18th-century Portuguese Love Songs (Hyperion CDA67904)
''Described by an 18th century English traveller as ‘the most seducing, the most voluptuous imaginable,’ the music of the Portuguese ruling classes appeared to cross all mortal barriers. It is, wrote William Beckford, ‘the best calculated to throw saints off their guard and inspire profane deliriums.’ Do not say you have not been warned.''
'well balanced programme and outstanding playing.'- Early Music Review
Italian instrumental music captivated 18th-century Britain with its tunefulness, drama, and sheer beauty. For this project, director Žak Ozmo has handpicked repertoire that allows L’Avventura London to explore a new dimension to several Italian favourites, including works by Corelli, Vivaldi, and Albinoni, and shed light on less known (but equally as beautiful) works by Geminiani and Paradisi. This disc also reveals the talents of neglected composer G. B. Cervetto with a premiere of his marvellous Sonata in G minor.
'An Italian Rant!' featured on BBC Radio 3, 29 October 2011 - CD Review with Andrew McGregor (press play to hear the clip):
HANDEL IN THE PLAYHOUSE (Opella Nova Records, ONCD 014)
'A fascinating insight into Handel and the English ballad opera tradition. L'Avventura show excellent musicianship...'-Gramophone
As today, the timeless melodies of George Frideric Handel were also favourites of eighteenth-century music-lovers in Britain. His melodies were appropriated and used extensively in ballad opera, a very successful type of early English musical theatre. In order to create ballad operas, authors combined comic plays and preexisting ‘Airs’ to which they would fit new words in English.
Handel’s Italian opera and instrumental melodies were among those most frequently selected for this purpose, helping him to become Britain’s favourite composer.
BBC Radio 3 CD Review (press play to hear the clip):
