‘La Bella Italia’ – the timeless and romantic holiday atmosphere, the rolling countryside, the small villages and historic cities and the alluring blue of the sparkling Italian seas – all captured in these enduring romantic selections by Alfredo Antonini And His Orchestra. The music of Italy has many facets – gay, light and sentimental, or rhythmic, garish and furious. It can take the form of a Venetian boat song, a Neapolitan street song, a love serenade as charming and beautiful as the surrounding countryside, or the ageless melodic appeal of the opera. But whatever form it takes, it still remains the music of the people. Music is an Italian way of life; it means more to them perhaps, than to any other nation. Of all the music indigenous to Italy, the barcarole is among the best known. This “boat song” reminiscent of the barcaruoli, or gondoliers of Venice, takes on a new setting in the Alfredo Antonini version.The haunting melody and lulling rhythm is still there, but the blend of beauty, song and romance becomes a true musical embodiment of a Souvenir Of Naples. Romantic, and quite sentimental, too, is the lilting Serenade Of June which glows with the warmth of the Mediterranean sun. The same romance infuses the throbbing ballad Ideale by the greatest composer of Italian song, Francesco Paolo Tosti, many of whose works were immortalized by Caruso and other legendary singers. Dance rhythms also receive a lively workout from Alfredo Antonini And His Orchestra. The traditional Gigue, forerunner of the Irish jig, taken from a suite by Arcangelo Corelli, gets a sparkling treatment, as does Ernesto Becucci’s No More Tears, a sprightly mazurka that’s teeming with Italian flavoring. In contrast to these lively measures, we hear Alfredo d’Ambrosio’s Romance – where every voice in the orchestra seems to be wrapped up in one mighty expression of song. D’Ambrosio’s swelling melody is reminiscent of the most passionate moments of the romantic operas, displaying the same range of emotion, the same surge and passion. No musical panorama of ‘La Bella Italia’ would be complete without a glimpse of Italian opera. Maestro Antonini offers two excerpts from Giacomo Puccini’s ‘Tosca’, the passionate second act aria Vissi D’Arte, and the moving and poetic farewell from the final act, E Lucevan Le Stelle. Gaetano Donizetti is represented by a tenor aria from the last act of his comic opera, ‘L’Elisir D’Amore,’ the charming Una Furtiva Lagrima which, in its enchanting innstrumental version, features a ‘cello solo by Harvey Shapiro. Another great opera composer, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, has one of his most famous songs, Addio performed by the Antonini ensemble in one of the most lyrical expressions of the idea of farewell that music can offer.