Diego Fasolis
If the Swiss canton of Ticino is a land of architects (yesterday Solari da Carona, Borromini and Trezzini who played active roles in the construction of the Kremlin in Moscow, Papal Rome and St Petersburg respectively; today Mario Botta, the most famous of all), it is also a land of architects of sound - musicians, with Edwin Loehrer, the great pioneer of baroque music, Hermann Scherchen who, in the 1950s, founded the electro-acoustic music studio of Gravesano (a distant precursor to IRCAM). Later, the Ticinese violinist Chiara Banchini would found her Ensemble 415 which was so important to the rediscovery of Italian baroque music; and today the Martha Argerich Project in Lugano and the figure of Diego Fasolis which form the focal points of Ticinese music.
An organist (he worked with Gaston Litaize in Paris), choirmaster, and conductor, Diego Fasolis is a vital part of baroque music. In 1995 he founded the Vanitas ensemble in Lugano, and then I Barocchisti (literally, the Baroques) which represents the refoundation of the famous Società cameristica di Lugano set up by Loehrer in 1961 to which we owe the first great recordings of Claudio Monteverdi's Madrigals. The ensemble took a great leap forward in its new incarnation under the baton of Diego Fasolis. The Barocchisti's many recordings have been showered with awards and great international soloists regularly come to collaborate with them, including Philippe Jaroussky, Maurice Steger, Max Emanuel Cencic, and, in recent years, Cecilia Bartoli who has set up a close collaboration. This dazzling activity has not stopped Diego Fasolis from being a guest conductor at Milan's La Scala, in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, at the Lausanne Opéra and at the Château de Versailles where he has been a regular fixture since 2013.
Diego Fasolis's discography, which is published across several labels, is very dense and representative of his wide range of activities at the head of various ensembles such as his Coro Della Svizzera Italiana, I Barocchisti, l’Ensemble Vanitas or the Sonatori De La Gioiosa Marca.
Among his great successes, we may cite the album MISSION with Cecilia Bartoli and Cecilia Bartoli-Saint Petersburg, the recording of the Artaserse by Leonardo Vinci (no relation to the painter of the Mona Lisa!) with Philippe Jaroussky, as well as Farnace by Vivaldi with the same artist. In terms of discoveries, we might list Mozart's Les Mystères d’Isis... or the Magic Flute as it might have been performed in 19th Century Paris, or rather as the masterpiece was shamelessly packaged and sold at the time. Even if the reconstruction is thrilling, we can understand why Berlioz came to the fore.
Diego Fasolis's eclecticism is stupefying, and makes stupendous discoveries possible, such as the Requiem Mass by Camille Saint-Saëns, Faramondo by Handel (with Cencic), The Passion of Jesus Christ by Paisiello and works by Steffani, Piccini, Eisler, and Durante. A masterly way of straddling the generations - or, rather, bestriding them like a colossus.
© François Hudry/QOBUZ/November 2017
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Bach: Johannes-Passion BWV 245
Coro della Radio Svizzera, Ensemble Vanitas, Diego Fasolis
Classical - Released by Arts Productions Ltd on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le Donne Vendicate
Concertos - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Galuppi: Il mondo alla roversa (The World Turned Topsy-Turvey)
Opera - Released by Chandos on 1 Aug 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Volkslieder - Weltliche Vokalwerke
Coro della Radio Svizzera, Diego Fasolis
Chamber Music - Released by Arts Productions Ltd on 7 Nov 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eisler: Mother (The) / 4 Pieces / Woodburry-Liederbuchlein (Excerpts) / Litanei Vom Hauch
Cantatas (secular) - Released by Chandos on 1 May 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Senfl: Missa Paschalis und Motetten
Coro della Svizzera Italiana, Diego Fasolis
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Musiques Suisses on 29 Oct 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Steffani: Danze E Ouvertures
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Steffani: Danze E Ouvertures
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cantata "Aeolus pacified" BWV 205 & Cantata BWV 110
Coro della Radio Svizzera, Diego Fasolis, Coro della Radio Svizzera, I Barocchisti, Duilio Galfetti & I Barocchisti
Classical - Released by Arts Productions Ltd on 5 Jun 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mosaico Barocco: Bach, Marcello, Vivaldi, Händel
Classical - Released by Claves Records on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piccinni: Le Donne Vendicate
Diego Fasolis, I Barocchisti, Vincenzo Di Donato, Giuliana Castellani, Mauro Buda, Sylva Pozzer
Opera - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Furstenau: 6 Masonic Songs / 12 Pieces
Mario Carbotta, Aldo Martinoni, Radio Svizzera Choir, Lugano, Diego Fasolis
Classical - Released by Dynamic on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo