Among first generation of Italian modernists perhaps Ildebrando Pizzetti is the least recognized figure of all. While Alfredo Casella is dogged by his fascist ties, at least a piece or two of his is still played; Gian Francesco Malipiero may not be well-known outside Europe, he remains revered in Italy and is recognized internationally for his early advocacy, in modern times, of Vivaldi. However, Pizzetti is mainly represented on disc by ancient recordings of his operas, put out by companies who didn't have to pay for the recordings for the benefit of whoever might take an interest in them. There are a couple of exceptions; DVD fans of silent movies have been treated to some of the original soundtrack music Pizzetti composed for the Italian epic Cabiria (1914), and at the end of the century, Hyperion paid some lip service to Pizzetti with a fine disc of orchestral music featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä; that disc is getting the Helios treatment in 2009. Naxos' Pizzetti: Concerto dell'estate, making its bow at the same juncture, is the first release of Pizzetti's music on a label within the HNH family since 1999; comparatively, Marco Polo had recorded all of Malipiero's symphonies by 1993. This one is rather different from all other comers, though, in that it features the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, whose short list of credits include an outstanding recording of some Skalkottas from BIS, led by Myron Michailidis, whose second recording this is. The sophomore jinx certainly isn't in force this time, as this is a riotously colorful disc of orchestral music that is splendidly well performed and benefits to a great extent from the discipline and respect for the material imposed by the conductor, not to mention the diligent Greek musicologists who worked to raise this effort. Their interest was not in Pizzetti the Italian composer, but for his significant interest in Greek subjects; ergo the inclusion of the startling (for its time) Tre Preludii Sinfonici per L'Edipo Re di Sofocle (1904) and the two world-premiere recordings: Clitennestra: Tragedia per in un preludio e due atti (1962-1964) and La Festa delle Panatenee (1936). Concerto dell'estate (1928) is included as the main work mainly due to the opportunity afforded by its long absence from the catalog; long regarded as Pizzetti's finest orchestral piece, one would have to traverse back some four decades to find the most recent recording of it made prior to this one. One reason for Pizzetti's relative neglect is that it is hard to discern with twenty first century ears what made his music "modern" in the first place. Both the concerto and La Festa fall halfway stylistically between Respighi and neo-classicism, whereas the early Tre Preludii Sinfonici falls somewhere between the music of Busoni and Richard Strauss. It is true that Pizzetti was never able to shake his devotion to post-romanticism, no matter how far outside the box he thought about his music; Clitimnestra sounds like something from the 1910s, rather than the 1960s, when it was written. However, for some listeners that should be a plus, rather than a hindrance, and if the interest is there, hindered not should you be when it comes to Naxos' Pizzetti: Concerto dell'estate. © TiVo

Utopia is the hip-hop blockbuster of 2023; a torrent of outrageous production that, in both sound and intent, mobilises superlatives. Travis Scott makes his comeback six years after Astroworld, the crowning achievement of a rise that seemed it would stop at nothing, before colliding with some serious problems with the law and his conscience. He sunk to a very low point, some felt nearing the end of his career. But here he is now, patching up his statute as the heavyweight of the 2010s with this fourth album, aided and abetted by such pundits of the genre as Mike Dean, WondaGurl, Jahaan Sweet and Kanye West (whose influence is obvious). It was a gamble, but one that paid off. Blended with rock and industrial influences, Utopia is first and foremost about big sound, the kind that hits you square in the chest. From Hyaena to the superb Modern Jam (produced by Guy-Man from Daft), from Lost Forever to the whopping single K-Pop, Travis Scott superbly restores his reputation, aided by an army of prestigious featuring artists (Beyoncé, The Weekend, James Blake, Drake, Yung Lean, Playboi Carti...) and his unbridled vocal imagination. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

The idea is interesting on the face of it: the Duke of Ferrara, at his court in the late 16th century, maintained a "concerto segreto," secret concerts of three singers who also accompanied themselves on instruments. The three singers of La Néréide have performed a program based on this repertory, reproducing the original circumstances as far as possible. It is perhaps a trifle less effective on a recording, where they employ other instrumentalists for accompaniment, but this almost unknown repertory holds plenty of interest in itself. The music on the album is mostly by the melodiously named Luzzasco Luzzaschi, the Duke's court composer, with other works by his contemporary Luca Marenzio and the slightly later Claudio Monteverdi and Francesca Caccini (who makes the cut because her opera La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola di Alcina, the first opera by a woman, contains an excerpt calls "Le tre sirene"). This was progressive music for the time, including some of the sharp dissonances better known in the writing of Carlo Gesualdo and also the emerging texture in which melody was accompanied by a continuo. Thus, La Néréide captures the swirl of influences out of which early opera emerged, framing them in a vivid scene that will be unfamiliar, like the music in general, to most listeners. The three women have a strong sense of ensemble, and the engineering from the small Notre-Dame-des-Centeilles chapel suggests the music's original surroundings. A really interesting release for those fascinated by the late Renaissance. © James Manheim /TiVo