Haendel n’a que 21 ans lorsqu’il quitte l’Allemagne pour l’Italie. C’est pour répondre à l’invitation du prince Jean Gaston de Medicis qu’il arrive à Rome en 1706 possédant déjà une culture musicale influencée par les courants italiens. Ces années en Italie seront des années de pur bonheur, il y fera la connaissance de Corelli et des Scarlatti, n’hésitant pas à se mesurer à Domenico dans une joute musicale dont il triomphera.

Anton Fils, dessen kurzes Leben mit nur 27 Jahren im Jahr 1760 als Cellist der Hofkapelle in Mannheim endete. Schon Zeitgenossen wie Schubarth haben den frühen Tod dieses hochbegabten und einfallsreichen Komponisten bedauert. Zum Glück für die Nachwelt hinterließ Fils eine stattliche Anzahl sinfonischer Kompositionen: So ist zu hoffen, daß das L’Orfeo Barockorchester und das Label cpo dieser ersten CD noch einige folgen lassen, um den überlieferten Schatz von etwa dreißig Sinfonien dieses Meisters den Musikfreunden zugänglich zu machen.

Miriways met with enthusiasm when rediscovered after 284 years in 2012. 'That the score of Miriways…is such a…delight to hear owes…to the Austrian conductor Michi Gaigg and her L'Orfeo Baroque Orchestra…' (J. Gahre in Das Opernglas). Mir Wais was an Afghan tribal prince who led several revolts to liberate Kandahar from Persian rule, a very current political subject when staged in Hamburg in 1728, and now. Telemann's music is colorful, lavishly instrumented, and richly Oriental in color.

Georg Friedrich Händel wrote musical history with his operas. In his chosen domicile, London, he had to fight off italian competition, but having already studied their style in Rome he was well-equipped to mount the most important of the world's stages.

The crystal clear quality of Dorothee Mields’s singing has already graced many albums of German mid- to late-Baroque music. Her vocal quality, secure intonation and tasteful use of ornamentation characterise performances that are further enhanced by her sensibility to music and text alike.

In the depth of its expression and richness of form Johann Sebastian Bach's music has no equal. This becomes especially clear in the famous cantatas for solo soprano, as can be heard in this recording, featuring Ich bin in mir vergnügt BWV 204 and Mein Herze schwimmt in Blut BWV 199 (Weimar version, 1714). The recording is rounded off by a performance of the famous soprano aria Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn BWV 1127. Once again Dorothee Mields shows that she is one of the leading interpreters of our time for the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Performed with LOrfeo Barockorchester, under the direction of Michi Gaigg, this is an exemplary interpretation of these seldom heard solo cantatas.

In the Baroque and Classical periods, it seems like anyone who was famous in the world of opera did something with the story of Orpheus. Retrospectively, it is sometimes really hard to see why this appealed to so many. To be sure, the symbolism of the power of music, not to mention the tragic story of love lost, won again through hardship and devotion, and finally and irrevocably lost, seems ready-made for opera. Moreover, any composer would love to set the scenes of Orpheus in Hades. But the plot really seems to need something, like a happy ending, extra characters, or lots and lots of dances to pass the time. Georg Philipp Telemann’s excursion into this story certainly has its share of things.