This recording features works by some of the most well-known composers from the era of the musical Baroque. Born roughly within two decades of each other in Italy and Germany, the influence of the older generation on the younger was significant. The common thread of the selections on this recording is the subject of Christmas, explicitly so in the case of Corelli and Torelli, implied by the time of year in the case of Vivaldi, and by the choice of festive trumpets, the pastoral flute and the oboe d'amore as solo instruments in the works of Bach, Handel and Telemann.