Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682): 3 - 7 November

[doversoul1]

Never mind what Signor Stradella looks like. It’s the music that counts. Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvq6a1pBj88

I am very much looking forward to finding out more about the music by this not at all often heard composer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04n2zq9

[BBMmk2]

Thanks for the thumbs up there, DS!

[doversoul1]

I enjoyed this first programme far more than I’d expected. I was expecting to hear something like quaint recitatives accompanied by a lute and a chamber organ. Far from it. San Giovanni Battista was as lively as the liveliest Vivaldi, with Gérard Lesne's wonderful alto and Catherine Bott in her top form.

A real discovery. I am very much looking forward to the rest of the week’s programmes (I hate the word ‘episode’).

[BBMmk2]

I have some recordings of Batista.I like his work!

[doversoul1]

Stradella has been almost The Discovery of the Year for me. There has hardly been a dull work, and for such a rarely heard composer, names like Jakob Lindberg, Emma Kirkby, René Jacobs, and Alan Curtis popped up throughout the week. A week packed with wonderful vocal works*. It will be available for four weeks. Do listen (if you like this sort of thing, that is)

[ed.] *and instrumental works like Sinfonia, the last work on the programme.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

thanks doversoul listening to the broadcast now ... quietly captivating music

[jean]

Alberto Sanna has just made the first period instrument recording of Stradella's Two-Part Sinfonias.

I haven't heard it, but he is a very impressive performer.