‘Priest-composer stabs alto castrato during Mass!’ Such fervent Catholicism is hardly imaginable nowadays. The present recording will remedy that: the Austian violinist Gunar Letzbor revives the strange work of murderer-composer Antonio Pandolfi Mealli with a full-blooded performance that succeeds in captivating us from beginning to end.' Eberhard Zummach, Concerto. Das Magazin für Alte Musik no. 214

All we know about the mysterious Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Meali–as his full name runs–is that he "flourished" at the court of Innsbruck between 1660 and 1669. And we probably wouldn't know even that, save for the fact that two sets of violin sonatas, designated Op. 3 and Op. 4, respectively, and dating from 1660, have somehow survived to the present day. Anyone familiar with the music of this period will realize just what a treasure these works potentially represent, for this was the moment of the emergence of the first great school of violin playing in Italy and Austria, typified by the dazzling music of Biber and his Salzburg contemporaries.

These sonatas for violin and continuo, dating from the court of the Holy Roman Empire in Innsbruck in 1660, are little known; perhaps the only other recording of them is a later one by their champion, Andrew Manze. If you like the woolly world of seventeenth century violin music, this composer belongs in your library. The later recording, which includes all the sonatas, lacks the theorbo heard in this 1992 performance, presumably reissued by Channel Classics in order to compete with Harmonia Mundi's release, but both are superb. The music's neglect is largely due to Pandolfi Mealli's obscurity; nothing is known of him beyond this group of works – not even whether a Sicilian composer named Pandolfi working around the same time was the same person or not.

This release is part of an eight-disc series by the small historical-instrument ensemble London Baroque, covering the entire history of the trio sonata in four countries (Italy, Germany, France, and England) over two centuries (17th and 18th). The series is more aimed at those with a strong interest in Baroque instrumental music than at general listeners, but several of them have been attractive for anyone, and this album falls into that group. It might well have come first in a chronological series, for it includes the very first works that might be called trio sonatas, the Sonata a tre of Giovanni Cima, published in 1610, and the Sonata a tre secuondo tono, from 1621.

The cornett was considered the instrument of kings and was one of the defining instruments until the 18th century, when it fell victim to the orchestral innovations of the classical period and went out of fashion. To this day, however, its sound continues to fascinate. To help listeners experience the magic of his instrument, William Dongois has teamed up with Le Concert Brisé to put together three sparkling programmes tracing the history of the zinc in the Baroque era, available together for the first time.

Baroque violinist Kreeta-Maria Kentala and harpsichordist Tea Polso's new album ""Polska Pandolfi"". According to the musicians playing on the album, the release combines early Baroque music of Pandolfi Mealli with virtuoso and peculiarly sharp twists to South Ostrobothnian polskas that are almost as intricate and the musical hooks of both are guaranteed to get the blood circulating and your feet tapping the beat. The three-time Emma Award-winning Kreeta-Maria Kentala has studied violin at the Sibelius Academy, the Edsberg Music Institute in Stockholm as well as Baroque violin at the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht in the Netherlands, Hilversum. She works as a freelance artist, leading orchestras and performing as a chamber musician and soloist.