo, at a time when the opera house was known across Europe for staging and advancing the works of bel canto composers such as Donizetti and Bellini.

Through this experience, Laboccetta developed a superb tenor voice alongside his cello playing, and soon began taking lead roles in those bel canto masterpieces such as Bellini’s La Sonnambula. He went on to tour Europe and America in the 1850s, but eventually settled back in his adopted home of Naples, where he became professor of cello at the conservatoire in 1877, and passed on his mastery of the instrument to students for almost the next 20 years until his death.

In Laboccetta, the cellist and indefatigable researcher Matteo Malagoli has turned up another remarkable figure down the byways of cello history. His booklet essay introduces Laboccetta’s eventful life, providing invaluable context to these miniatures written for salon performances among friends and patrons in Neapolitan musical life in the later decades of the 19th century – music written above all to charm and entertain.

‘Deserves the attention of listeners intrigued by history and appreciative of fine playing. It’s an album that will make a genuine contribution to any collector’s album hoard. Album leaves, romanzas and instrumental songs are scored for cello and piano or cello and harp, but there is also a ‘Notturnino’ for two cellos and piano. More substantial is a cycle of four songs for soprano, tenor, cello and piano: all beautifully evocative pieces with an affectingly folk-like simplicity of expression. Laboccetta was also a pioneer in the genre of cello quartets, and the album closes with several such works, ingeniously scored to exploit the full register and richness of the instrument.

Malagoli’s previous albums for Brilliant Classics include a disc of music by Greco and Francone (96345), welcomed in glowing terms by Fanfare magazine: ‘Early Neapolitan Cello Music… deserves the attention of listeners intrigued by history and appreciative of fine playing. It’s an album that will make a genuine contribution to any collector’s album hoard.’

Tracklist:

01. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Il Marinaro Little Duet, Op. 50 (Dedicated to Nunziatina Lombardi) (06:49)
02. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Ninna nanna in G Major (Dedicated to Angioletta Truffi) (05:15)
03. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Barcarola in A Minor (Dedicated to Father Mauro Liberatore) (05:47)
04. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Notturnino in G Minor (05:14)
05. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Melodia in D Minor (Dedicated to Luigi Filiasi) (05:48)
06. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Romanza in C Major (Dedicated to Enrico Scognamillo) (05:07)
07. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Al chiaro di luna (Dedicated to Adolfo Zingaropoli) (04:14)
08. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Tristezza melodia in D Minor (Dedicated to Gaspare Giacomo Bischoff) (07:46)
09. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Cosetta in C Major (Dedicated to Federico Raffaele) (06:16)
10. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Quatre morceaux: I. La speranza (The Hope) (04:38)
11. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Quatre morceaux: II. L’abbandonata (The abandoned One) (05:04)
12. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Quatre morceaux: III. L’invito (The Invite) (04:25)
13. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Quatre morceaux: IV. Il pescatore (The Fisherman) (04:32)
14. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Andante sostenuto (Dedicated to H. E. D. Pedro Alvarez de Toledo Marquis de Casafuerte) (03:52)
15. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Il poveretto (The Poor Fellow) [Dedicated to Federico Raffaele] (06:31)
16. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: Il rimprovero (The Reproach) (03:52)
17. Matteo Malagoli & Lisa De Polo – Laboccetta: La zingara (The Gipsy) (06:31)

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