Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) was an Italian composer, writer, and magistrate of the late Baroque period. Born in Venice into a noble family, Marcello was expected to pursue a career in public service rather than music. Nevertheless, he received an excellent musical education and developed into one of the most respected composers of his time. Although he held various governmental positions in the Republic of Venice and later served as a governor in cities such as Pola and Brescia, Marcello remained deeply devoted to music throughout his life. Marcello is particularly known for his collection Estro Poetico-Armonico (Poetic-Harmonic Inspiration), published between 1724 and 1727. This monumental work consists of musical settings of the first fifty Psalms, based on Italian poetic paraphrases by the writer Girolamo Ascanio Giustiniani. The collection was highly admired across Europe because of it's expressive style and it's blending of sacred tradition with contemporary musical language. Marcello combined elements of Gregorian chant, Baroque harmony, and operatic expressiveness, creating works that were both devotional and dramatically vivid. One of the pieces from this collection is Psalm XVII a tres, written for three voices and basso continuo. The term a tres indicates that the work is composed for three vocal parts, often performed by combinations such as soprano, alto, and bass. In this psalm setting, Marcello demonstrates his ability to write clear yet expressive vocal lines. Each voice contributes to a transparent polyphonic texture, where the text remains understandable while the music retains harmonic richness. The composition reflects the emotional depth of the psalm text, which expresses a plea for divine justice and protection. Marcello emphasizes these themes through expressive melodic contours and carefully shaped phrasing. Performed by Ensemble Salomone Rossi, conducted by Lydia Cevidalli, with an instrumental ensemble consisting of violin, cello, double bass, violone, theorbo and harpsichord, playing together with the Odhecaton vocal ensemble.

Taking it's title from a legendary 1728 encounter between violinists Pietro Locatelli and Jean-Marie Leclair, whose contrasting styles were memorably described as angelic and diabolical, Hell's Angels traces the cross-pollination of French and Italian baroque technique through sonatas by Vivaldi, Leclair, Guillemain, Marcello and Mascitti. At the heart of the programme is Vivaldi's rarely heard early Sonata RV 820, it's final movement completed by Adrian Chandler following the loss of the original manuscript. Two-time Gramophone Award winners La Serenissima bring their characteristic authority to over 80 minutes of music spanning some of the most demanding chamber writing of the period.

The guitar is an expressive harpsichord declared the composer Claude Debussy after a concert by the Catalan guitarist, Miguel Llobet. The classic guitar has benefited, more than most other instruments, from arrangements of music of many genres. Renaissance and Baroque music especially suit the timbre and range of the guitar and keyboard music is ideal for playing on the guitar, often direct from the original score. Debussy's comment may be unjust to harpsichordists, but the expressive limits of the guitar may be said to outweigh those of the harpsichord. Girolamo Frescobaldi was born in Ferrara, one of the most musically stimulating cities in Italy at the end of the 1500s. He was organist of St Peter's, Rome and is said to have also been a magnificent harpsichordist. His influence spread not just through Italy, but also north of the Alps. Gaetano Greco (also Grieco) was born and worked in Naples, notably as Maestro di cappella of the Basilica in Naples from 1704-1720. He was an influential figure, numbering Domenico Scarlatti and Nicola Porpora among his pupils. If we know the name Domenico Alberti nowadays it is probably only through the eponymous bass figuration heard in many classical and pre-classical keyboard pieces. The lively Giga, from his collection of Sonatas Op.1 gives way to a more elegant Allegro from a Sonata da camera. As well as being a composer and a pupil of Pasquini, Domenico Zipoli trained for the priesthood as a Jesuit. He emigrated to Paraguay, where he aimed to complete his training, but died before he could be ordained. With Bernardo Pasquini we bridge the gap between Frescobaldi and Domenico Scarlatti. Pasquini made a close study of Frescobaldi's work, especially his early Fantasie and employed some of these ideas in his variations. Moving forward 50 years from Pasquini, Benedetto Marcello proved to be a real polymath, with interests in politics, law and literature. He left behind a substantial number of sonatas, especially for cello and harpsichord. Like Marcello, Domenico Cimarosa's main musical output was vocal music, mainly operas, of which he wrote more than 80, admired by Mozart and performed by Haydn at Eszterhaza. Cimarosa's Sonatas are a refreshing leap into the early classical style, while acknowledging Domenico Scarlatti's influence. Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard output, 555 sonatas, dwarfs all the other composers on this recording. The similarity in range between the harpsichord and the guitar makes transcriptions relatively easy. Paradies was another composer whose music was valued by Mozart, as well as Clementi and Cramer, both keyboard virtuosi of the late 1700s and early 1800s. Played with great commitment and feeling for the style by Antonio de Innocentis, who also signs for the guitar arrangements.

