Italian reedman Gianluigi Trovesi's homage to Italian opera, PROFUMO DI VIOLETTA, is a most unusual entry in the ECM catalogue. No mere instrumental recitation of famous arias, PROFUMO finds the clarinetist/saxophonist collaborating closely with Filarmonica Mousike, a large woodwind and percussion "banda" much like the onstage provincial orchestras prevalent in Verdi's own day. The music is a deftly woven suite of arias and orchestral interludes taken from Verdi, Mozart, Rossini, Monteverdi, and Puccini, topped by Trovesi's fluent, mostly clarinet improvisations. And rather than a bloated concept album, the ambitious project has a jaunty, lighthearted air throughout, with some genuinely funny moments, like a fuzz-toned, electrified cello singing "Largo al factotum" from THE BARBER OF SEVILLE! Rossini himself would have approved.