GAETANO DONIZETTI (1797-1748): Sinfonias for Piano: in D "The Departure", in A, in D, Nos. 1 & 2, in C, Nos. 1 & 2, Capriccio in Sinfonia in E, Adagio and Allegro in G, Waltzes: Nos. 1 and 2 in C, Nos. 3 and 4 in A (Elisabetta Dessì [piano]), Piano Four Hands: Sonatas in D, D, G, A, C, B Flat, C, Sonata "a quatro sanfe", "The usual sonata", Gloomy March, Waltz in G (Franco Calabretto, Eddi de Nadai).

Description: The sinfonias are generally early pieces, from around 1816-18, and are basically operatic overtures in the prevailing five-minute or so, slow-fast style of the period. The waltzes are, well, waltzes. The four-hand sonatas on the second disc (only available here -- none of this repertoire was part of Arts Music's three-disc series from the mid 90s) mostly date from 1816-21 and only one is longer than five or six minutes but Donizetti packs a lot of lyricism and, sometimes, operatic imagery into them. 2 CDs. Original 1993 and 1996 Rivo Alto releases.