Operatic fantasias for clarinet and piano

The Italian 19th Century is characterized by an unparalleled opera bulimia, the theaters tirelessly program stagings to be submitted to the perennial abstinents of “belcanto” and the music publishing industry that revolves around the phenomenon flourishes and gears up to not disappoint the fleets of music lovers. This inexhaustible desire is counterbalanced by the other “case” represented by the nascent idolatry for instrument virtuosos who build around themselves a legendary aura – very closed to the configuration of the romantic hero with a fascinating and mysterious biography – and an adequate literature to inflame the delirious audiences. The relapse of similar “obsessions” has an extraordinary confirmation in the salon and academic consumption of pages intended to “evoke” the emotions felt in crowded theater halls, a secular celebration is consumed between more or less prestigious salons aimed at the beloved entertainment between the promotion of young talents, noble amateurs, damsels to marry, prestigious guests. The work of Ferdinando Sebastiani, one of the most accredited clarinetist of the nineteenth century and founder of a recognized “school” which enjoyed great prestige in the national and international context, fits into this so articulated landscape. Aldo Botta on the clarinet and Giuseppe Galiano on the piano try their hand at this fascinating challenge in the name of a funambolic virtuosity and a marked theatrical expressiveness.