Et in Arcadia ego: Italian Cantatas and Sonatas

Et in Arcadia ego: Italian Cantatas and Sonatas

$16.13
Total playing time [67:16]

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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.

Album Booklet (PDF)

Tracklist
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'Period-instrument group Concentus VII brings vivacious colour to these melodramatic scenes, with soprano Emily Atkinson especially plangent in the recitatives.'

- Classical Ear

'Period-instrument group Concentus VII brings vivacious colour to these melodramatic scenes, with soprano Emily Atkinson especially plangent in the recitatives.'
Classical Ear

'Emily Atkinson possesses a voice of comparable purity with those of Kirkby and Invernizzi and I could listen to all evening to any one of them. Atkinson is very well supported by the other members of the ensemble and the two purely instrumental items make very effective interludes. [...] I hope to hear much more from them'
MusicWeb International

'One of the delights of the cantatas on this CD is that they are accompanied by recorders or oboe as well as the harpsichord and cello continuo group [...] Emily Atkinson has an attractive and clear voice, her gentle inflexions adding to the Arcadian mood of the cantatas.'
Andrew Benson-Wilson (andrewbensonwilson.org)

'A lovely programme of Baroque secular solo cantatas and oboe concertos makes for an enjoyable listening experience.'
Lark Reviews

Credits
© 2015 Resonus Limited
Ⓟ 2015 Resonus Limited
Catalogue No. RES10142
Producer, engineer & editor: Adrian Hunter
Executive Producer: Adam Binks
Cover Image: Capital by Steve Snodgrass (flickr.com/Creative Commons)