RICCARDO MUTI CONDUCTS ITALIAN MASTERS - ORCHESTRA FILARMONICA DELLA SCALA (7 CDS)

During Riccardo Muti’s 19-year tenure as La Scala’s music director, his relationship with the Filarmonica della Scala extended beyond the opera pit. The seven-CD set “Riccardo Muti conducts Italian Masters” celebrates their shared Italian heritage with a mixture of much-loved Verdi overtures, modern classics from Nino Rota (“uniformly stunning” – AllMusic Guide) and enticing works from the turn of the century by the likes of Casella, Martucci and Busoni (on an album “successful in every respect”, according to Gramophone). Busoni’s Turandot Suite (like the orchestral works also released here by operatic composers Ponchielli, Catalani and Puccini) is perfectly suited to an orchestra and conductor at home in both dramatic and symphonic repertoires. “How is it possible for so attractive, witty and artful a work to lay neglected for so long?” enthused Gramophone.

Busoni: Turandot Suite, Op. 41
Casella: Paganiniana, Op. 65
Catalani: Contemplazione
Catalani: Scherzo
Martucci: Giga, Op.61, No.3
Martucci: La Canzone Dei Ricordi
Martucci: Notturno, Op. 70 No. 1
Martucci: Novelletta
Martucci: Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat minor, Op.66
Ponchielli: Elegia
Puccini: Capriccio sinfonico
Puccini: Le Villi - Intermezzo
Puccini: Preludio Sinfonico
Rota, N: Concerto for strings
Rota, N: Huit et Demi - La Passerella d'Addio
Rota, N: Il Gattopardo (The Leopard)
Rota, N: Il Gattopardo (The Leopard): Ballet Suite
Rota, N: La Strada Ballet Suite
Rota, N: La tromba di Polydor (from 'La Dolce Vita')
Rota, N: Prova d'orchestra - Suite
Rota, N: Rocco e i suoi Fratelli
Rota, N: The Godfather
Verdi: Aida: Prelude
Verdi: Alzira - Overture
Verdi: Attila Overture
Verdi: Attila: Prologue
Verdi: Ernani - Prelude
Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco : Overture
Verdi: I due Foscari - Prelude
Verdi: I Masnadieri - Overture
Verdi: I vespri siciliani Overture
Verdi: Il corsaro - Prelude
Verdi: La battaglia di Legnano - Overture
Verdi: La forza del destino Overture
Verdi: La traviata: Prelude to Act 1
Verdi: La traviata: Prelude to Act 3
Verdi: Luisa Miller Overture
Verdi: Macbeth - Prelude
Verdi: Nabucco Overture
Verdi: Oberto Overture
Verdi: Rigoletto - Prelude
Verdi: Stiffelio - Prelude
Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera - Prelude
Verdi: Un Ballo in Maschera: Prelude to act 2
Verdi: Un giorno di regno Overture