A Lenten oratorio in the Italian tradition of sacred opera, Il Dolore di Maria Vergine is widely held to be the outstanding masterpiece in the genre by Alessandro Scarlatti. Structured in two extended parts, it assigns roles to the Virgin Mary, St John, Nicodemus and to a High Priest named Onìa. The challenge taken on by the composer and his anonymous librettist early in 1717 was to make a mere four characters effective as vehicles for conveying the drama of the Passion, moving as Bach does from the capture of Jesus in Gethsemane, to his interrogation by Pilate, his scourging and crowning with thorns, his journey to Calvary and his crucifixion and death. Recorded in 2001 and first released by Bongiovanni, this recording of Il dolore di Maria Vergine was welcomed by the Italian Musica magazine with a ringing endorsement of its virtues: ‘The orchestra is precise, and in full sympathy with the Scarlatti idiom; outstanding among the instrumental soloists are the trumpet player Gabriele Cassone, the violinist Fabrizio Cipriani and the members of the notably rich continuo section.’