Secular cantatas of love and tragedy by a Neapolitan precursor of Pergolesi, in world premiere recordings.

The Historical Orchestra , a team directed by Martyna Pastusza specializing in historical performance, invites you to the world of French baroque music. In this era, political and artistic life on the Seine was focused on the stunningly lavish Versailles court of Louis XIV. The Sun King gathered around himself a great array of musicians who were extremely important to him- he danced in ballet shows himself- and the performances were not only a popular entertainment, but also a dramatized allegory of government. Of the composers presented on the album, only Michele Corrette was not associated with the royal court. Apart from him, the recording includes compositions of such celebrities as Jean Baptiste Lully, violin virtuoso and dancer, unparalleled gambist Marain Marais and famous organist François Couperin.

One of the most extraordinary achievements on disc in the last quarter-century…Wherever you dip into them, the sense of stylishness, energy and, especially, Ross's affection for Scarlatti's boundless harmonic and rhythmic imagination is obvious. It's a constant, almost inexhaustible joy.

Around the year 1600, a group of Florentine aristocrats, inspired by ancient Greek drama, gave birth to opera. They intended to move and glorify human passions in such a strong way that the spectator's soul would be cleansed of these passions. This was the process that Aristotle called 'catharsis'. Xavier Sabata grasps this highly intense moment at the heart of the destiny of legendary heroes of Baroque opera. A fascinating album by the author of Bad Guys, accompanied by George Petrou and Armonia Atenea.

This new recording presents three Cello Concertos originated from the two Capitals of classical music at the time: Naples and Vienna.

Les deux chasseurs et la laitière, a oneact opera by Egidio Romualdo Dun, was premiered in Paris by the company of Théâtre de Comédiens Italiens, in July 1763. This work, staged then many times at the Opéra Comique, was soon published and its popularity among European theatres reached its peak between the 1780s and the beginning of 19th century.

Jan Antonín Losy was born around 1650 of a prosperous Bohemian family. After the death of his father, the first Count of Losinthal, he inherited not only his title but also considerable wealth. He was therefore able to devote his life to music, and his skill as a lutenist became famous throughout Europe. Unlike professional players, Losy had no need to sell or publish his music but fortunately it has survived in numerous manuscript copies. Today we have almost 200 pieces by Count Losy, many of which once belonged together in larger suites or partitas.

Widely considered as one of the leading exponents in early music, Emma Kirkby is renowned for her purity of production, clarity of diction and extraordinary degree of vocal control. From this release it is obvious that Emma Kirkby's artistic vigour and sense of discovery are undiminished. Alongside her incomparable performances of well-loved works such as Bach's cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, she uses the esteem in which she is held by musicians and audiences alike to champion long-forgotten repertory such as William Hayes's The Passions. Emma is accompanied by Cantillation and the Orchestra of the Antipodes conducted by Antony Walker.

Giacomo Facco was born on 1676 in the Most Serene Republic of Venice, in the small village of Marsango. The first documentary records of his work are in a series of cantatas, dated 1702, kept in Naples. It is there he may have started working for Antonio Spi?nola. The Spi?nola family was part of the high Spanish nobility and Antonio, during the War of the Spanish Succession, was appointed Viceroy of Sicily, where he lived until 1713. Facco also moved there with the marquis’ court, and had a period of intense activity, during which he premiered several operas and oratorios, as well as some cantatas.

Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury (15821648) is one of the most extraordinary figures of 17th Century English life - brother of the poet George Herbert, but in his own right a diplomat, soldier, courtier, philosopher, poet, historian and musician, as well as being the author of one of the earliest and most entertaining autobiographies in English. In it, he tells us that he learnt 'to sing my part at first sight in Musicke, and to play on the Lute with very litle or almost noe teaching…

The prolific Domenico Alberti squeezed a surprising number of works out of a short and eventful life, achieving fame across Western Europe, particularly for the so-called ‘Alberti bass’, an arpeggiated style of left-hand keyboard playing. Yet his presentday reputation does not equal these heights, his fame largely limited today to his Eight Sonatas. This recording puts this to rights, showcasing Alberti as a composer who deserves to be remembered for centuries to come, as a musical poet possessed of remarkable invention and imagination. Alberti’s compositions display the simplicity and sensitivity of Clementi, the vigour of Mozart and, in the briefest of moments, an almost Schubertian or Chopinesque pre-Romanticism. His keyboard compositions are generally individual movements or twopart toccatas or sonatas, the whole full of melodic echoes and intentional reworkings, which form intriguing bridges between the pieces. The three distinct periods in the composer’s output of keyboard music are mirrored here by the use of organ, fortepiano and harpsichord (all of which Alberti would have had to hand in his day) – corresponding also to the period practice of ‘playing on all manner of instruments’, with individual pieces often not tied down to a specific instrument. This combination adds a talented keyboardist and international award-winner Manuel Tomadin who has a particular interest in Renaissance and Baroque music and historical organs. He brings all of his expertise to bear on this superb album. This 4 album set contains the complete keyboard music by Domenico Alberti, a First Recording.

This recording by Trevor Pinnock is one of the finest ever. Played on original baroque instruments, the sound is a little thinner than what we are used to with modern orchestras. This is not a fault - it is actually an advantage. It brings Bach to life - every instrument is heard clearly, the feel is gutsy, real, lively. This is the Brandenburgs as Bach himself would have heard it. Wonderful stuff.

In the winter of 1733-1734, the opera houses of London were abounding in Ariannas. In late December, Porpora's Arianna in Nasso was staged by the Opera of the Nobility. In late January, Handel's Arianna in Creta was staged by the composer's own opera company. Comparison, apparently, proved odious – and fatal: Porpora's Naxos Arianna has fallen from the repertoire while Handel's Cretan Arianna has barely hung on by her finger tips. This 2005 Greek performance with George Petrou leading the Orchestra of Patras is the work's first recording in decades – and, thankfully, it's quite fine.

Ever the recycler, Handel cobbled together Oreste from parts of pre-existing scores for his 1734 season at Covent Garden. The work promptly disappeared from the repertory for the next 250 years – a fact that is both understandable, given that it's a less convincing result than his fully original operas, and a shame, since Handel's table scraps are still amongst the most entertaining morsels from the period. The present recording, by George Petrou, the Camerata Stuttgart, and a cast of mostly Greek singers, is its first complete performance on CD and an admirably realized production, characterized by polished, stylish singing and vivid orchestral playing. In style, sound, and dramatic pacing, Petrou's effort distinguishes itself as a fine entry in the Handelian opera catalog, and makes a compelling argument for the musical value of the piece itself.

The long life of Don Pietro Gnocchi remains largely a mystery. We know the precise periods during which he worked at the Cathedral in Brescia, first as Maestro di Cappella, from 16th June 1723, and then as organist, from 10th April 1762 until his death; but apart from this, biographers seem to have simply passed back and forth what little information they possessed without reference to its source. As such, may aspects of his musical life are still to be determined: his early musical education in Alfianello and Bresica, the subsequent move to Venice and the Basilica of St. Marks, pupil of a Maestro di Cappella, and the exhausting travelling to the courts of Europe where he was very highly acclaimed, together with his "trusty companion, excellent player upon the violin.”