Ottavio Dantone

Italian conductor and harpsichordist Ottavio Dantone is a specialist in Baroque music. He attended the Conservatorio "Giuseppe Verdi" in Milan, where he studied organ and harpsichord. He won the award in basso continuo at the International Harpsichord Competition in Paris in 1985, and won honors at the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges in 1986. Dantone's association with the Accademia Bizantina in Ravenna began in 1989, and since 1996 he has been the ensemble's music director. He began conducting opera in 1999 with a revival of Giuseppe Sarti's Giulio Sabino at the Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna. He conducted George Frederick Handel's Rinaldo at La Scala in 2005, and performed it again at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2011. He teaches harpsichord in Lugano and Turin, and has given master classes in harpsichord, chamber music, basso continuo, and improvisation across Europe. Dantone has recorded for Decca, Alpha, Naïve, Onyx Classics, and Harmonia Mundi, as well as other labels. ~ Blair Sanderson

Albums

14 albums sorted by Price: from least expensive to most expensive

Ottavio Dantone Handel: Suites de pièces pour le clavecin, No. 6-8, HV 431-433, & Pieces for Harpsichord, Vol. 2

£7.19

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Handel: Suites de pièces pour le clavecin, No. 6-8, HV 431-433, & Pieces for Harpsichord, Vol. 2

Ottavio Dantone

Classical - Released July 3, 2012 | Arts Music

£7.99

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Vivaldi: L'Estro Armonico op. 3, Vol. 1: Concertos Nos. 1-6

Ottavio Dantone

Classical - Released November 7, 2006 | Arts Productions Ltd

£7.99

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Vivaldi: L'Estro Armonico op. 3, Vol. 2: Concertos Nos. 7-12

Ottavio Dantone

Classical - Released November 7, 2006 | Arts Productions Ltd

£7.99

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Händel: Suites de Piéces pour le Clavecin Nos. 6-8 HV 431-433 & Pieces for Harpsichord

Ottavio Dantone

Classical - Released November 7, 2006 | Arts Productions Ltd

£7.99

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Händel: Suites de Piéces pour le Clavecin Nos. 1-5 HV 426-430

Ottavio Dantone

Chamber Music - Released November 7, 2006 | Arts Productions Ltd

£7.99

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-10%

Sonates (Intégrale, volume 8)

Ottavio Dantone

Classical - Released February 8, 2013 | Stradivarius

Distinctions 5 de Diapason

Ottavio Dantone Scarlatti: Complete Sonatas, Vol. 8 – Essercizi per gravicembalo, Pt. 1

£7.99

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Scarlatti: Complete Sonatas, Vol. 8 – Essercizi per gravicembalo, Pt. 1

Ottavio Dantone

Classical - Released November 6, 2006 | Stradivarius

£13.19

£8.79

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Vivaldi: Concerti per archi III e concerti per viola d'amore

Ottavio Dantone

Concertos - Released May 11, 2018 | naïve classique

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Gramophone Editor's Choice

Concertos for viola d'amore represent a fairly atypical part of Vivaldi's work, and he was probably the first composer to write pieces for this work in the solo concerto format. The viola d'amore was certainly well-liked for its soft, suggestive sound, which evoked the moods and climes of the orient thanks, in particular to its sympathetic strings which vibrate with those strings the player bows. But it was little-used because of its complex tuning and objective difficulties involved in playing it. In fact, the instrument would be tuned in different ways to fit the tonality of the piece being played – the famous scordatura, so finicky for the musicians – and it is believed that Vivaldi wrote these specifically for one of the musicians at Venice's Pietá: the famous Anna-Maria. Another characteristic of these concertos for viola d'amore, the rapid movements are also much longer and fuller than in most of Vivaldi's writing, for example in the seven string concertos which figure at the start of the album, or in the miniatures which were intended as showcases for the talent of the greatest possible number of soloists in the public concerts at the Pietá. A little curiosity is offered up here in the shape of the original concerto La Conca RV163, whose themes mimic the sound of the "conca", a kind of large marine conch used as an instrument since prehistoric times. The recording includes a conch being sounded at the start of the first movement by way of explanation. © SM/Qobuz