Scion of one of Italy’s most musical 17th-century families, Giovanni Bononcini became such a force in an era when the oratorio was king that he rivaled Handel in popularity across the continent. Venturing from Italy to England and back again, Bononcini was branded something of a political malcontent, though the music heard in this set has all of the political dogma of a John Clare poem: which is to say, none at all, a music of mead and meadow, an image that I assume the sylphs on the booklet’s cover are meant to conjure in their contented gazes.

A few years after the assassination of Stradella, Pierre Bourdelot and Pierre Bonnet-Bourdelot included a story of the episode in their Histoire de la Musique in 1715, and consequently the ‘legend of Stradella’ was born. According to the legend, Stradella had disappeared with the lover of a Venetian noble, who in response hired a band of assassins to pursue the lovers from city to city. In the booklet of this CD – with its recording from Enrico Gatti, his Ensemble Aurora and Emanuela Galli in the title role – are contained the latest results of Carolyn Gianturco’s investigation into the life and works of Stradella, including some completely new information. La Susanna, an erotic oratorio, was written by Stradella in 1681 on commission from Francesco II, Duke of Modena, who was very fond of the genre.

There is always poetry as well as virtuosity coursing through Enrico Gatti’s violin playing, and nowhere more so than when he turns to Italian early Baroque music, as here in Mille consigli with his Ensemble Aurora: the album title reflecting the multiplicity of emotional ideas and colours possible in violin music from this time (Gatti’s earlier recordings of similar music have recently been re-released by Glossa as L’arte del violino in Italia).

The appointment in 1689 of Pietro Ottoboni as Cardinal of San Lorenzo in Damaso marked the beginning of one of the most splendid epochs of patronage of the arts in Rome. A passionate lover of music, Ottoboni gave his protection to numerous musicians: Handel, Pasquini, Scarlatti and Caldara all at some point worked at the cardinal’s court. A few months after his election, Ottoboni took into his service the famous violinist Arcangelo Corelli, who was employed not only as first violin and leader for the instrumental music, but had complete control also over the sumptuous musical events.

During his lifetime, Arcangelo Corelli was considered the greatest living composer; his name was known throughout Europe, and his works held up as models by his peers. Corelli’s Op. 3 (12 sonatas for two violins and continuo) – and seven similar but seldom-heard, posthumous sonatas – are performed here by Enrico Gatti, the most authoritative Corelli interpreter.