Each week, Total Baroque Magazine brings you an in-depth review of a recently released early music album.
We all know “Iphigenia in Tauris” by Gluck; here is the rarer setting by Tommaso Traetta, brought to disc by Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques. Recorded in Innsbruck, this release brings to light a different musical reading of the myth, poised between the legacy of opera seria and emerging dramatic priorities, and carried by a committed vocal cast. A discovery.
With “La Passione di Gesù”, Leonardo García-Alarcón signs his first major oratorio published under his own name. Inspired by Borges, Bach, Pasolini and the Gospel of Judas, the work creates a spiritual and musical labyrinth in which Judas, Mary Magdalene and the risen Christ become the figures of an inner Passion.
From Spain’s Golden Age to China’s Forbidden City, El clave del Emperador retraces the singular destiny of Diego de Pantoja, a Jesuit, musician, and mediator between two worlds. With Íliber Ensemble and Todos los Tonos y Ayres, the recording brings together harpsichord, Chinese instruments, and learned traditions to transform historical inquiry into a true sonic journey.
On this debut album, the Théodora ensemble takes listeners on a journey through France and the German-speaking world, from Lully and Campra to the Krieger brothers, where styles intersect and transform. Carried by a distinctive vocal palette and a finely articulated continuo, the recording highlights the variety of compositional approaches and characters.
With “Reines”, Véronique Gens and the ensemble Les Surprises offer a journey through French opera, from Lully to the late eighteenth century. Between figures of power and wounded heroines, the programme unfolds a true dramaturgy, shaped by a collective approach and a keen sense of musical theatre.
With his Concerto 1700, violinist Daniel Pinteño continues his exploration of 18th-century Spanish musical heritage. His latest recording of Gaetano Brunetti’s “String Quartets, Op. 3” reveals a court composer whose writing is both refined and full of wit.
With “Vieni, o Notte”, Francesca Aspromonte and Arsenale Sonoro delve into the intimate world of Scarlatti: three vocal works for soprano, two violins and basso continuo, interwoven with two sonatas for four instruments without harpsichord, form an album of striking poetic and musical unity.
With “JANUA”, the ensemble Irini and its director Lila Hajosi explore 15th-century vocal repertoires through a program built around Guillaume Dufay and Byzantine chant. An album that is both scholarly and sensory, inviting listeners to step outside conventional frameworks and open their ears to other forms of perception.
Voces Suaves and Michele Vannelli approach Carissimi’s “Historia di Jephte” with attentive care and a palpable sense of engagement: nothing is overstated, the unfolding of the narrative speaks for itself, and it is from this precision that the emotion arises. Composed in the 1640s, the work has never left the repertoire, admired up to Handel, who reworked its final chorus in his “Samson”.
“Arcadian Dreams” brings together the ensemble Les Délices and soprano Hannah De Priest in a Baroque program inspired by Arcadia. Featuring works by Rameau, Handel, and other rare compositions, the album combines refinement, expressiveness, and musical rediscovery.
At the sources of Italian Baroque, “Nuove Musiche” brings together Furio Zanasi and Xavier Díaz-Latorre around Caccini and Kapsperger. Between vividly shaped monodies and toccatas for chitarrone, this programme in six “canti” explores the birth of the stile moderno. A Passacaille recording of striking expressive clarity.
