The most complete collection of non-operatic music by the composer, who is best known for his verismo masterpieces such as L'arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur.

Cilea was born in Palmi (in the Italian province of Calabria) in 1866 and was sent to Naples to study law at the tender age of seven. However, he found the idea of becoming a musician far more attractive, as he was fascinated by a performance of Bellini's Norma at the age of four. Against his parents' wishes, he enrolled at the municipal conservatory in Naples to study piano, harmony and counterpoint. He did excellent work there and soon attracted the attention of the influential publisher Sonzogno.

The scores for which we know Cilea were written within a relatively short period of 15 years around the turn of the century. The failure of his last opera Gloria in 1907 (despite Toscanini's presence at the conductor's podium) severely shook Cilea's self-confidence. He virtually retired from writing for the stage, but continued to compose in other genres, which led to much of the music presented here.

The orchestral suites, chamber music and songs share with his better-known operas a distinctive gift for melody, but the Suite for Violin and the Piccola Suite for Orchestra (CD 1) reveal Cilea's careful attention to counterpoint and orchestration and an approach to tonal harmony that reflects his awareness of innovation, particularly among French composers of the time.

The Cello Sonata and Piano Trio on CD 2 predate his operatic career and were written in the late 1880s in a more Brahmsian style. He composed the piano works on CD 3-4 later in his career, but around 1900 he began to alternate more conventional pieces (aimed at an opera-loving Italian middle-class audience) with more novel experiments in timbre, such as Au village op. 34, which features a witty interplay of echoes and interwoven voices.

Many of the piano pieces are also essentially neoclassical in spirit, such as the concertante suites on CD 1, while the songs on CD 6 belong to the salon and embody Cilea's lifelong love of the human voice: "The true instrument of expression of the passions is the divine human voice, with which no instrument can ever compete." All the recordings in this set were made in Italy over the last 10 years by local musicians who know Cilea's idiom and received critical acclaim when they were first released.

• Konzertante Suiten: Suite E-Dur für Violine & Orchester; Piccola Suite für Cello & Orchester
  +Kammermusik: Cellosonate D-Dur; Klaviertrio D-Dur; Canto für Violine & Klavier; Thema & Variationen für Violine & Klavier
  +Klavierwerke: 3 Piccoli pezzi; Chanson du rouet; Canto del mattino; La petite coquette; C'est toi que j'aime; Aria campestre; Flatterie op. 2; Mazurka op. 14; Badinage op. 15; Berceuse op. 20; Notturno op. 22; Danza Nr. 1 op. 26; 3 petits morceaux op. 28; 3 Pezzi op. 29; Gocce di rugiada op. 33; Au village op. 34; A la Mazurke op. 35; Walzer op. 36; Foglio d'album op. 41; Suite op. 42; Fuga reale; 3 Pezzi op. 43; 2 Pezzi; Scherzo, Scherzando; Danza calabrese; Impromptu; Mazurka; Preludio; Vespero; Foglio d'album; Untitled; Chansonnette op. 31; Sentiment poetique; Amour joyeux op. 37; Idillo für Klavier 4-händig; Alla Gavotta für Klavier 4-händig
  +Lieder: Romanza; Badinage; Pensiero spagnolo; Fuga sul tema "Io son l'umile ancella" aus Adriana Lecouvreur; Romanza; Il mio canto; Alba novella; Nel ridesarmi; Vita breve; Ninna nanna popolare savoiarda; Maria mare; Ave Maria; Bionda larva; Ave Maria da Tilda; Agnus Dei
  +Raffaele Cacciola: Il Canto Dell'Amore on a theme by Francesco Cilea für Solisten & Streichorchester
  Leonardo Leo: Konzert für Cello & Streichorchester D-Dur