Arcana

Hidden, secret, mysterious: the word ‘arcana’ (from the Latin arcanus) perfectly sums up the label’s mission–dedicated to expanding knowledge of musical culture, bringing to light that which is still concealed within – or of which memory has been lost – from the Medieval period to the early 20th century.

Since it was founded in 1992, Arcana has played a key role in the rediscovery of lesser-known repertoires but has also given fresh impetus to the interpretation of great composers, as highlighted by the first complete recording using period instruments of Haydn’s quartets by the Festetics Quartet and Schubert’s piano sonatas by Paul Badura-Skoda.
Right from the outset, Arcana’s artistic choices focused on the movement of historically informed performances, producing the early recordings of artists of the stature of Rinaldo Alessandrini, Fabio Biondi, Enrico Gatti and Pedro Memelsdorff.

Often based on ground-breaking research, Arcana’s productions focus heavily on the editorial aspect with the booklets enriched by contributions from leading scholars in every repertoire and masters of Italian photography, such as Mario Giacomelli, Luigi Ghirri, Mimmo Jodice and Franco Fontana.