DOMENICO BARTOLUCCI (1917-2013): Piano Trio in A, Violin Sonata in G, Prelude, Intermezzo and Fugue in C for String Trio, Intermezzo and Fugue in A Minor for Violin and Cello.

Description: Master of Music at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Bartolucci also taught at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome and was appointed a cardinal in 2010. The pair of Preludes, Intermezzi and Fugues here demonstrate Bartolucci’s considerable mastery of counterpoint. The trio has a lovely second-movement Canzone, in the sonata there are moments of great passion in the first movement, of elegiac delicacy in the slow movement, grotesque elements in the third movement, and a luminous fluidity reminiscent of Mozart in the finale. Conservative as the church he served, well-crafted and unabashedly approachable. Giacomo Scarponi, Luca Venturi (violin), Ivo Scarponi (cello), Angelo Cicillini (viola), Marco Venturi (piano).