Ironia e Originalità is a portrait of the Neapolitan composer Mario Perrucci (1934–2016), whose large output ranges from teaching pieces and chamber music to choral and orchestral works and scores for radio, television and the theatre. Perrucci, who taught choral conducting and composition at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro and later became its director, wrote music marked by directness and a constant vein of irony, and as a young man his piano writing led Goffredo Petrassi to nickname him ‘little Bartók’. The programme gathers piano pieces such as the Toccata prima and Toccata e Fuga, along with miniatures written for his children; witty songs for voice and piano to his own texts, steeped in Neapolitan humour; a Trio for flute, violin and harp; and a Capriccio for horn and harp. The performers include singer Marcella Ventura, pianists Carlo Mazzoli and Ilaria Tramannoni, and harpist Paola Perrucci, the composer’s daughter.