On her first Pentatone album, Czech star mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená returns to the baroque repertoire that launched her early career. Il giardino dei sospiri is a collection of scenes from secular cantatas on tragic love, ranging from Handel’s Qual ti riveggio to new editions of works by Leo (Angelica e Medoro), Marcello (Arianna abbandonata) and Gasparini (Atalia). These vocal works are connected through instrumental pieces by Handel (sinfonia of Agrippina), Vinci (sinfonia from Maria dolorata) and Sarro (introduzione from Didone abbandonata). Initially conceived as a scenic project, Il giardino dei sospiri offers a richly-faceted and profoundly moving aural drama. Kožená interprets the tragic heroines of these love stories with fervor, accompanied by Václav Luks and Collegium 1704.

ILLUMINATION II The second album from the acclaimed international (Italy-Israel) Ensemble Nuria began taking shape during the disorienting lockdowns of Covid-19, and was born into the devastating reality of the Hamas-Israel war. The album 'Illumination II: Italian-Jewish Music of Solace and Hope' is a testament to the resilience and relevance of Hebrew Liturgical Songs and Poems (known as 'Piyyutim'). Casting light on the enduring power of these works to sustain hope and offer comfort to those who encounter them, the work on this project spanned over 3 years, due to the impossibility of maintaining continuous work during the Covid pandemic. The process of preparing this album offered to those involved a way to reconnect with stability, community, creativity, joy and inspiration, despite challenging circumstances of life in Israel under the isolation of lockdown and war. Timeless melodies which were born in the ghettos of Rome, Venice, Mantova and Ferrara, these nearly vanished hidden treasures of haunting beauty are given a renewed voice in this album. Without doubt it is the uniquely poignant nature of the works themselves which allows listeners to experience the unabated power of this ancient music: The power to revive and to give solace and catharsis, to offer celebration, connection and community, just as the poets and musicians who created the words and melodies centuries ago intended. This nearly lost traditional music reveals itself here to be as powerful and communicative in our tumultuous 21st century world as when it was first sung in the Jewish communities of Italy, hundreds of years ago.

Preserved in three different libraries, the Marciana in Venice, the Library of the Naples Conservatory, and the State and University Library in Hamburg, the six cantatas that make up this world-premiere recording were composed by Benedetto Marcello in the early 18th century. These are thus youthful works, quite interesting for the originality of their writing, which helps us understand why their author was so highly regarded during his lifetime - even called the "prince of music" - and also by posterity, as he managed to blend his personal sensibility with lessons drawn from tradition and the influences of a life rich in cultural encounters. The compositional structure of these works - less known than his concertos and theatrical works - follows the traditional format of alternating recitatives and arias. However, this does not prevent the author from experimenting with innovative solutions, particularly in the treatment of the voice. Typical of Marcello's style is a certain inclination toward the bizarre, with the use of harmonies that can sound "estranging," sudden modulations, chromaticism, augmented sixth chords, and the melodic interval of the diminished fourth. In some passages, he even seems to anticipate the models of the "sublime" style theorized in the mid-to late 18th century.