Estevan Velardi, Alessandro Stradella Consort - Alessandro Stradella: Qual prodigio è ch'io miri?; Sonata a otto viole con una tromba; Lasciate ch'io respiri (2014)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 331 Mb | Total time: 65:10 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Bongiovanni | # GB2474-2 | Recorded: 2000
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 331 Mb | Total time: 65:10 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Bongiovanni | # GB2474-2 | Recorded: 2000
The first work, ‘Qual prodigio è ch’io miri?’, is often cited, quite correctly, as a source for some of Handel’s ‘plague’ chorus melodies in ‘Israel in Egypt’ – including flies and lice, hailstones and ‘he led them forth like sheep’. But I imagine not all that many listeners will have heard Stradella’s original music, and hearing these passages in their original form is in itself a cause of fascination and delight; for a sample, try the Sinfonia (track 9). The work takes the form of a conversation between two male lovers and the female object of their affections, and is here sung by two sopranos and a bass. All three singers are excellent - as is the superb Alessandro Stradella Consort, directed by Estevan Velardi, who have already brought us several first-class recordings of Italian baroque music including other works by Stradella.