The Adagio in G Minor, attributed to Tomaso Albinoni in the early 1700's remains one of music's true mysteries. Albinoni's original manuscript for the piece had been lost in the bombing of Dresden in 1945 by Allied forces. Music historian Remo Giazotto, a Milanese musicologist went to Dresden in late 1945. Mr Giazotto found fragments of the piece among the rubble of the National Library where many musical treasures were kept. From these fragments, of which only six or so bars remained intact, Giazotto constructed the Adagio that we know today as one of the most emotionally provacative orchestral classics. Most symphony orchestra renditions include pipe organ at the beginning and end of the piece.

If Albinoni were alive today it's questionalble how much of the Adagio Albinoni would recognize as his work. A recent discussion with Dr. Ron Hasselman of the Minnesota Orchestra, revealed that Albinoni wrote mostly chroal works and small orchestral sonatas, and all of them in bright, major keys. Upon playing the FCBB's cut of the Adagio, he remarked he would never have attributed a piece with such gravity and somber tonality to Tomaso Albinoni. Whether the Adagio is truly the work of the eighteenth century composer or not is perhaps irrelevant as it has come to be one of the most celebrated works in the classical music library-- from the opening canonical bass line (portrayed as "The Footsteps of God" by former Leningrad Symphony Bassist Vladimir Zabezhisnky), to its plaintive closing arpeggio cadenza.