Composer: DOMENICO DRAGONETTI

Information:
From the British Museum’s manuscript room to the modern stage after 163 years of silence, this magical music of the Italian classical composer and double bass virtuoso, Domenico Dragonetti, is performed for the first time in the modern world here by noted bassist John Feeney.
Here is what John writes about thsi very special disc.
Greetings, I hope you will give this recording a listen. There are 31 string quintets and 5 string quartets by Domenico Dragonetti. It is very unique, inventive and finely crafted music which has lain dormant in the manuscript room of the British Museum for over 160 years. Some time ago, while I was preparing for a tour with the London Classical Players, the conductor Sir Roger Norrington, a friend of the museums curator, was able to procure for me a pass to the manuscript room. I spent a week there poring through Dragonettis extensive manuscript collection ( the complete dramatic works of Purcell, manuscripts of Leopold Mozart, Mendelsohnn and many others were among Dragonetti’s own compositions) and came away with microfilm of most all of his music. This CD marks the beginning of the DNA project (Dragonetti’s New Academy) which is to perform, record and then publish this music.