Piano Concerto / Concert Rhapsody

"Yablonskaya has plenty of dash and sparkle. She approaches these dazzling, exciting works with passion and sensitivity...His accompaniment in the Concerto's finale is electrifying"
- BBC Music Magazine

"Oxana Yablonskaya on Naxos is a remarkable virtuoso"
- Gramophone

Who says that Naxos is not taking you down paths untrodden by other record labels? See how many discs in the current catalogue you can find by Marco dall'Aquila. He was an Italian lutenist who became one of the most important composers of his time, in that he evolved musical form and structure in a way that no other performer of the instrument was capable at that time. His life, and even the exact dates of his life, is almost unknown, though he was granted one of the first licences to publish lute music in Italy.

Even less is known of Giovanni Maria da Crema, a name that probably suggests that he comes from Cremona, and could well have been one of a sextet of Italian strolling players heard at the court of Henry VIII in 1540. We are not even sure how much of the music attributed to him was his own work, but a series of fifteen ricercars and seven dances, which are included on this disc, certainly are from his pen and were composed in Venice around 1546.

This disc forms part of the Lute Edition which is being compiled by the outstanding British lutenist Christopher Wilson who is not only bringing to the budget market a wealth of music otherwise unavailable at that price, but is equally introducing many works unavailable on CD.

This recording was made in February 1994 at the outstanding location of Forde