Et in Arcadia ego: Italian Cantatas and Sonatas
Concentus VII
Emily Atkinson (soprano)
Louise Strickland (recorder)
Belinda Paul (oboe & recorder)
Amélie Addison (cello)
Martin Knizia (harpsichord)
Baroque ensemble Concentus VII make their Resonus Classics debut with an album of Italian Cantatas and Sonatas by composers including Handel, A. Scarlatti, Lotti and Mancini.
Entitled Et in Arcadia ego, the album explores the work of the Italian society Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi (The Academy of Arcadia), established in 1690 in memory of the great patron of the arts, Queen Christina of Sweden, who moved to Rome after abdicating her throne in 1654. Advocating a simple and direct style, the Academy took its inspiration from peasants and an idealised world of rural innocence.
Among the works featured here are two of Handel's canatas - the extravagant and virtuosic Mi Palpita il Cor and the Pastoral themed Pensieri notturni di Filli - that demonstrate the composer's work during his time in Rome, and Alessandro Scarlatti's cantata Bella s'io t'amo, which includes a recently discovered opening recitative and is notable for its unusual use of a recorder obbligato.
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