Francesco d'Avalos has died, may he rest in peace. He made the world better for music lovers who cherish lesser known works: Martucci and Raff among them.
Sad news indeed. We owe him much.
I understand about d'Avalos death through this forum (and not from an Italian newspaper) and I am obviously saddened.
He was rather an outsider (in the musical establishment).
In decades of concert attending I saw him just twice: once for an all Brahms program (with a domestic youthful orchestra) and once with ...the Jerusalem Symphony Orch.: Smetana, Liszt, Dvorak ...and Fibich's "At Twilight".
If it were not for d'Avalos I doubt my enthusiasm for Raff and the Unsungs in general would have got off the ground at all. For me his ASV disc of "Im Walde" was a revelation and what started a voyage of discovery. His version still stands up well although I hope fervently that Jarvi has it in his sights. We haven't had the definitive version yet of what I consider to be an even greater achievement than "Lenore".... RIP Francesco...